1. Read any book that nurtures your soul. My favourite is Anthony de Mello’s “Awareness” and my second favourite is “Handbook for the Soul”, edited by Richard Carlson & Benjamin Shield, described as “a magnificent gathering of Warmth and Wisdom to nourish your soul”.

2. Choose to discover what you are passionate about, and then start to take the steps to pursue that passion. It takes courage to venture into new areas out of the comfort zone, but it’s highly unlikely that you are learning unless you do something uncomfortable.

3. Accept the fact that every time you achieve a goal, and enjoy the fruits of the achievement through ‘being happy about it’, the next thing that happens is that you set a new goal and the journey starts again! Yet most people choose only to be happy when their goals are achieved, so they are almost perpetually unhappy. Therefore, choose to be happy while pursuing your goals: enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

4. Practise your daily disciplines after you have written them out and displayed them where they are easily seen! Every act of discipline builds your self-esteem and self-confidence, key ingredients in the happiness equation. Some examples of disciplines are:
a. Exercise regime
b. Meditation
c. Affirmations
d. Eating regime.

5. Become aware that every experience in life has benefits & drawbacks: even if you win $10 million in Tattslotto, there will be drawbacks, such as
a. Family and friends who ask for, indeed even demand, that you help them
b. Need to learn how to protect your winnings, and increased fear of losing money
c. Increases need for taking security measures
d. Loss of friends who are left behind because you choose a new, more extravagant lifestyle.
Understanding the benefits and drawbacks helps you to always see your life as a balance, and that happiness is truly a choice: you can choose to be happy by focussing on the benefits of your experiences rather than the drawbacks. When you do this, you become incredibly grateful for the wonderful experience that is life on planet earth.