What are some golden rules of happiness?

The world today promotes more of Dopamine.

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Nothing wrong with it. Pleasure is linked to dopamine; serotonin is linked to happiness. Serotonin regulates mood and its presence is what keeps you happy.

10 Golden rules I found that make you happy:

1: Be grateful for what you have:

Expressing gratitude has been linked with increased levels of happiness. Being thankful for the good in your life can help increase satisfaction and contentment.

Start everyday with 3 things you’re grateful for.

2: Live in the present moment:

According to some reports, up to 80% of our worries are about things that either don’t exist or that we can’t do anything about.

Most things we worry about are a creation of our mind. We worry about problems even when they’re not yet problems. It’s all a matter of perspective.

You think you have it all worse – someone is wishing to be in your shoes. Your biggest obstacle can be your stepping stone. Worry can come from fear, ego, pain etc – whatever is driving your worry – if you make effort to become aware of it e.g. through journaling and take action – then you can develop a better perspective and it can go away.

Here’s how Sean Anthony, of Email Side Hustle put it:

“If you don’t have your first client? Don’t worry about managing 10.

If you haven’t sent out any cold messages yet? Don’t worry about what to say when someone responds.

If a client hasn’t asked you about specific tech yet? Don’t worry about trying to learn every one.

We only worry about problems when they’re actually problems!”

Remember, actions brings clarity! Not worry! Learning to live in the present moment can help reduce stress and anxiety and increase happiness.

3: Get plenty of exercise:

Apart from what you put in your body, exercise is a key ingredient to happiness. Exercise not only benefits our physical health, but also our mental well-being.

Numerous studies have shown that exercise can help reduce stress, improve mood, and promote feelings of calmness and well-being. Walking is the simplest activity that can elevate your mood.

4: Connect with others:

Social connection is a key ingredient of happiness. Whether it’s spending time with loved ones, participating in community activities, or simply connecting with others online, relationships are essential for happiness.

One way to connect with others that works every time is via Food. Share meals with others. This was the principle in the book, “Never eat alone.” I may hardly cook but I can take you out for a “healthy meal.”

5: Do something meaningful:

People who have a sense of purpose in their lives tend to be happier than those who don’t. Never get stuck doing what makes no meaning to you.

Doing something that is meaningful and contributes to something larger than yourself can add purpose to your life and lead to true happiness. This may mean finding your passion or just filtering things you do by how much meaning you feel they contribute to the world.

6: Don’t Hate

Let go of what’s dragging you down. Unfortunately by just being yourself, sometimes people don’t like you. You can’t control to an extent – “haters”.

Infact, haters are your confirmation that you’re doing something right! It’s easy to wake up angry about someone and tag them with something unforgivable.

But realize that feelings are just data, you don’t have to act when they come. They send a message e.g. the person said something disrespectful etc but when you think of it or react aim never to hate.

Some of those people who hurt you were healing too. Stop hating the old them forever. You can limit your association with “toxic” people, but don’t be holding onto hate. People are going to love you or hate you, but don’t let either bring you down or put you too far up on a pedestal.

Lead with love.

7: Simplify your life

No matter how boring it sounds – it takes being proactive to live a simple life. This is something most people learn the hard way. We allow burnout and devastating situations to make us realize how much we need less than what we had convinced ourselves prior.

Living simply doesn’t in anyway shorten your dreams – just don’t confuse your goals to trying to impress others.

Warren Buffet is known to have lived in the same house for over 10 years. It doesn’t just apply to lifestyle.

Want to get better at writing? Look at your sentence structures. Identify complicated sentences… and simplify them. This is top reason editing is what makes writing great.

When I was learning ecommerce for the first time – I was shocked to learn the most successful startup stores are “Single product stores” as against general stores. Simplicity wins and increases happiness to yourself (by reducing stress) and for your audience/customers (by reducing friction).

8: Give back to others

Giving is a life hack to be happy. You create experiences for yourself and those that benefit from you.

And remember, its more fun to give than to receive.

Today I received a gift from someone at work who I hardly get along with. To pull her legs, I said “for what?” She smiled and responded “you don’t like X (the gift)?”

Lead by giving and growing, and most importantly have fun.

9: Expect less

Each time you raise your expectation from others you put your happiness in their hands. Your high expectation may be a way to control others in disguise.

You may not be consciously aware of your expectations, but they are there nonetheless.

Lower your expectation on others and be kind to yourself.

Stress is nothing more than the gap between expectation and reality, tighten that gap and the stress will naturally drop.

My friend, Coach Maxim, put it perfectly and gave a solution to expecting less from others at the end:

“The way to become truly happy – is not to have any expectations from anyone. Think about it – every time you got angry or upset is because you expected something to happen and it didn’t.

Be it with a client that supposed to sign up with you , a meeting with a friend that was suddenly canceled , a planned date that needed to be rescheduled or expecting having things fall into place – so you can take action.

If you will live like that – you will always expect something to happen and you will lose the edge of being proactive to create what you want and make things your way.

So instead of expecting things to happen – make them happen!”

10. Do something that brings you Joy

Do something that makes you happy every day, no matter how small.

For me its:

• Writing
• Reading interesting books
• Taking walks
• Engaging in fun conversations with loved ones.
• Helping clients achieve their next level of transformation through coaching.

Conclusion

I figured out the Golden rules that makes me happy. And then I do most of those things on a daily basis.

You too can start today, jot down right now what makes your happy. It could be:

• Looking after your body eg workout, exercise.
• Doing meaningful work that helps  others.
• Cherishing your relationships and the time you have with loved ones.
• Listening toy favourite music to change your state.
• Enhancing your personal development by reading or learning.
• Being in an uncluttered environment.

Hopefully these ideas 💡 will spark some of your own. Beyond sticking to your rules of happiness, ensure that you have clarity around your mission & purpose & start living it right away.