The Secret to Happy Life

Here is a list of 15 essentials a person should strive to achieve happiness:

1. GOOD HEALTH - First and foremost is GOOD HEALTH. So take care of Physical and Mental Health problems. If you do not enjoy good health you cannot be happy. Any ailment, however trivial, will deduct from your happiness and make it harder to be happy. While it’s not always possible to “cure” everything, address your physical and emotional needs as best as possible. Some people allow themselves to have lingering pains, or struggles with depression. Take the steps to address it. It will change your entire experience of the world.

2. A HEALTHY BANK BALANCE - Money cannot buy happiness is true and every billionaire is not happy. However, poverty is stressful; and if you can pay for the basics comfortably - it will remove a lot of that stress from your life. You don’t have to be wealthy, but some amount of financial comfort will prevent the worries about the basics of everyday life. It need not run into millions but should be enough to provide for creature comforts and something to spare for recreation, like eating out, going to the pictures, travelling or going on holidays on the hills or by the sea. So have a few bucks in the bank. Shortage of money can be demoralizing. Living on credit or borrowing is demeaning and lowers one in one's own eyes.

3. A HOME OF YOUR OWN - Rented premises can never give you the snug feeling of a nest which is yours for keeps that a home provides; if it has a garden space, all the better. Plant your own trees and flowers, see them grow and blossom, cultivate a sense of kinship with them. "God is not found on mountain tops. He lives in cozy homes and within you."

4. AN UNDERSTANDING COMPANION - Be it your spouse or a friend. If there are too many misunderstandings, they will rob you of your peace of mind. Don’t settle in who you marry. Marriage is the single biggest decision you make, so be picky and marry the right person for you. Don’t rush in because you think it’s “time” or you feel “pressure.” Marry someone you are excited about, who makes you feel amazing, and who is good to you down to their last breath. Don’t compromise or settle on this one - it makes a large part of the mood of your home every single day…why not make it great! It is better to be single than to bicker all the time. Choose your friends and people around you carefully - they will have an effect on your mind and soul.

5. LACK OF ENVY - Stop comparing with those who have done better than you in life; risen higher, made more money, or earned more fame. Envy can be very corroding; avoid comparing yourself with others. You will become vain and bitter. Because there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Being happy in your own skin is one of the biggest keys to happiness. A lot of unhappiness comes from people believing that they are “less than” because of images they see or messages they ingest. You can be so much happier going all-in on you.

6. BE OKAY WITH BAD DAYS - Part of living a happy life, is realizing that you won’t be happy 24/7, and being fine with it. You’ll have times of grief, and times of irritation, and times of stress or anxiety…and that’s fine. Accepting that you’re a human with a range of emotions, and seeing every day as a new day, is part of what makes you happy. Self-acceptance of just being human and not too hard on you is massive. “Life isn't burger king. You can't always have it your way.” “Life is a circle of happiness, sadness, hard times, and good times. If you are going through hard times have faith that good times are on the way. The higher the aim, the more struggles.”

7. DO NOT ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE - to descend on you for gossip and bad mouthing about others. By the time you get rid of them, you will feel exhausted and poisoned by their gossip-mongering. Always remember: "Intelligent people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people. And fools argue."

8. CULTIVATE SOME HOBBIES – that can bring you a sense of fulfilment, such as gardening, reading, writing, painting, playing or listening to music. Do more things you like! This sounds silly, but there are people who say they used to love painting, but haven’t done it in 10 years! Why? Life gets so busy that the first things we cut are sometimes hobbies - we don’t see them as “essential” or “important,” but they absolutely are when we’re talking about happiness. Make time for things you truly enjoy - it makes life more enjoyable. Going to clubs or parties to get free drinks or to meet celebrities is temporary fun and waste of time.

9. SEEK OUT THE GOOD – Your mindset and mood are often influenced by what you feed it. This is true of people you surround yourself with, and even the media you ingest. Limit toxic people. Limit toxic headlines/news media, and seek to spend more time/energy with the good. Choose your friends and people around you carefully - they will have an effect on your mind and soul. “A good life is a collection of happy moments. Be happy for this moment this moment is your life.”

10. HELP OTHERS - If you want to be happy, there is a lot of joy in helping others. Some of what makes life wonderful is feeling useful, helping another without expecting return, and being reminded of your own good fortune (gratitude)…even if that is driving a friend to a doctor’s appointment, or helping a neighbor carry her groceries. Making the world a better place makes you feel better too.

11. LIVE IN THE PRESENT - Today is a new day, and some people have pasts that are incredibly hard. Live in the present, not in the past…or you’ll be stuck there and miss the great stuff of today. “Yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift that is why we call it present.” Live each day as it was your last. Tomorrow is not promised." “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.”

12. MOVE YOUR BODY - Being able to move your body a bit will keep you happy. There are seniors doing shows where they dance, and young kids running in the yard. You don’t have to be an Olympian to move…just even going for a walk every day, or doing some stretches. Your brain has a way of responding to movement that makes people feel happier. “Life is like riding a bicycle, if you don’t move you fall.”

13. HAVE NEW EXPERIENCES – Doing something new doesn’t have to be traveling to a distant land - maybe it’s just trying your hand at baking a pie, eating a new type of food you’ve never had, fixing something around the house you never did before, taking a new route for walk, or visiting a small town nearby you’ve never been to. New experiences give us things to look forward to, things to talk about, and bring back some of the curiosity of being a child.

14. LOVE IN YOUR LIFE - If you have a person who truly loves you in this world, and accepts you for exactly who you are - it will help contribute to your sense of happiness. Even having a pet that loves you can also help this. Love is powerful, and while it isn’t everything, it makes the bad times easier to bear. Being loved, and loving another brings many people great satisfaction and joy.

15. INTROSPECTION - Every morning and evening, devote 15 minutes to INTROSPECTION. In the morning, 10 minutes should be spent on stilling the mind doing meditation and breathing, and then five in listing things you have to do that day. In the evening or before sleeping, 10 minutes to still the mind again, and five to go over what you had undertaken to do.

Here’re some quotes for you to enjoy!

“Your career, your spouse, and your children are like a three-legged stool of Happiness. The stronger the legs the better is the stability.”

“A good life is a collection of happy moments. Be happy for this moment this moment is your life.”

“Our attitude defines life:

Life is best for those, who just want to live it.

Life is difficult for those, who want to analyze it.

Life is worst for those, who want to criticize it.”

“One of the greatest blessings in the world is to be able to be happy even when things in life are not going the way we planned.”

“Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect. And be happy for this moment; this moment is your life.”

“Never blame any day in your life. Good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience, and the worst days give you a lesson.”

About the Author: Dr. Sukhraj S. Dhillon is an eminent Scientist with numerous research publications in life sciences who studied at Yale University and served as a Professor at University in North Carolina. He has written more than a dozen books on topics of Health, Aging, Vegetarianism, Weight control, Stress-free living, Meditation, Yoga, Power of Now, Spirituality, Soul, God, Science, and Religion. His articles and books are a pointer to his line of thinking including current publication. He has been the President, Chairman of the board, and life-trustee of a non-profit religious organization and has expressed his views in the congregation and at international seminars.