How to be Happy

It’s hard not to get utterly mesmerized by the gentle rolling, curving, descending San Bernardino mountains as you make the journey to the Inner IDEA Conference at La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs. The trip over the mountains acts like a tranquilizer to me, but in a good, mindful way. I’m alert but my nagging thoughts aren’t. It makes me happy. 

 

Are you happy?

 

Before you answer, put your smartphone down. Better yet, turn it off. There isn’t an app for happiness, and the journey to wholeness has yet to be located solely in a blog (oops), game, status update or online purchase. The journey to wholeness starts in a state of being that is the polar opposite of your techno-glittery life. It’s in stillness, the space between breaths and the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound your heart makes. You can only hear it when you’re committed to being “home.” 

 

Home is underneath the shroud of noisy thoughts. It’s who you really are.

 

Are you happy? That’s the question Max Strom, author of A Yoga Master’s Handbook of Strength, asked during his keynote presentation tonight. He talked about “two extreme trends”: technology is exploding exponentially; and we are becoming less happy. Shouldn’t instant access to almost anything make us happier? 

 

“Biomedicine will one day make it possible for us to create a heart from a person’s own cells, but can it repair a broken heart?” Strom asked the attendees. “GPS can help you navigate any street safely, but can it help you navigate your relationships?”

 

We need to become happier. Strom suggested the following three imperatives:

1. Self-awareness and self-study. 

2. Start living as if your life and your time span were the same, not separate. You don’t have time to kill.

3. Learn a daily regimen that heals and empowers you.

 

The rest is up to you. Strom says human interaction is 90% non-verbal. Therefore, if you’re communicating primarily through texting (which he calls the “white sugar of our time”) or email, you’re only having a 10% relationship. Start creating 100% relationships with your friends and family. Start with yourself.