We have covered different aspects of cultivating love and happiness on this blog. You may ask, “but how can I make time to pursue happiness?” That’s easy: through cultivating habits and becoming conscious of what you focus on. Learn how to focus on actions in your everyday life to get into the flow and to flourish.
How to make sure you’ll find time to pursue happiness every single day in an easy and fun way? First of all, you must understand the principle of Einstein Time. Living in Einstein Time means that you know: you are time. It’s a question of mindset, or if you prefer choice. Read this article if you don’t know what this means.
If you live in Einstein Time, you will be able to make conscious choices about what you really make time for. Having the answers to the following questions will be of great help in figuring the latter out:
- What maxim is guiding you throughout your life?
- How are you making choices, big or small?
- Are you clear on what matters most to you?
These are fundamental questions you have to answer for yourself before you’ll find it easy to pursue happiness that will be lasting rather than fleeting. They are all closely linked to your values (AND the hierarchy of your values).
What are your guiding principles?
Let me talk about my answers to give you concrete examples. I strive to live according to ethical principles. I’m guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s maxim, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Another way of putting this refers to the law of reciprocity or the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated. Living mindfully means to become aware which thoughts, words and deeds you are performing habitually that are not contributing to your mind-body well-being and that could harm others. Wikipedia defines the three forms this Golden Rule may take as follows:
- One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself (positive or directive form).
- One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated (negative or prohibitive form).
- What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself (empathic or responsive form)
This gives my life meaning. On the other hand, I am choosing to foster positivity every single day. Did you know that you suffer from a ‘Negativity Bias’? You have to cultivate consciously thoughts, words and actions that are conducive to a balanced mind. Changing your focus again and again on the ‘positive’ is paramount to foster your own happiness.
Thirdly, I cultivate self-care, self-love and self-respect first. I believe that doing this, looking after yourself and your wellbeing the best you can, not only leads to a brilliant life for yourself. It’s also the key to success if you are a women on a mission who want to serve the people around you and contribute to making this world a better place.
What makes you happy?
There are two very different ways to pursue happiness. In this article, I explain the distinction between the hedonic and the eudaimonic happiness. One is about the meaning you create in your life and the other is about fleeting joys through your senses. You can have both.
The best way to find time for actions that make you happy is to be crystal clear about them. What are the things that energize you completely and make you forget the time because you get into the flow?
You lead a brilliant life by doing activities, every single day, that create positive emotions, get you into the flow and give your life meaning – see also my article about the Authentic Happiness‘ Formula.
Things that make me truly happy are, for example, being outside, moving my body (hiking or riding a bicycle) and spending quiet time on my own gardening, reading or journalling. The pic above is the view from a bench of one of my favourite places in Geneva, the Jardin de la Paix.
Your turn now to pursue happiness
The easiest way to be crystal clear about the things that foster positive emotions in you and make you feel great is to write them down. Here’s a free WorkPlaySheet for you called 20 Activities.
The list and questions in the WorkPlaySheet will help you to analyze what kind of actions make you happy – rather alone or with others for example – and guide you to try out new things as well.
Once you have filled in the three columns, choose one activity that inspires you. Make time for it today! If you are super busy choose one that takes only a few minutes like blowing bubbles.
Choose two other things and schedule them into this weeks calendar.
Never forget to savour the fun and joy while doing it!!!
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PS: the frequency of positive emotions has more impact on your happiness than the intensity. Find out how you can create many moments of positive emotions in your everyday life using this WorkPlaySheet (no signing up required)!
This article was first published in 2014 and completely revised and updated in 2020
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