I think happiness is a recipe.
One that is unique to each individual person.
Wait for the ingredients to cook themselves and you’ll be waiting an awful long-time.
Rush the cooking process and you’ll burn, contort, abuse, and otherwise mess up the meal.
There’s an art to cooking just like there’s an art to happiness.
And just like a chef would bring a level of presence and care to the kitchen when prepping meals, you too need to bring that same kind of energy to the preparation of your happiness in life.
One of my personal favorite recipes for happiness is:
- 8 cups (hours) of sleep
- 6 cups of teaching
- 2 cups of writing
- 2 cups of connecting
- 1 cup of exercise
- 1 cup of reading
- .5 cups of meditation
With 3.5 cups of space left (in the day) to work with.
Mixed altogether and served with some sprinkles of spontaneity on top.
And it’s a formula that I loosely follow each day.
What you have to figure out for yourself is, what does your recipe consist of?
And are you preparing your batch of happiness fresh every day? Or are you trying to eat from stale batches of happiness that was prepared long ago?
Are you waiting for the ingredients to combine themselves? Are you rushing as you prepare your meals? Or are you taking your time and approaching your craft like a chef would?
Of all the recipes you have memorized in your life, this might be one of the most important to not only memorize—but to internalize.