How to be happy: A mantra that might help

What is happiness? Is it possible to achieve happiness? 

Happiness is a word that is not easily defined. It’s a word we learn from our childhood and we all sort of know what it means, but I thought it might be fun to see what the dictionary says. So I checked out the online Oxford dictionary.

Happiness is defined as ‘The state of being happy’. That wasn’t very helpful, so I checked what happy means. Happy, according to the dictionary, is an adjective and means ‘Feeling or showing pleasure or contentment’. More words. I then checked the meaning of contentment which turned out to be ‘A state of happiness and satisfaction’. See what I mean. We just went around in a circle. Happiness cannot be explained that easily.

Word definitions from Oxford Dictionary.

Last week, I was at the OFFF festival where I watched Stefan Sagmeister give a talk on happiness and the making of his documentary The Happy Film.

Stefan Sagmeister’s happiness scale

Sagmeister divides happiness into short-, medium- and long-term and says “It’s called level one, level two, and level three happiness and the classification is determined by how long it lasts. You have things like joy, bliss or an orgasm in the short version. A happy moment would fall into this category. In the middle version, you have things like satisfaction or wellbeing, lying around on the couch on a Sunday afternoon with the paper and the dog would fall under this. The long term includes finding your calling or what you’ve been put on this world for.”

The Grant and Gluek Harvard study conducted over 75 years concluded that there are three key things one has to do to be happy – strengthen your closest relationships, take care of yourself physically, financially and emotionally and choose to be happy with whatever you do.

These may sound rather obvious and too broad to be actionable. So I have a simple mantra that I follow. Every once in a while I ask myself if I have been a MAESTRO?

Ask yourself these questions:
Mindful – Have I been fully present in the moment and aware of my actions?
Active – Have I been passive or managed to step out of my comfort zone?
Excuse-free – Have I made any excuses for things that I have or haven’t done?
Self-loving – Have I reaffirmed to myself that I am loved and cared for?
Thankful – Have I taken anything for granted and not been thankful?
Responsible – Do I take responsibility for my actions or do I blame others?
Optimistic – Have I allowed pessimism and negativity to dictate my life?

This little self-introspection is really helpful and keeps me in check. One doesn’t have to do it every day. Start off with doing it once a week like a status report, and if it helps do it as often as you like. It’s simple enough to remember. Be a MAESTRO.

In the end though, we should remember that happiness cannot be a destination. Happiness is the by-product of our choices and goals. And if like me you also believe in the ‘Incredible lightness of being’, our choices and goals are no longer overwhelming and we are able to find happiness in our everyday lives.

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Read Forbes’ article on the findings of The Grant and Gluek Harvard study on happiness.
Watch The Happy Film. 

All views expressed and recommendations are the author’s personal suggestions and the author has not received any compensation for it.