How to be Happy in 2014: The Happiness Recipe

My goal in writing this blog is to document and share the things that make my life worth living. Enjoying every day is more than just a slogan and a title, it's a philosophy and a lifestyle. I believe that approaching every day with the intention of having a good time and appreciating what's awesome is the best way to ensure that you will be happy and fulfilled in your life. There's more to it than that, though. It's also about what I like to call the "Happiness Recipe." This is the list of ingredients which, when combined, are necessary and sufficient to create that feeling of completeness and euphoria that we all seek. The name is maybe a little corny, but you can call it whatever you want. What matters is that when used correctly, this could be the key to loving your life.

This was a particularly happy day.

What are the ingredients required for this brave, bold concoction? Well, some of them are universal--the scientifically proven and chemically traced. My dad recently got me a subscription to Outside magazine as a gift for my new Colorado lifestyle. The first issue arrived the other day, and the headline article is about the habits that make us feel happy. It touches on some brain science, and explains why staying hydrated, exercising, volunteering, and listening to your favorite music are guaranteed mood boosters. This article is a great start, and I recommend reading it if you get the chance. I absolutely believe in the value of scientific research and studies on the chemical nature of happiness,  and I think that everything they recommend is excellent. But I don't think you should stop there. Happiness, while certainly universally chemical, is also incredibly individual. The things that make me happiest are not necessarily the things that will make you happiest, so it's necessary to do some introspection in order to identify the ingredients for your personal Happiness Recipe. What makes you truly happy?

Though things like "drinking the occasional milkshake" and "angora sweaters" might very well be essential to your recipe, you have to dig deep here. What is it that makes you feel fulfilled and purposeful? Which people in your life are constantly a source of enrichment and joy? When do you feel like you're being truest to yourself? A few years back I had a brief period when I felt kind of bizarre. It was my second year of college, and I'd recently gone through a summer full of a lot of changes and important realizations. Now I was back in Virginia in the early fall (which is beautiful), and for a while I felt this really euphoric clarity. The feeling was pervasive, I remember feeling unusually happy all day long. It was also persistent, lasting for a week or two. It felt great, and I wanted to identify the cause.

I have this black sketchbook that I bought for a studio art class that I took in my first semester of college. Its early pages are mostly sketches for the class, and later pages are filled with homework assignments, to-do lists, notes, and the doodled brainstorms of two of my tattoos, among other things. In this book, I made a list of the things that were going on in my life at the time of my inexplicable euphoria. I titled it, "How to be happy, a better person, who I want to be." I also added to the list some of my goals. I refer back to this list sometimes, because most of it holds true today. This list is the basis for my personal Happiness Recipe, and was the birth of the concept. Looking at it today, some of my favorite items are: "Keep creating--domestic, fine arts, stories, everything," and "Reassess frequently: Am I happy? Where am I going? Am I actively carving my own path? Is this what I want/what is best for me?" and "Remember what I'm grateful for. Document it all." My nineteen-year-old self certainly didn't have everything figured out, but these things in particular still ring true to me. When I consistently incorporate these ingredients into my life, I feel like things are going particularly well, and voilà, happiness.

That last bit about documenting everything is the impetus behind my journaling, photo-taking (I don't know that I'd call it photography), and even this blog. It was also the beginning of another thing that I call a "thankfulness rundown." Another great name, I know, but don't knock it 'til you try it. I recently wrote a post about giving thanks, and at the beginning, I said that every day is a day to be thankful. I really believe this. I think that we should take every opportunity to reflect on the things and people in our life that we are grateful for. There is a wealth of scientific studies that suggest that expressing or even just thinking about this gratitude can result in improved psychological well-being. So every once in a while, I take out my black sketchbook and I make a list of the things I love about my life at that moment. Other times I just think about it for a while, or talk about it with friends. Last night, while driving home from Summit County with my roommates Ryan and Nate, we talked about how lucky we are to live here in Boulder, to go snowboarding almost every weekend, and to have so many new friends. It feels good to do this. And when things are going well, it's like an affirmation of your Happiness Recipe.

 

So whether you're thankful for family,

lifelong friends,

or just photobooth, now is a great time to take stock.

I feel much the same way about New Year's and resolutions as I do about Thanksgiving and thankfulness. Thankfulness shouldn't be relegated to a single day, and while it certainly is nice to be reminded by the whole country to acknowledge it, it feels just as good when you do it on your own in April. Likewise, I think that wanting to better oneself only once a year isn't a great way to make positive progress or lasting change.  If you have a goal in mind, you should start going for it immediately. If you only make goals for self-improvement every twelve months, you won't get a lot of practice in bringing them to fruition. The "new year" just seems like such an arbitrary demarcation of time. A long time ago, my friend Elliot told me, "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now." That really stuck with me, and I think it's the best attitude to have about setting goals. But, similar to the Thanksgiving issue, if the new year is what gets you thinking about it, and spurs you to action, I have nothing bad to say about it. So now is as good a time as any--the best time, in fact--to take stock of what you love and what you need to be happy, and to promise yourself that you're going to go for it, in 2014 and always.