Three Secrets to Happiness

Secret #1: the meaning of happiness will change for you every five years

Check out the migration happiness model:

“We start simple (11-14), but soon fill up with angst (15-18), and feelings of confinement (19-22) until we leave those behind to go conquer the world (23-26), before gradually trading ambition for balance (27-30), developing an appreciation for our bodies
(31-35) and our children (31-35), and evolving a sense of connectedness (36-40), for
which we feel grateful (36-40), then happy (41-49),calm (41-49), and finally blessed (50+).”

Write your own!

See how the meaning of happiness changes for us every five years? So don’t be so hard on yourself when you are making decisions because what makes you happy today will change in five years. Therefore, the correct decision will be the one that will allow you to evolve the meaning of happiness for yourself

Secret #2: Surround yourself with happy people

You must surround yourself with people that provide positive emotions. Emotions are contagious and positive emotions spread faster than negative emotions. Whenever you are around happy and inspirational people you are happier and you work faster, better and deeply.

Ok, this sounds easy but how do I really know if the relationship is positive or negative? When you are interacting with someone ask yourself two questions: 1) How many times have I felt a positive feeling (ie. Smiled)? 2) How many times have I felt a negative feeling (ie/ rolled my eyes)? If the ratio is 3:1 or better you know you are surrounding yourself with happy people


Secret # 3: Create and cultivate memorable moments

When we look back at life we can only recall the moments that we actually remember. So, for us to believe that we had a happy life we need to be able to remember a lot of happy moments. Be strategic about this!

What makes you remember a moment? 1) It is memorable: it may seem spontaneous, it could be a surprise or it becomes a tradition (better if it has rituals) 2) It is sticky: it has a “brand”

Try it!

Here is an example of one of my most memorable moment in the past two years:

My Debrief Brunches: Every weekend I get together with my best friends for brunch so we can update each other on what is going on in our lives. We have a brand (Debrief Brunches), we have a tradition (every week) and we have little rituals (we always go in our pajamas)