Happiness

Happiness


What brings you happiness in your life?

During the first six months after quitting my job, one of the questions that came to my mind was, ‘What makes me happy? What brings me true joy? ’

My ‘happiness’ list started to look like this:

1) family and stability

2) making others happy

3) variety

4) being healthy and eating well

5) being my very best (physically and mentally)

6) yoga and meditation

7) having an abundance of time

8) being financially free to be free to do something I love

9) connecting with like-minded people


Click here for more information to help you define happiness.

Insights

Expect Changes to Happiness List

Start thinking about all the things that make you happy (however small and insignificant they may seem) and make a list.

Questions to ask yourself:

1) What brings true joy?

2) What excites you?

3) What motivates you

4) What causes you to lose interest?

5) What do you love to do?

6) What inspires you?

7) What is really important to you?

Expect your list to change as you continue on your journey of discovery.

Shortly after I quit my job, my list would have included family, stability, being fit and healthy and doing what I love. 

After six to nine months, I realised that doing yoga and meditating also made me happy to the extent they had become a part of my daily life, so these were also added to the ‘Happiness List’.

Epiphanies Happen at Random Times

Once yoga and meditation become part of your life, your increased-self-awareness makes it easier to observe ‘epiphany’ moments. 

You know something is right for you when you feel super-duper excited, content, joyful and happy. 

The energy becomes lighter than usual (more on this in the Energy section).   

My ‘what-makes-me-truly-happy’ epiphany happened one evening after I had spent some time sitting on a bench with a woman in my community discussing relationships.

During our chat, I could tell she was unhappy, even though she was not outwardly showing it.

 I shared one of my experiences to help her have a different perspective. This simple exchange resulted in the unhappiness fading and her being lighter and happier.

 This simple but beautiful moment, when my words were able to change someone’s darkness to light (even though it may have been momentary), brought such joy and happiness to my being.

 In the past, I have always offered help, but this moment was a moment of clarity.

I no longer had the pressure of a busy life and was able to be fully in the moment to experience the fullness of that emotion and feeling.

After I went back to my apartment, I looked back at my old job and thought of all the moments that brought me happiness.

 It wasn’t completing a report or a project. The happiest moments were:

1) connecting with people

2) having a one-to-one discussion where I was able to spot a talent that someone could not see for themselves and share it with them

3) creating opportunities for well-deserved people that changed their lives and their families

My epiphany was that ‘helping others made me truly happy’.

Be Patient

Be patient with yourself in letting the answers to ‘what is happiness’ come to you.

You might find something that makes you especially happy. However, you may not know immediately how to turn that into work or a way of living.

The ‘how’ part only came to me after many months (more on this in the Discover Your Purpose and  Fulfilling Your Life Purpose & Mission sections).

Act Now. Not Later

Take positive steps as soon as you can to live a life that brings you joy and happiness.

Society has programmed you to believe that you have to work hard for many years, then retire, and you will be happy living the life you always wanted. This is not always the case.

In the community where I lived, there were many wealthy people who had worked hard all their lives and amassed fortunes.

However, now in old age, they had many physical ailments, which meant they had to be wheel-chaired around the community by their carers.

Some had limited interaction with family members. The unhappiness and loneliness were visible on their faces.

I didn’t want to be one of those people in my old age. I wanted to live life fully now, whilst my body was still functioning well.

Don’t wait until it’s too late, when the limitations of your physical body kick in.

Take sensible action now.

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