Physical Pillar of Happiness: 2000 calorie or less per day

I decided to mix it up and take a break from the spiritual postings. One of my key pillars to a happy life is eating a 2000 calorie or less per day diet. I would like to amend this to also include eating a diet that contains my daily nutrient requirements, is diverse (different foods each day) and has a 30/40/40 structure for fat, carbs and protein.

A good diet contributes just as much if not more so to healthy living than exercise and is pretty equal to sleep. It's all about harmony and balance. By keeping my meals balanced I feel emotionally and mentally balanced. I perform better and it is easier to access my spiritual side. By not eating a good meal the body and mind is tired and I am unable to keep my focus. This causes me to fall into bad thinking habits and emotional viscious cycles which further promote bad diet.

Until next time, eat healthy and harmoniously

Social Pillar of Happiness: Being Social

By nature human beings are social animals. We survived for millennia by working together in packs and sharing our labor, resources and knowledge. We are hard wired to survive and in order to survive we recognize the need to be in groups. It makes sense that in order for our natural survival instinct to be satisfied we require daily social activities. In the near past it was impossible to survive day to day without human interaction.

Within the last 15 years with the internet revolution many of those human interactions can be skipped for the sake of time efficiency. While we are becoming more and more time efficient, we are exchanging and fighting against out natural instincts. While we have entered into a new state of consciousness as a species, the challenge of a hermit life may still be too much for most of us to bear.

So my recommendation is simple. Do 1 social thing every day for at least an hour outside of work. It can be lunch with a colleague or a happy hour or working out with a friend as long as you do it you’ll satisfy that instinct and it will be that much easier to be conscious and happy in everyday life.

Until next time, be social!

Side Note: If possible, try to be socially inclusive. Unfortunately humanity also developed the instinct to create “others” or the enemy, those not within our group. Conflict first arose out of physical need and hunger uncontrolled by consciousness. This created the concept of “the others” who tried to take “our” food and resources. This has mutated “others” based on the desires of man and not the need of man, both which are follies. So be inclusive and do not create others. We are all living beings together on this planet.

Mental Pillar of Happiness, Creative Thinking

How does thinking creatively create an environment allowing one to live a happy life?

The majority of humanity is driven by a sense of inadequacy. I do not have enough, I am not enough, I need to do something in order for life to fulfill me. This results in boredom, feelings of routine and nervousness about doing nothing.

This sense of inadequacy is false and the root cause is something internal to each of us. While creative thinking does not solve the root-cause of the inadequacy, it provides strong relief. This relief will improve quality of life, but like any other object is only temporary.

Creating something you normally do not do breaks the routine of everyday life and disrupts the feelings of inadequacy, nervousness and doing nothing. The act of creation requires a level of focus which does not allow us to have the negative feelings mentioned above. I have often heard of people who are performing different acts of creation entering into a realm of focus that they do not have in everyday life. There are no limits with creation. Even if you can not physically make it, mentally you are only constrained by your imagination. However it is important to take the imagined and make it physical, much like taking a dream and making it reality. Only then will you maximize the experience. This will be a little difficult require some discipline to reach initial success, but once you overcome the initial hurdle you’ll find yourself absorbed by creation.

Until next time, create something!

Pillars to a happy life

Pillars
My past 3 blog posts have been about my daily workouts which keep me happy. I thought I would expand on that. What I have below are the pillars I feel create an environment where humans can be at peace and find the happiness inside all of us. I think I will elaborate on each of these points in future blog posts.

Physical
- Working out 30 minutes a day
- Sleeping 6 to 8 hours a night
- Eating a balanced diet of 2000 or less calories, or eating until slightly hungry

Mental (All of these are outside of your regular work day)
- Training the mind for 15 minutes a day. Meditation or some form of brain training (lumosity.com)
- Creative thinking for 15 minutes a day. Writing a blog, painting a picture, creating a food dish. The key is doing an activity which requires out of the box creativity on your part.

Social
- Do something daily involving people you do not see every day (share a meal, grab a coffee, attend a happy hour or networking event) or try something new with people you do see everyday (new restaurant, new bar, different activity or modified activity) for 15 minutes each day

Spiritual
- Train your spirit and find the inner peace inside you for 15 minutes a day.