There are many theories on happiness. Some believe happiness comes and goes, others believe it’s the purpose of life. I don’t know about you but I don’t have the answer and maybe others either and we’re all trying to work it out for ourselves. That was one of the catalysts for me creating the model that I’m going to share with you today. To try and do my bit to simplify happiness by breaking it down into three distinct areas and examining each.
I’m calling this model the true happiness fulfilment model and I believe the first principle to understand is that happiness and fulfilment are deeply unique and personal experiences for us all. Society often paints the picture that happiness and fulfilment is a one-size-fits-all approach, but in reality, happiness and fulfilment mean something different to us all. It’s up to us to discover what happiness means, looks like, and feels like to us so that we can live by our own rules and create our own lives by design. The model that I’m about to share with you feeds into this principle, so let’s dive deeper into it…
Level 1 – Happiness From the Inside Out
The first level of the True Happiness Fulfilment Model focuses on happiness from the inside, out. This level is about embracing our authentic selves and doing what we love, which brings us joy, energy, and fulfilment. It’s all about being and expressing our true selves and shining our light into the world. This could be the purest form of happiness because it’s not reliant on any given material possession, person or people, or from anything external. It’s all about coming to a place of peace, happiness, and fulfilment within ourselves.
Level 2 – Happiness From the Outside World
The second level of happiness and fulfilment is derived from the external world and focuses on the people we surround ourselves with and who and how we spend our time. There is a direct correlation between the people we surround ourselves with and our level of happiness. It’s well known in the personal development world that we become the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with so if we are hanging out with people who are, negative, unhappy, and low-energy then, that at some level is going to rub onto us.
This is especially true if we are spending a of time with them, and aren’t managing our energy effectively. This doesn’t mean to disown our negative family members, it just means to be aware of who is your energy-drainers vs energy givers and most importantly to be a energy-giver for others. Raise others higher and support them in their pursuit of happiness and self-improvement. When we positively impact those around us, it creates a feedback loop of happiness and fulfilment.
Level 3 – Happiness From Increasing Quality of Life
The third and final level centres on increasing happiness by increasing our quality of life. This is what is most associated with happiness in society as it’s about gaining some level of happiness from material possessions and wealth. We can to some extent be happier through acquiring possessions and wealth, but it’s often fleeting and in my opinion isn’t the first place to seek happiness but many do. I’ve been there myself, and it leads to no place good. Once you’ve got to a happy place within yourselves, and with the people around you then exploring happiness from increasing the quality of our lives becomes a natural part of the journey as it just extends who you already are.
Increasing the quality of our lives isn’t only about material possessions or wealth. It’s about experiences which I believe beats possessions anyway. Both can contribute to our overall life experience if they align with our values and make our lives both easier and better in some way.
While life doesn’t work like this, I would seek to get most of your happiness from the first level. The place of inside, out. I would then aim to get around 10 to 15% of happiness coming from the external world to help increase your overall quality of life. This balance ensures a solid foundation for our overall happiness and fulfilment.
This model provides a framework for understanding and pursuing true happiness and fulfilment. Feel free to change and add to it as you please. I would love to hear your thoughts on the model, and if it’s helped you in any way. The fundamental principle to remember is that happiness is an inside-out phenomenon and by focusing on your inner world, you create a more happy, fulfilled, and purposeful outer world.
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