By Dr Rajesh K Pillania
Many of us say and feel we want to be happy, but actually, we don’t practice it. What we say, what we want and what we do, many times, don’t match. In the routine of life, happiness takes a back seat, even when we want to be happy. We need to overcome this and reclaim our control of our attention, energy and time. What we need for happiness is time, energy and focusing our attention on what we want to achieve i.e. happiness.
To do so, first, one needs to have a personal definition of happiness, i.e. to understand and define what happiness is for an individual. Since each one is different, it is essential to have a personal definition of happiness. Once the understanding and definition are clear, place it on various screens such as mobile phones, laptops, next to bathroom mirrors and so on, so that one does not forget about it in the busy business of life.
Our three most important resources are time, energy and attention. To ensure we follow our journey of happiness, we need to monitor daily or weekly where our attention is and how we spend our energy and time. It will be tricky initially, but after continuous efforts, we can bring our attention, energy and time to what makes us happy. We need to give our attention, energy and time to other things too. Through this exercise, we can gradually increase our attention, energy and time to create a happier life.
In my happiness research and teachings over the years, I have asked people to undertake this exercise: define their happiness and monitor their TEA (Time, Energy, Attention) for a month and share their results with me. Many of them come back laughing sharing that earlier, they wanted happiness but were spending their TEA on things they knew would make them unhappy. This simple process of defining happiness and monitoring TEA regularly really helps in the happiness journey.
In India, we love drinking tea. Tea is a part of our daily lives. For a successful happiness journey, take your TEA (Time, Energy, Attention) seriously and drink it judiciously!
(The writer is a Professor at the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. He is popularly known as India’s Happiness Professor and India’s Happiness Guru)
