Everyone has impeccable interest on how to become happy. There are numerous articles, videos and even research papers dictating ways to make a human soul happy. Undoubtedly, I embarked on the same journey a year ago. I was on a quest to unlock my happiness chest.
On this way, I stumbled upon numerous paths across the internet. But finding the one that suited me took a while, and most importantly following that took me months of consistency and effort.
These 3 books were the most important ones that paved the way to my journey towards happiness.
1. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditation or I would like to term it as a tool for mindfulness, is one of the most widely recognized ways to attain peace. Thich Nhat Hanh, known as the father of mindfulness, in this book establishes that mindfulness is simply focusing on the present. Often, in our busy schedule and lifestyle, we are carried away through the day without us being able to pin-point our activity during a particular time of the day. This is a clear indicator of how less mindful we are.
Following this book, was no easy task for me. I am not the person who does a single task at hand at a time. I used to multi-task, that often affects the quality of those tasks. I used to go through my mundane tasks, by listening to songs or podcasts. But I believe most of us are. Thich Nhat Hanh, says however mundane let the work be, it should be done mindfully and bring your mind to the present gradually, when you find it wavering around. He advises to live a mindful life and not just do minutes-long eye-closed meditation and call it a day. Truly it was Miracle of Mindfulness.
2. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
I stumbled upon this book and loved the concept of it. Gretchen takes us through a year of her life, 12 months with 12 new things she introduces each month to cultivate happiness in her life. Gretchen describes her life as not good and not bad, she can’t rejoice and feel happy, even if things were good. That’s when she started this.
The practical guidelines that helped her, along with her good and bad moments of living by the resolutions she established gives an interesting perspective on things and helped me to adapt as per my life.
Let me share some of the concepts that bestowed a significant impact on me.
First, Boost Energy. I was tired and had nearly 0 energy at the end of the day to do anything interesting and it also affected the mood and my relationships with people. This first phase, she starts on January. Exercise, sleeping early and at regular time and acting more energetic helped me on the long run to gain my energy and that considerably influenced my relationships as well.
Buy some Happiness. This was about how to use money on modest splurges to be more happy. I started to buy needful things and small bytes of happiness. I loved gifting people and seeing their happy faces. To feel good, do good.
Overall, it is an interesting read to look on in Gretchen’s journey towards happiness and even more interesting to embark on our journey alongside.
3. Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty
In this book, Jay Shetty reveals the findings of his own quest to being monk and unlocking the purpose of his life. Finding a purpose and living by it is the most proven methods to be happy. Jay tells us how he had started meditating little by little to lead a meaningful and mindful life. Other principles like, quit complaining gives us a positive outlook on ourselves and in front of others. Some of his advises proved fruitful, while I should say, after few chapters it felt monotonous.
But, I am sure this will be a good start for anyone who has no reservations about a monk life and is open about it. The book, in no way, asks you to leave your life and become a monk, but rather poses an even more challenging task of staying in your own life with responsibilities and commitments and still act like a monk.
These are my most interesting as well as helpful reads while hunting for the happiness treasure chest. Hope you read it as well and let me know other books that helped you in your life.
Lit Loom 