Personal happiness

Lack of happiness is often described as a lack of time to yourself, a lack of money or a surplus of stress. But more time, more money and less stress won’t necessarily make you happy and fulfilled. Universal thinking points to creative achievement as the key ingredient in happiness. Thought + application = fulfilment. Making a difference makes you happy, because it stimulates your brain and confirms your self worth. You’re clever, you’re smart, you’re productive, and you’re not a waste of space on the planet. If you’re feeling less than chuffed with life, it’s probably time to inject some creativity and attainment into your routine. A surging sense of fulfilment will shortly follow. It’s in the process of attainment that we thrive – there are always new mountains to climb, new stones to heave, and they’re never the same. Turning out the same meal day after day isn’t likely to make you happy. Signing up for a cooking class and creating amazing meals you’ve never made before will. Work can make you happy if it’s creative – planning a project, teaching a class, constructing a road and performing a symphony are all forms of creative endeavour. If there’s no creativity in your work; see if you can make some. Playtime creativity helps to make life interesting, exciting and energising. Renovate the garden, knit a sweater, learn to dance or take up a new sport. Add challenge and change to the regular pattern of life – just enough to light the spark behind your eyes. You can create things or create a new skill, create an amazing event or create pleasure for someone else. The key to happiness is to live audaciously. Go boldly where you haven’t been before. Open up to life – don’t suppress it or run away from it. Give vent to your creative urges, and allow your imagination more exercise than it’s used to.

Happiness is a state brought about by a myriad of different short and long term activities – bringing up children, growing roses, completing a degree, designing a dress, baking a cake or putting together a drop-dead-brilliant business plan. What presses your happiness button depends on knowing who you really are.