What is the purpose of living and life or is it simply about our goals or what we’ve achieved? Is it hard to be in a constant state of happiness always? Being Happy is a function of you; most times it’s all attributed to your opinions about life;
Here are 5 essential tips that will help you live a happy life.
Live with gratitude: I discovered the power of gratitude when I was living in poverty. Every time I started to feel bad about my situation, I would focus on how lucky I was that things were not worse. I would focus on everything that was going right in my life (instead of everything that was going wrong). I eventually trained my mind to count my blessings in life every time I started to focus on negativity. Often, it would snap me out of any negative energy I had and it made me feel blessed and lucky. Happiness became immediately accessible to me even in the toughest moments of my life. Despite my poverty, I had so many blessings like my health, my acceptance into Harvard, my work ethic, my loved ones, my true friends, my martial arts training, and so forth. When things are going bad in your life, it is easy to focus on all of the bad (instead of how lucky you are that things are not even worse). For me, gratitude has become my magic fountain of happiness.
Fill your life with love: We all have 24 hours in a day. For me, one of the recipes of happiness is to fill as many of those hours with love, be it work, people, passions, or even pets. Love fearlessly. I try my best to do what I love for as many hours possible every day. I love entrepreneurship. I love martial arts. I love my loved ones. I love my friends. I love my dogs. I love movies. I love reading. I love traveling. It is no surprise that you will find me doing all of those things in a given year with people I love. We cannot control many things in life, but we can control how much love we embrace in our lives.
Find your purpose: I didn’t find my true purpose in life until I was 37 years old when I retired as a global hedge fund manager. Everyone I knew thought I was crazy to pursue my dreams in martial arts. When you find your true purpose in life, everything starts to make sense. You stop living for the weekends. You stop thinking about what you are going to do after work. You stop getting the Sunday night blues. If you examine the happiest people in the world, there are no artificial boundaries between their personal life and their work life. Life is just life. There are no boundaries. There are no limits. For as long as I can remember, I have always had two true great loves in life – martial arts and entrepreneurship. I love investing in the stock market too, but it was not true great love. That being said, I found purpose in different situations at different points in my life. When my parents lost everything in life (including their home and life savings) and we were barely surviving, my purpose in life was to bring my family out of poverty. When my father eventually abandoned us, my purpose in life was to take care of my mother and younger brother so that their futures would be secure. Today, I have a very clear personal mission in life and it is one that ignites my soul. My mission in life is to unleash greatness in everyone through the power of martial arts and to alleviate the inequalities of income, gender, race, and education throughout the world. Deep in my soul, I know that I have been put on this Earth for this mission. Martial arts changed my life and took me out of poverty. Martial arts helped me to achieve the life of my dreams. And I know that it can unleash greatness in everyone.
Stop comparing yourself to others: When I was much younger, I would often compare my level of success with my friends, with people I knew, or even with my heroes and role models in life. I am embarrassed to admit it today, but it is the truth. I would compare how much money I was making, how happy I was, how much my net worth was, how prestigious my job was, how fast I was progressing, and everything else. I will tell you that it brought me nothing, but misery. You see, I have learned that what others are doing in life has absolutely NOTHING to do with YOUR happiness. True happiness comes from unleashing your true greatness in life by doing what you love with people you love. It is evolving into the best version of yourself. Each person has a different destiny. We are all on different paths. We all have our unique gifts, talents, and opportunities. And we are all alone in the quest for our truths. Happiness stems from living an authentic life that truly ignites your soul. Everything else is meaningless. Happiness cannot be measured by bank accounts, big houses, or fancy cars. Happiness is within, not without. Chase your greatness. Live your life.
Practice forgiveness every day: As I get older, I realize that inner peace is one of the greatest treasures in life. For me, forgiveness is the elixir of the soul. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. We all fall down. We all fail. Forgive. It takes strength to forgive. Only the weak cannot forgive. Ironically, when we carry negative energy in our hearts towards others, we can never fully be happy. Let go of everyone who has wronged you. Let go of everything that has brought you misery. Let go of those negative emotions.
Embrace these lessons and look toward the future with hope.
