Matthieu Ricard | This Way Up

Habits of happy people:

Be grateful.
Look on the bright side.
Savor the moment.
Exercise.
Meditate.
Cultivate relationships.”

― Sonja Lyubomirsky

Abraham Lincoln said: Most folk are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Is it really that simple? I’m not sure. I know I feel blessed that my default system, that place I seem to always fall back to is one of optimism. I seem to naturally look on the bright side of things, and for that I am grateful.

But getting reminders about The Secret to Happiness is always welcome. That’s why I savored this article in The Huffington Post.

Please take the time to read the article, it is uplifting and a wonderful reminder. I especially like the idea of the cloak, an image I have used before in a different context, but lovely to have it in this context as well.

I want to close with a TED talk that I have actually used before, but it is one of my favorites. The Habits of Happiness by Matthieu Ricard. It is one of nine videos in a series on TED entitled What Makes Us Happy?

Enjoy!

Please let me know what you think the article and this TED talk. And as always thank you for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it.

“You have to be before you can do and do before you can have”

– Zig Ziglar

I hear so many people say – When I have A, then I can do B, and then I’ll be C . . .

For example – When I have more money, then I can travel, and then I’ll be happy. Or When I have more time, then I can exercise and feel healthy, then I’ll be happy. Or When I have a boyfriend, then I’ll go dancing, and then I’ll be happy. (Note the Be Happy is usually the end result desired.)

But as Zig Ziglar points out, the best way to get what you want is to BE what you want first! In other words Be Happy NOW! In the award winning movie, HAPPY, director Roko Belic travelled around the world and asked people – What do you want most in life? And the ultimate answer from everyone they interviewed in every part of the world was that they wanted to be happy. Simple as that.

Laurence Boldt explains the phenomena well in his best selling book, How to Be Do or Have Anything.

It’s an easy thing to say, but not as easy to embrace. Gretchen Rubin is working hard to help people start living a happier life with her Happiness Project.

One of the things Ms. Rubin recommends is making your own Twelve Personal Commandments.

One of the most challenging—and most helpful and fun—tasks that I’ve done as part of my Happiness Project is to write my Twelve Personal Commandments. These aren’t specific resolutions, like make my bed, but the overarching principles by which I try to live my life.

After reading quite a bit by Ms. Rubin, I made my own Twelve Personal Commandments. I’d like to share them with you:

My Twelve Commandments

1. I AM (Intention Attention Memory) Everyday

2. To Thine Own Self Be True

3. Golden Rule – Be the way to others that you want them to be to you

4. I Will Act Now

5. Be Love in every way

6. Pay Attention!

7. Pay it forward

8. Be the change you want to see in the world

9. Be Happy Now

10. There is only Now

11. How do I want to be remembered?

12. Enthusiasm for Life!

I encourage you to make your own. They help me keep important personal principals in my consciousness.

I’d like to close with a beautiful TED Talk by Matthiew Ricard, called The Habits of Happiness.

I’d love to hear about what makes you happy. And if you decided to make your own 12 Commandments, I’d love to hear about them. And as always, thank you for stopping by, I appreciate it.