3 Ways To Practice Happiness

Everyone has a story.

Actually, people have many stories that we can learn from, share in and connect with.

Every moment in our life’s journey is made up of the stories that create our life experience.  It is part of what makes and shapes who we are.  

For as long as we can remember, stories have been a part of the human experience.  From the sharing of stories around a campfire, to the stories we use in marketing to connect us to our audiences.  Like many people, I find the life stories of people fascinating- from diverse cultural experiences and countries to life lessons passed down from elders.  

Interestingly enough, I have heard some very intriguing and culturally diverse life stories from the Uber drivers we have chatted with.  Insights can really surface in places we may least expect them.  The conversations usually start off like this:  They ask me about my Caribbean accent and where I’m from, and I in turn, ask them where they are from.  Usually, they are so happy to share details on their upbringing, their life and their culture.  Many of them I chat with are immigrants that have come to North America for a better quality life or looking for different opportunities. Most of them also, even though they have made this choice, really seem to miss their childhood homes and countries.  I am usually so interested in:

1.  Why they chose to live in this particular place (out of all the places in the world) and 
2. Are they happy here?

There is one particular instance that stays with me whenever I recall these conversations.  It was a young man who had moved to North America from India.  He wore a turban, his traditional Indian clothing and a very big smile.

When we asked him why he had chosen to move to North America, he responded it was for better job opportunities.  When we asked him if he was happy here, his response resounded with such wisdom and confidence.  He said:

“I take my happiness with me wherever I go.”

In the midst of a pandemic, of the challenges of moving to a new country, of life in general, the clarity this statement brought was a wonderful reminder of what they call our locus of control.  In a nutshell, our locus of control is how much control we believe we have over our lives, as opposed to external factors.

So, how would you like to take your happiness with you wherever you go?  Here are 3 things we can do to start right now:

1. Practice a growth mindset.  Be open to learning, changing and adapting.
2. Practice a positive perspective in life.  In the midst of acknowledging, understanding and dealing with the negative, we must learn to focus on the positive.
3. Practice gratitude daily.  This will help put you in a positive emotional state, which is essential in our path to experience happiness.

If we heighten our awareness and our thought process to the things around us, we can learn from every single person we meet, whether it’s things that they have done to bring a successful result, or mistakes they’ve made that we can now learn from.

So cheers to you and your happiness journey!  May you not only take your happiness with you wherever you go…may you also share and teach it along the way.