"I feel happy when..." exercise

How to consciously and intentional design your day and life around and for happiness

Photo by D Jonez on Unsplash

Sunni Brown / Sun Kagami

writes the “Nothing in the way” newsletter, and I write the Facili-station newsletter. We thought you might enjoy reading a conversation between the two of us about our favourite workshop exercises.

Sunni and I chose the category ‘Games for Personal Development’ as an exchange to enliven each other’s practice, and hopefully nourish meaningful moments in your life.

We will each write three letters, responding to each other’s thoughts.

Previous letters:

1. Letter 1 from Sunni, about mistake celebration and growth mindset.

This is letter number 2 of 6.

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Hi Sunni,

I loved your last letter about cherishing, sharing and celebrating your mistakes. It went deep right into my heart and made me very happy.

It is though about the last topic here (happiness) I want to share with you my own thoughts.

As it states in my LinkedIn headline, I am a “Happiness Hacker”, meaning that I have a conscious and intentional approach to it. I do not let “happiness” to happen by chance in my life, but I rather intentional design my life and around happiness.

This is HOW I do it….

"I feel happy when..." list exercise

1. Brainstorm about people / activities / situations / events in your life that you feel or felt happy. Do not try to think too much or try to reason why you felt that way. Just do it. Some examples for me are….

   

   You can use different colours for different areas: yellow (professional / work) and pink (private / personal).

2. Make sure that when you plan and design your week ahead, you include everyday at least one activity / situation / person that makes you feel happy.

This is our “shared” family calendar. High touch, low tech ;-)

PS) This exercise can be use with teams (or with your family) together, so we all know what make us happy and can support and help each other along the way.

You might change "I feel happy when..." with "I am at my best when...", asking to name what creates peaks moments, talents, what the people love to do and are good at, and when they tend to shine.

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Dear Sunni and reader, I hope this has been helpful to you. I look forward to reading your response and until next time!