100 Incredible Happiness Hacks Meghashyam Chirravoori (http://www.personal-development-is-fun.com/) Copyright and All That Stuff This book is released under a Creative Commons Atrribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This means that you can (and should) copy, and distribute this work freely but you should not use it for commercial purposes, or modify it. Also, please give the author credit when you copy the work with a link to personal-development-is-fun.com Table of Contents Copyright and All That Stuff What Is This Book About? Happiness Hack #1: Notice Your Breath Happiness Hack #2: Look Around in Wonder Happiness Hack #3: Listen to The Sounds Around You Happiness Hack #4: Listen to a Person With Full Attention Happiness Hack #5 Feel the Air Brushing Past You and Your Butt Touching the Chair Happiness Hack #6: Give in a Way That You Truly Want to Give Happiness Hack #7: Eat Mindfully Happiness Hack #8: Face a Fear Happiness Hack#9: Imagine You Will Die Tomorrow Happiness Hack #10: Forgive Everyone Happiness Hack #11: Inhabit Your Body Happiness Hack #12: Help a Stranger Anonymously Happiness Hack #13: Stop Comparing Happiness Hack#14: Do What Makes You Happy and Excited Happiness Hack#15: Sing in a Loud Voice Happiness Hack#16: Dance – Even If You Are Alone Happiness Hack#17: Say, “I Want to be Called a Fool!” Happiness Hack#18: Keep Humming - “Positive Thought and Action!” Happiness Hack#19: Make Your Bucket List and Start With the First Thing! Happiness Hack#20: Visit 5 Loved Ones and Leave Surprise Gifts At Their Door Happiness Hack#21: Sit Down With a Beggar/Homeless Man And Talk With Him For a Few Minutes Happiness Hack#22: Stop Seeking Happiness From Others and Money Happiness Hack#23: Remove People Who Affect You Negatively From Your Life Happiness Hack#24: Make a Little Child Laugh With Your Antics Happiness Hack#25: Play With a Puppy Happiness Hack#26: Offer a Hug to an Angry Man Happiness Hack#27: Appreciate a Stranger For Something You Genuinely Like About Him/Her Happiness Hack#28: Appreciate People You Are Intimate With Genuinely Happiness Hack#29: Blindfold Yourself For an Hour Happiness Hack#30: Pamper Yourself For a Day Happiness Hack#31: Express Yourself by Sharing Your Expertise Happiness Hack#32: Visit a Gift Economy Shop Happiness Hack#33: Hug Someone You Are Intimate With Suddenly! Happiness Hack#34: Talk to an Acquaintance You Have Not Talked to In 5 Years Happiness Hack#35: Feed a Loved One With Your Hand Happiness Hack#36: Decide to Be Happy Happiness Hack#37: Take Action on a Task You Have Been Procrastinating For a Long Time Happiness Hack#38: Be Spontaneous For Half a Day Happiness Hack#39: Laugh. And Laugh Some More! :D Happiness Hack#40: Do Something You Have Never Done Before Happiness Hack#41: Imagine Not Being Able to Speak Happiness Hack#42: In the Middle of an Argument, Start Listening Happiness Hack#43: For 10 minutes – Just Close Your Eyes and Dream Happiness Hack#44: Get Inspired By Nick Vujicic Happiness Hack#45: Call 5 People You Are Intimate With and Say “I Love You” Happiness Hack#46: Use The 'Clock Technique' to Feel Good Happiness Hack#47: Lie Down and Observe the Night Sky Happiness Hack#48: Try to Understand the Problems of Another Person Happiness Hack#49: Make a To-Do List and Finish Off All Items Happiness Hack#50: Realize That You Are Amazing Happiness Hack#51: Create Something And Share it With the World Happiness Hack#52: Set a Super-Inspiring Goal With a Deadline, Write Steps And Take the First One Happiness Hack#53: Clean Up Your Room, House or Locality Happiness Hack#54: Write Down 50 Things You Like About Your Life Happiness Hack#55: Make Your Life Improvement Plan Happiness Hack#56: Discover Your Life Purpose Happiness Hack#57: Create a Video Dedicated to Someone You Love Happiness Hack#58: Tell Someone The Truth You've Never Told Them Happiness Hack#59: Be Your True Self in Public Happiness Hack#60: Watch a Super-Positive Video Full of Hope Happiness Hack#61: Read an Addictive Fantasy Novel Happiness Hack#62: Notice When You Drift Into the Past and Future Happiness Hack#63: Write Down Ten Solutions to the ONE Problem That's Troubling You Happiness Hack#64: Take a Presence Walk Happiness Hack#65: Meditate In Nothingness Happiness Hack#66: Gift Yourself Something Special and Make a Big Deal of It Happiness Hack#67: Pay 10% Extra Happiness Hack#68: Switch the TV OFF for 30 Days Happiness Hack#69: Start Journaling Happiness Hack#70: Listen to Super-uplifting Music Right Away Happiness Hack#71: Keep Your Phone on Silent to Avoid Interruptions Happiness Hack#72: Read 10 Jokes Up and Share Them With 5 People! Happiness Hack#73: Do Crazy Things In Front of the Mirror Happiness Hack#74: Join a Club or Organization Related to What You Love Happiness Hack#75: Send Thank You Cards to 5 Organizations and 5 People Happiness Hack#76: Cuddle Yourself Happiness Hack#77: Stop Choosing Money and Other Things Above Happiness Happiness Hack#78: Stop Complaining and Take Control Happiness Hack#79: Wake Up Early Happiness Hack#80: Think About This Quote For 10 Minutes Happiness Hack#81: Start Accepting People As They Are Happiness Hack#82: Realize That Life is a Learning Experience and Feel Grateful Happiness Hack#83: Meditate By Not Moving For 15 Minutes Happiness Hack#84: Grow a Plant From Start to Finish Happiness Hack#85: Send an 'Appreciation Card' to 10 Strangers Happiness Hack#86: Start Teaching Someone Something For Free Happiness Hack#87: Quotathon! Happiness Hack#88: Strike Up a Conversation With a Stranger Happiness Hack#89: Focus More on Giving and Less on Getting Happiness Hack#90: Talk to a Friend and Share Honestly Happiness Hack#91: Adopt a “Friendly” Attitude Rather Than a “Careful” One Happiness Hack#92: Find Time For Yourself Happiness Hack#93: Read and Read and Then Proceed to Read Some More Happiness Hack#94: Stop Expecting Others to Make You Happy Happiness Hack#95: Form a 'Positive Habit' Happiness Hack#96: Learn a New Skill Happiness Hack#97: REVERSE Your Patterns! Happiness Hack#98: Identify Negative Beliefs and Replace Them With Positive Ones Happiness Hack#99: Have Recorded Versions of the Funniest TV Shows Ready Happiness Hack#100: Travel to New Places BONUS Hack#101: Volunteer Offline or Online Who is Meghashyam? What Is This Book About? Yes this book is about happiness and how to find it. You may not believe it but truly, happiness is here with you right now. There is nothing that needs to happen for you to be happy in this very instant. However, many of us are not happy. The reason is that we offer „resistance‟ to happiness that is waiting for us! We offer resistance because we are afraid (of what will happen to us if we let go) or because we think finding happiness is very tough and we MUST do task a), task b) and task c) to be happy. But all that's not required. You don't need the best job, tons of money, the best relationship, the best items in the world or the best vacations to be happy. All those things are amazing and they ADD to the happiness that is already within you. You create your own happiness. Then, external things increase and amplify it. The 100 incredible happiness hacks in this book are all about lowering your resistance to the happiness that is in front of you right here and now. I've come up with some interesting exercises and activities which will connect you with the joy that is already there within you. These will make you feel lighter, easier and happier – irrespective of your life situation right now. Come, “loosen your seat belt”, stretch a bit, open your eyes wide and start off on this incredible happiness journey. :) Happiness Hack #1: Notice Your Breath You must have heard this one many times. Whenever you have to relax, they tell you - “Notice your breath”. Come, let us do it together right now. Sit in a relaxing posture or lie down on the bed. Now, just notice your breath. Don't breathe faster. Don't take a deep breath. You don't need to DO anything – just notice the way you are already breathing. Notice the air rubbing past your nostrils as it enters your nose. Notice it go inside and fill your lungs. Notice how your stomach automatically rises. Then notice this air coming out of your lungs, through your nose. You might feel irritated as you do this initially. That's common. I mean it is irritating at first! But let the irritation be. It's OK. You might also be interrupted by many thoughts. That's OK too. Bring back your attention to your breath whenever you become aware that you are thinking of other things. Keep noticing your breath for a few minutes – maybe even 5 minutes. That's it. You're done! If you do it correctly, you will feel irritated and harrowed for the first 1 or 2 minutes and then peaceful, relaxed and calm for the next 3 minutes. :) You will have found your moments of joy in your normal day. Whenever you have the time, keep doing this again and again. Do nothing: just come back to this moment and notice your breath. The reason this technique works is very simple: most of our unhappiness is caused by our negative thoughts about the past and future. We keep thinking – “He did that”. “She did this”. “He is so bad!” “I wonder what will happen in the meeting tomorrow!” And so we ourselves become sad thinking about the past and the future. Just noticing our breath immediately brings us back to the present moment. This moment. Right here and now. That's what we will learn more about as we proceed through this book. Peace is here and now. So is happiness and joy. So, when we focus our attention on this moment, slowly the negative thoughts disappear and we become happy. :) If you haven't yet tried this simple technique out – please do it right now! Just 5 minutes... Happiness Hack #2: Look Around in Wonder This is yet another beautiful technique that helps me be happy – just so many times! The technique is simple: for some time come back to the present moment – here and now. Look around you! There are so many things that you may not have noticed in your daily life. For example, if you are sitting at a desk – notice the texture of the desk. What is it made of – wood? Notice how the design on the wood is. Notice the colors of the walls near you. Notice the people near you and the clothes they are wearing. Notice the expressions on their faces. Notice the floor near you. What is it made of? Is there a design on it? Just look around with the curiosity of a child for some time. Come on, when was the last time you just looked around and noticed things without any reason? As you do this...some thoughts may creep in. As soon as you notice you are thinking of something, let the thought go and come back to the present moment. Again – look around...and observe things you may never have observed before! Sometimes, I use this technique when I go to dine at restaurants. I notice the tables and chairs. I notice the walls. I notice the paintings. I notice the clothes the waiters are wearing and I notice the expressions on the faces of people. If you do this for just few minutes, you will feel joy. It might seem irritating at first or maybe even foolish. But do it anyway and the irritation and thoughts will vanish. Soon, you'll think: “Wow. I never knew there was just so much to notice around me.” Repeat this activity as many times in the day as you want. If you do it often enough, you will actually feel like a world of wonder has opened up. This is because generally we are so lost in thoughts that we hardly look around and notice many interesting things. The reason this activity works is also similar to the reason the first one works: it brings us back to the present moment for some time and helps us release our common negative thought patterns. So, well, why not try it right now? :)