::: THE HAPPINESS PRACTICE :::
It's a new year, and I have a brand new project cooking!
But first, a little bit about me especially for those of you who joined this page more recently. Almost 4 years ago I made the decision to quit my full time corporate career as market researcher, because I felt - maybe like many of you drawn to this page - unsatisfied with my life. While I enjoyed my work, there were many areas that didn't feel right. I liked research but didn't like working for corporations, because the work was meant to improve profits of already large stakeholders and encourage consumerism. I enjoy a good deal and great products like everyone else, but I was increasingly aware that there is so much more to life that we could work promoting, such as our happiness and well being.
For years, I kept having this thought - if I can be so successful doing something I don't fully enjoy, what would happen if I dedicated my full energy to something I do enjoy? After many years of trying to not only pivot my career, but trying to find my purpose, my passion, that thing that you wish you could do forever, that you wake up saying "yes, I get to do this!". So eventually, after years of pain and of planning, I decided to take a sharp turn. My husband and I both left our full time jobs, though I continued to corporate work at my job part time remotely, and for a year we lived in my parents' farmhouse in Transylvania, homeschooled, and traveled throughout Europe, from Turkey to Scotland and 10 other countries in between (more on this in another post).
After living our dream year, we returned to SF, and I felt compelled to understand what do happy people do to be happy? So, as a researcher, I decided to interview people, looking to answer a simple question: What choices did they make to be happy? What do happy people have in common?
That research raised more questions, and led to digging deeper into what happiness is, and what it means. I read books on Positive Psychology, Spirituality, Wisdom Archetypes, Poetry. I looked at happiness from different angles, looking to understand what it's *really* about, and hoping to learn to get a compass for my own life.
Last year I created a Path of Happiness workshop, where I shared my learnings, and introduced people to a framework I developed based on my research. The Path of Happiness framework looks at the arc of our life from two perspectives: on one axis, we have our physical development, and on the other axis, we have our internal growth. The arc of our life bends toward wisdom and happiness.
After much research, I came to my own definition of happiness: which I see as the possibility to be honest, awake, and connected. Let me deconstruct this a bit. Happiness can be perceived from two perspectives. Looking on the short term view, say today, we have the possibility to be deeply aware, focused, rooted, which leads to willingness to make choices that express ourselves, that are authentic and honest (rather than making choices that are conformist or competitive).
On the other hand, looking at the long view, say our lifetime, we each have the possibility to bloom, finding our own passion, dedicating our life to something we're *truly* passionate about, something bigger than us that helps others. This is what Maslow meant when he wrote at the top of the human needs pyramid the concept of both self-actualization (achieving our full potential, being the most that we can be), to which he later added the concept of "transcendence needs" (going beyond our personal self).
This year, I'm continuing to dig deeper into the Path of Happiness framework - I'm working to add a 'how-to' level of detail, to bring some of the abstract concepts to life. To do this, I'll tap into Positive Psychology concepts, which I'll share with you in a new series I'm working on, called "PRACTICE HAPPINESS". Happiness is a skill that can be learned and a muscle that can be strengthened with daily practice.
Stay tuned!
