Give me 7 min, You will know the secrets to a happy life by "creating a meaningful life."

As we always hear saying "Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want", But no one teaches how to learn it. I always want to be happy like any individual but how hard I try felt like missing something in life. I am so grateful that I came across the concept of "creating a meaningful life" by Linda Levine and found the key to my quest for a fulfilling life and am on the journey of creating my own meaningful life.

so here I am sharing with you those secrets which bring happiness to your life. ( giving back is one of the secrets).😊

It's human nature to want to live the best lives we can…..as there is always more to have, to do, to give back, to become. We all treat life as a prefix menu.

a) Go to school

b) University

c) Good job

d) Partner

e) Kids

f) Retire with all the money you saved up, play with grandkids, and travel to make memories.

But life isn't prefixed, your life is yours to create, your lifestyle is yours to design you can take bits and pieces and bring in your own picture.

"The journey of 1000 miles starts from one single step"--Lao Tzu

1.THE FOUNDATION FOR A HAPPY AND MEANINGFUL LIFE:

At the end of our life, every one of us wants happiness and positive emotional wellbeing would feel like a pretty good life. But most of us can't achieve that happiness because of the challenges we face, so how do some of us overcome the challenges.

"happy people create and commit to a plan with everything they have" they don’t complain about what they don’t have."

a) COMPLAINING AND COMPARISION: It completely takes us in the wrong direction from happiness. Comparing to a person who is less than you is not the happiness it gives us an unhealthy false sense of superiority. If you compare with someone good then it makes you discredit the hard work you have done and dismiss all the progress that you have made.

Since the environment and the, our mind is tuned so naturally to it. so whenever you feel to compel compare yourself with someone else just for a moment ask yourself "why "why am behaving so nasty to others or treating myself inhumanly ---instead compare yourself to the previous version of your self --open your eyes and see your own progress and focus on what you need to do. "happy people choose and engage in habits that guide them to create and enjoy their meaningful lives".

b) COGNITIVE REFRAMING:

"There is no path to happiness Happiness is the path."

Means happiness is not one big choice, but hundreds of choices we make every day. It's choosing to smile and say thank you even when the cab driver is rude --happiness is choosing to look at the situation best possible way, this skill can be attained by the "cognitive reframing".-with proper framing and enough discipline, any situation can be spun into a positive......YES, IT ISN'T EASY.

c) HAPPINESS AND MEANING: These are closely related

"Happiness is largely a matter of satisfying wants and needs in the present moment." Mindfulness or power of now or presence: if you live in the present moment you can avoid most of the life sorrows.

"Meaning is about a sense of purpose in one life."

knowing what your highest strengths are and using them in service of something larger than you are.

2. DISCOVERING WELLNESS AND BALANCE:

The most powerful thing I have ever learned is the importance of balance and the essence of well-roundedness. These are the keys to creating a life worth living. Well now, what do wellness and balance actually mean? according to the world health organization.

"Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and meaningful life".

"Balance a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportion".

-it sounds good when we will have balance in life….doesn't it. But it is easier said than done.

when a person's wellness is heightened so to their ability to be productive and balance all phases of life---relationships, friends, family, office. That is until they are not again…no one's life stays study all the time but for intention for wellness we have to check in ourselves how we are doing to make our life balance. Intentionally creating a meaningful life allows adequate time for the activities that express our values and priorities.

"The most difficult part of changing how you live …..is believing that change is possible. It takes a fierce kind of love for yourself."--------Geneen Roth.

IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO BALANCE: social, romantic, productive, spiritual, physical,

intellectual, leisure. Most of our lives derive from these elements and one way the other.

We need to balance these elements.

If a person overdoes one of the things in this circle he may miss some other element in this balance.

If a person working 24/7 and earns financial strength but not having a personal life doesn’t mean a happy life, in the same way, if a person who has a social life, friends, volunteering services, and lack of responsible financial and living constant stress of debt doesn't represent a meaningful life either.

Instead, you can focus on creating a well-rounded balance.

3.CHANGING OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES:

There are 2 kinds of obstacles on our journey to joy: external ones and internal ones

External obstacles: are somethings which are not in our hands like traffic or rain when we have to go somewhere or being sick etc.

Internal obstacles: are those which come from the mind which hold us back are also called gremlins.

Gremlins confuse you to take action like u can't do that because you don't have that skill, you might fail or others will make fun of you. Gremlins thrive on perfectionism.

Once we have made the decision to create a change in our lives, it doesn't just happen, a lot of times instead of optimistic thoughts our minds are constantly surrounded by the negative visions and thoughts of our gremlins. It reminds the ways that will not work out.

"The majority of the things we fear never happen!"

We all want to create meaningful life but how can we under all this negativity……..good news, we have the powerful tool-----cognitive Reframing as we discussed earlier.

we can't always change the things that happened to us in life but we absolutely can change the way we see it and how we respond to it.

eg: All my education degrees are waste as I am being a SAHM, instead you can reframe it as

I am having the best time with kids taking care efficiently because of the knowledge I gained through my degrees.

4.NEW LIFE NEW YOU:

IMPORTANCE OF HAVING MISSION AND GOALS: Most of the successful people have in common that is having a mission and they all are very serious about their goals.

"how many of us have concrete, actionable goals that are designed

to increase our chances of achieving them?"

If you don’t know where you're going, you will end up someplace else………..Yogi Berra

We need to have our mission and create our core values to have a meaningful life. It gives a very clear idea about where you want to go in life, by knowing what you want, you will know what steps you need to take. but how we can know that?

Using questions about you makes it easy for you to make your mission statement possible

1.what is my life about?

2.what do I stand for?

3.What actions am I taking to live out these two things

4.what do I wish to accomplish and contribute to this world.

5.Who do I want to be?

6.how you want to be remembered?

Ask these questions often until your answer still remains the same.

Now time to set a goal to serve that mission we build, but where do we begin

"START SMALL& EXPERIMENT WITH A FEW FOCUSED GOALS", and avoid setting too many goals in areas in our life we already satisfied with.

USING THE TOOLS:

1)like S M A R T -- specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-related.

2)The most effective plan is to have 6 months, 5 years, 10 years, and lifetime goals.

Revise them every 6 months and adjust the changes accordingly if you feel anything to change.

3)Role of Bucket list -- Make a bucket list of 20 in every area of your life.

4) print them out, signing them, framing them, and posting them publicly in multiple places so you're forced to see them multiple times a day.

5.TOOLS FOR MAKING PROGRESS:

1.The life Dashboard and vision board: Simple white Board that can be erased, modified, added to at any time. It should have

1)a summary of a routine of the day that I aspired to(habits).

2)Tracking habits.

3)List of 6 months and five-year goals with checkboxes

4) core values and mission.

Vision board: Any kind of board as you like

1)get all the supplies you need on the table to gather those quotes, images

2)play the fav music

3)place everything layout before sticking them.DONE!

2.Help from technology: Make use of productive apps like google calendar, Trello, Toggl, etc

3.Mentors & Role models: "Mentors can be anyone, these mentorship relationships take time and energy to develop. Mentors can come in all sizes, shapes, and ages".

4.Surround yourself with positive people and positivity: Seek out the people who make us feel good and help us develop into our best selves and love you in an encouraging manner……. Try to avoid people who drag you down and always not possible to completely avoid the negative people.

CLUTTER around us slows us down. Make your environment inspiring in like décor, colors you like, hearing your fav music while working, brighten up the rooms with sunlight.

6.Fulfillment of Giving Back:

When we take action and make a difference in the lives of others, the gift is returned 10 fold.

What's next?...............let's get started -------all these works by trying and experimentation before it all works but that’s ok. All the Best for creating your fulfilling life. Let me know if you find it useful.