Cracking the Happy Code

Posted on April 9, 2013May 25, 2014 by Sandi Amorim 15 Conversations

Happy. Not happy. Happy. Not happy. Unhappy?

A client likened it to a personal Morse code tapping its way through her brain.

We burst into laughter when she said it out loud. It was the laughter of recognition.

Questioning life. Questioning decisions. Questioning. . .everything. And yeah, I love asking questions and challenging and going deep.

Until I don’t.

Until the day comes when I just don’t want to explore another damn thing.

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

But did he mean for us to examine ad infinitum?

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Myth Busting and the Key to Happiness

Posted on February 7, 2013May 25, 2014 by Sandi Amorim 22 Conversations

“The key to happiness and health (and to all their auspicious by-products) is not how intensely happy we feel, but how often we feel positive or happy.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky

The Myths of Happiness, book cover

You know those times in life that rock your foundation?

In her book The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky calls them crisis points.

They’re the kind of events that leave you feeling like things will never be the same. And love them or hate them, they happen to everyone.

These crisis points can be times of renewal and growth, but let’s keep it real – we rarely seem to view them as such when we’re going through them.

Therein lies the key – how do you deal with them.

Myths is about identifying the steps that will work for you, and as in any area of life, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

I recently asked,

If happiness is a choice, why don’t we always choose it?

I wasn’t surprised to find that most people believe it is a choice, but the question remains,

Why don’t we always choose it?

That’s the question I had in mind as I began reading the book.

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If Happiness Is A Choice

Posted on January 31, 2013May 25, 2014 by Sandi Amorim 36 Conversations

A happy moment.

Drinking my rooibos tea and looking around as I work at a nearby cafe.

I feel satisfied to be doing work I love, and grateful that I can do it from almost anywhere in the world.

Like a cat in the sun, I am absorbing the energy of the people around me.

It’s satisfying and I feel happy.

And then I have this thought. . .

If happiness is a choice, why don’t we always choose it?

Is it a myth that happiness is a choice?

If it were true, wouldn’t more people be happy?

In her new book The Myths of Happiness Sonja Lyubomirsky suggests that we’ve been given false promises when it comes to happiness. Myths that set us up for disappointment due to their external nature.

You’re familiar with the “I’ll be happy when…” syndrome, aren’t you?

No one’s immune to it, as far as I can tell.

“It turns out that the key to happiness and health… is not how intensely happy we feel, but how often we feel positive or happy.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky

Having read Lyubomirsky’s earlier book The How of Happiness, I know she doesn’t overwhelm with scientific fact, instead delivering a very human element in her writing.

So I’m on the case, inquiring into happiness as I begin reading The Myths of Happiness – a review will be posted February 7, 2013.

For now, I want to hear what you think.

Over to you:

Is happiness really a choice?
If so, what helps you choose it more consistently in your life?