It may seem a bit out of place to be discussing keys to a happy life amid worldwide political conflicts, social unrest, and economic upheaval. However, this may just be the perfect time to ponder pathways to happiness, especially since we may have a bit more personal time on our hands with working from home and social distancing.
Arthur C. Brooks, professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, and host of the podcast The Art of Happiness with Arthur Brooks, he offers three equations for well-being which, in his opinion, are vital to know in order to start managing your own happiness more proactively. Let’s take a look at the first equation to jump start you on a journey towards a happier life:
Equation 1: Habits of Happiness = Family + Friends + Work + Faith
Now, if you are ready for it, here is what to pay attention to. See I have done the research on the happiest people, and that means the people who have the most enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning in their lives. What do they all do? What do they have in common? What are their habits every single day? It turns out, I mean, I could give you 1000 habits, but they wouldn’t matter, they would be trivial. There are only four that matter and this is your happiness plan.
Number one:
All happy people are serious about their family life. They just are, and why is that not obvious ? here is why : one in six Americans today is not talking to a family member because of politics. When you hate somebody, family, or friends for that matter, because of politics, you have been productized by the culture, the political and media establishments have used you because when you hate, somebody else is profiting and it is not you.
Number two :
Second is friendship. One of the saddest things that I see is because I work with CEOs ( Chief Executive Officer ) and industrial lists and entrepreneurs and successful people all day. They are the loneliest people I’ve ever met, not because they don’t have people around them, they are not isolated and they have a lot of friends. The problem is that they have a lot of deal friends and not that many real friends. Do you know the difference between real and deal friends ? Deal friends are useful but Real friends are useless. You need useless people. They are sitting around you right now, they are extremely useless. I don’t mean worthless. They are not that. But this is the thing, a lot of people don’t have enough useless people in their life. Cultivate your useless friends whom you only love and don’t let it get away. That is a big part of the project of getting happier between now and tomorrow.
Number three:
It is your work, now there is a lot of ways that work can be described. I’m not saying it is like going someplace and getting a salary check. Raising a family is work, going to a job is work, being a volunteer is work, there is a lot of ways to do it. But what they have in common to bring your joy is simply two things:- First, you earn your success by creating value through your merit and hard work and personal responsibility, which you will do with your life over the next years. Second, and more importantly, you serve other people with your work because people need you. That’s what you look for when you are out in the workforce or when you are simply taking care of your family, earning your success and serving others, only then will you find joy.
Number four:
That is your faith. This is the place for your faith to grow; this is the best possible incubator for you to become the Catholic person that you are supposed to be and carry it with you for the rest of your life. Because trust me as a scientist that Faith is going to be the source of your happiness on your worst day. The more you have the more you develop it right now, the more you are going to carry it for the rest of your life. People ask me all the time; professor why are you so serious about your catholic faith because I’m serious about wanting to be a happier person. I am a selfish man, and this is one of the ways that never fails the more that you pay attention to the work of the soul, the happier you will be. The gospel says be holy and I say be happy and it is the same thing. They are equivalent, they lead to the same place if you do it right and understand each one. So, that is your strategy now: one quick thing you don’t have to remember family, friendship, work, and faith. It is all one thing. It is all love of your Lord, love of your friends, love of your family and love to everybody in the whole world through the way that you sanctify your ordinary work. Love more is what it comes down to.
Dr. Antoine Moussally
ICCS World Chairperson