We are all seeking happiness in our lives through outward pursuits such as our professional life, relationship milestones, and material possessions. However, the happiness they provide can feel temporary and insufficient, leaving one struggling with feelings of confusion, resentment, and inadequacy. You may be continually asking yourself questions like, “Why am I unhappy?” or “What could make me happier?”
Regardless of how one defines happiness for themselves, the fact remains that true and lasting happiness is not derived from external circumstances. Instead, we can cultivate it from within.
Rooted in the principles of wholistic wellbeing, Prakriti Poddar, Global Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Roundglass Living, a Wholistic Wellbeing app shares her personal happiness mantra, which she calls the A-B-C-D Mantra, to help herself and others find their own sense of inner happiness and wellbeing.
A — Awareness of Agency
Happiness begins with full awareness of your agency — the ability to start, blend, and shape your life’s path. When you grasp this control, you realise you’re responsible for how you react and respond, and you alone decide how you engage with life. Being the director of your life also means understanding you have the power to shape your thoughts, actions, and their impact on your experiences.
Metacognition: A Higher Plane of Self-Awareness — One way to tune into your agency is to quiet your mind. When you silence yourself through meditation, you can begin to understand how you think about the things that are happening to you. When you understand how you think, that leads you to understand more about how you feel and act. That self-awareness — called metacognition — gives you a powerful sense of your infinite agency for change. Once you realise you are fully in control of your own inner mental, emotional, and spiritual experience, you also begin to see that every trial life throws at you is an opportunity for growth. When you approach what happens to you from that sense of abundance, instead of from a place of depletion, you can completely transform your reality from the inside. And much like repeatedly lifting a five-kilo free weight, the more you return to this meta-awareness of your agency, the greater muscle for emotional resilience you will build. With that resilience also comes confidence — a sense of safety and security in your ability to handle what life throws at you.
B — Bravery over Blame
When you acknowledge your agency, this leads to B — the concept of bravery over blame — which is a highly rewarding step towards happiness. As the sole agent of your life, you can use your awareness to design your reactivity and responses. Once you do, you realise you truly have no one else to blame for anything that happens to you in your life. Situations in your environment that attempt to pull you down or lower your happiness quotient are only as effective as your ability to transcend them. The ability to transcend those situations comes from understanding that you need bravery to walk the path you construct for yourself.
C — Cultivate Your Consciousness
However, it doesn’t work to stumble half-asleep along the path you’ve charted for yourself. You must cultivate your consciousness, which means you must be fully awake and aware in every moment. If you struggle with this, it’s time to return to the awareness of your agency and to find the bravery necessary to own it in the face of the challenges that come at you.
D — Design Your Destiny
Whatever it is that you face in your life, you alone must decide what adds to your conscious development and what subtracts from it. If you commit consciously to keeping the good and leaving the bad, you come to the next step to happiness — what I call ‘designing your destiny.’ When you design your destiny, you can achieve happiness in infinite abundance. Ultimately, designing your destiny brings together steps A, B, and C to deliver on the choices you made while guided by your values and aspirations.
Another simple way to find your way to happiness available to you in the present moment is to focus on your breathing. Breathwork is simply adding intention to something we do automatically. Creative visualisation can also help you find a sense of wellbeing. All these practices and more are available on the Roundglass Living app, which is built to support you on this inner journey to self-awareness, agency, bravery, elevated consciousness, and your destiny.
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