I’m often asked, “What is your life goal?” Whenever I hear that question, I usually answer, “To live happily.” Then people ask, “What does a happy life look like?” and I find it hard to give a quick reply. What is happiness, exactly? And how do we live happily?
One thing is certain: happiness isn’t some scalar metric you can simply achieve. If you think of the actions in your daily life as vectors, then happiness seems more like a basis in that vector space. Each person has a different “happiness dimension.” That’s why it’s important to understand your own happiness dimensions and strive to satisfy each basis equally.
I have four main “happiness basis”:
- When my senses are stimulated
- When I successfully finish a task
- When I feel myself changing or growing
- When people like something connected to me
Once you’ve identified your bases, there’s one more step. As in the poem ‘Flower’ says, “When I called its name, it came to me and became a flower”—we don’t realize something is a source of happiness until we name it as such.
So we need to actively make the effort to cast a “happiness net” and observe our happiness. One of the easiest ways is to describe our feelings and impressions with adjectives and record them regularly. Whether by speaking or writing, once we give them form, we feel happier.