My Happiness Project - What Makes Me Happy

Getting to this list was quite an exercise.  The dilemma I faced was exactly how would I classify what makes me happy?  In order to do this I first had to examine what would I classify as being happy? And this made me realise that it is this very aspect that makes us different.  So while we may all have some common things that we derive happiness from, how it contributes to making us feel happy will be fundamentally different.

To start with I started at the easiest place, material wealth.  I examined the things that I have acquired over time and when I looked at most of the things that I have, while it gave me a sense of achievement that I had managed to acquire these things, that was where it stopped.  And while a sense of achievement is a good feeling, and may contribute to my overall state of happiness I felt that it was not a major contributor.  I recall that after both my divorces that, materially, I had left behind most of my possessions and not to mention wealth and this did not affect me negatively and or positively and neither did it contribute significantly to my emotional state.  There was one exception to this though and that was my car.  What about the car was different, it is after all just a material object?

As a young boy, at the age of about four when I started developing a liking for motor cars, I fell in love with the Porsche 911 and I remember thinking to myself that one day I would like to drive a Porsche.  Over the years I had not thought much about it, and when the opportunity arose to be able to own one of these magnificent vehicles, it was a childhood dream come true.  So the attachment was not really to the car, but to the dream that it fulfilled and it brought a sense of achievement and more importantly a sense of contentment.  So while I enjoy the motor vehicle tremendously and it gives me great pleasure to drive, I am not really attached to it.  The proof in the pudding was when it went in for repairs and I had to drive a Korean car for a period of time.  When I got the car back I appreciated it more and felt happy that I was back to driving my own vehicle.  So when it comes to vehicles, as long as the vehicle I am driving is my own, irrespective of make or model, I feel good and content.  And this was my first clue.  If it made me feel good i.e. good about myself, life and the universe and it was supported by contentment I could safely say this is what made me happy.

So based on this rule I came up with the following:

  • Comforting my children in my arms
  • Being with my with my family  
  • Bringing joy to others 
  • Teaching
  • Whiling away a long road in anticipation of the journeys end
  • An interesting book that completely engrosses my attention and that I wish would never end
  • Sitting by the dam/ocean and watching my fishing rod in anticipation of a fish biting
  • Watching the waves of the ocean crashing on the rocks wearing them away ever so slowly to nothingness
  • Looking down at a valley and contemplating the insignificance of my own existence
  • Visiting a holy shrine and participating with the multitudes in praying to the Almighty to overlook our shortcomings
  • Visiting a historical sight and walking on the path of those on who's shoulders we stand on
  • Working on a complex algorithm 
  • Putting together the design of a system to meet some current and possible future requirement
  • Finding simplicity in complex problems.
The list surprised even me and seemed to cover most aspects of my life and the natural question that came to mind was, if these were the things that were the source of my happiness why was I not doing much more of this?  Are there other things that are closer to home that will bring me the same sense of happiness or if not at least contribute to my overall happiness? 

And this is the purpose of this project over time ;-)

Points to share and or ponder

what do you classify as "happiness"?
what are the things that make you happy and what should you be doing more off?
what things that you can do on a day to day basis that will give or at least contribute to your happiness?


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