“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

-Marcus Aurelius

Think about what the three most important things in your life are; the first thing that came to mind was probably happiness (you probably can’t really decide on the other two…yet). Happiness is such an easy answer to come up with, and it doesn’t require in-depth thinking about the question. The best way to answer such a thought provoking question is to break it down and really identify the three things in your life that will cause your happiness. Take a trip inside my mind and discover my three most important things in life.

1.Health

I consider health to be the most important thing in life because without your health, what are you really able to do? Envision this, you hit the lottery (I know, as if right? Just bear with me) and you land $90 million. Two weeks later you begin to feel extremely ill so you go to the doctor and they tell you that you have (you can make up something drastic here), and you will probably be partially paralyzed and on life support; material items, pizza, Game of Thrones, masturbating and other things you’ve always enjoyed no longer seem as important with your health gone.

2.Education

What would we really do without education? Maybe we would have no medicine for deadly diseases and we would be dying out from the Black Plague. Maybe there would be no IPhone 7 for you to pull out and ask Siri where the nearest coffee shop is. Without education, maybe Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton will be the two main presidential candidates one day…oops. Seriously though, education is the key to our future and evolution as a species. People overlook the value of education and take it for granted, you begin to realize how great education is when you go from “just talking”, to conversing with someone over an intellectual subject matter. I’ll leave you with one more example of why education is so essential: ever text someone who doesn’t know the difference between there, their, and they’re?

3.Gratitude

Most people who aren’t happy in their life, and who are always chasing something “better”, lack a sense of gratitude. Having gratitude in your life is very important, it doesn’t mean you should just settle for what you have and stop chasing what you want, but it does mean appreciating everything you’re fortunate enough to have in your life. You have to realize no matter how bad your day is going, there is someone in the world that would love to have your bad days. Moreover, we tend to overlook the small things in our first world life, such as a flushing toilet. We don’t realize how crucial flushing a toilet is until nature decides to turn off your power for a few days (better fill up the tub).

Always remember that health should be the most important thing to you. Take care of your body and it will take care of you. Education is in at second. Focus on developing your mind every day and learning as much as you can. Lastly, remember that things in your life could always be worse, and if you appreciate what you have in your life already, you will always be happy.