We all aspire to become something in our lives and have our own set of goals and desires. But a common thing that we all look for is happiness. 

The definition of happiness can be highly subjective and therefore different individuals tend to have different definitions of the same. To some, traveling and exploring new places brings happiness while to others being an entrepreneur is fulfilling.  

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor at University of California “happiness can be defined as an enduring state of mind consisting not only of feelings of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions, but also of a sense that one’s life is meaningful and valued”. 

Happiness is addressed as subjective well-being or SWB in positive psychology. How happy a person is in their life can be determined by two key components – how satisfied they are in their lives and how frequently they experience positive emotions.  

The United Nations happiness index in 2023 reported that India stands really low on the world happiness index and ranks 126 out of 137 countries. 

Despite all the difficulties and challenges faced, it is possible for a person to be happy with an optimistic mindset. We watched a few Ted Talks to understand some of the factors that contribute to happiness and, here, we summarize some of their takeaways to guide you on how to spend your lives joyfully: 

1. Anshula Verma: My 5 happiness mantras

Anshula Verma is India’s youngest happiness coach, life coach and the founder of ‘HappyFitYou’, which aims at instilling mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing. 

In her Ted Talk on happiness mantras, she shared that we can lead happy lives if we understand how feel-good hormones like oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine can be controlled and regulated. She concludes by saying that an individual will have thousands of reasons to cry but 10,000 reasons to be happy and smile. 

Here’s a list of 5 mantras to happiness that she suggests: 

• Mood check: Check in with yourself and ask how you’re feeling right now. If you’re feeling dissatisfied, tell yourself it’s completely okay to feel so. 
• Ground zero: This technique stresses on the fact that toxicity can ruin your mental health and removing them can help you become happy. 
• Let go and apologize: She explains how the simple act of forgiving and apologizing can lead to reducing stress, bringing more joy, and improving relationships. 
• Gratitude: This involves accepting and being grateful for whatever you have. 
• Fame and money: Happiness is not about fame and money but about the decisions that you make for your life

Key takeaway: Happiness is a decision that an individual makes and chooses for life. 

2. Saisha Srivastava: What nobody told you about happiness

Saisha who is a consultant at McKinsey & Company gave this talk a few years ago when she was a student at Vassar College, New York. She narrates the story about how she got into teaching dance to blind students at the Calcutta Blind School and the happiness it gave her. 

Her insights include:

• Teaching blind students how to dance has become an act of sharing happiness and not charity or community service.
• Happiness has a ripple effect. She asks people to be conscious of the ripples they create and places emphasis on making ones that matter. 

Key takeaway: Happiness has a ripple effect and these ripples move both outward and inward.  

3. Raj Raghunathan: A short course on happiness

Raj Raghunathan is a Professor of Marketing at McCombs School at UT Austin. 

He begins his talk by sharing that there are two types of people. There are some who want to gain control over every situation.Then there are others who like to take each situation as it arises. 

He shares the following thoughts: 

• Life is filled with uncertainties. If an individual seeks happiness in certainty and control then they end up being stressed and unhappy. However, accepting these uncertainties and ups and downs that life throws at them can lead a joyous and happy life. 
• Successful people aren’t as happy as they should be as with success they expect to gain more control over things in their lives.
• Simple activities like eating healthy, exercising and meditating can help one lead a healthy lifestyle by helping them to gain inner control. 

Key takeaway: Trying to establish control over things, situations or people does not bring happiness. Instead of trying to gain control over others it’s better try to find inner control by keeping a check on your mind and emotions. 

4.Sana Sood: Chasing happiness 

Both Sana and Nitin, were founders of HappyShappy, which was an online portal for wedding venues and vendors at the time of the talk. They spoke about their journey and the decisions that they made along the way. 

The couple stress on the following points: 

• Make a conscious decision of doing things that make you happy.
• Know that what makes you happy today may change tomorrow.
• One has to always work at happiness and sticking to one notion or idea about happiness won’t help. 

Key takeaway: Making unorthodox or unpopular decisions can also help an individual be happy because happiness means different things for different individuals. 

5. Srikumar Rao: Plug into your hard-wired happiness

Srikumar Rao is the CEO of The Rao Institute which aims to help people experience happiness in life. He begins the talk by saying that everything we indulge in is a quest for happiness. He explores the factors required to be happy and discusses how things that make you happy can go away with time. He concludes the talk by saying that passion exists within and not outside in a job or other influences. 

Here are some of his thoughts: 

• Happiness is one’s innate nature and is a part of their DNA. 
• The if-then model i.e. If this happens then I will be happy. Without realizing that the model is flawed we spend enormous amounts of time trying to get to the ‘if’. 
• Accepting things the way they are can lead to a happy being and save one from entering the if-then model. 
• Investing in outcomes which are completely out of our control is not useful and suggests that we focus on the process instead.

Key takeaway: Acceptance helps one to drop their habitual wanting self thereby surfacing happiness which is one’s innate nature. 

Happiness is very important to us. These conversations show us how we can find more joy and meaning in our daily lives. And how happiness can become a habit.