“Practicing happiness”

Fatima Iftikhar
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

Shawn Achor is one of the most influential public speakers I have ever came across. I have watched one of his TED talks and that had a long lasting effect on me. My perspective regarding happiness and success is totally changed. It feels like a paradigm shift. I used to measure my happiness with the extent of my success. I was wrong.

Happiness is on the other side of success, what we have done, we’ve pushed the success over the cognitive horizon as a society. Because we think we have to be successful in order to be happy”

These are Shawn Achor’s words that are still echoing in my mind and I cannot stop thinking about it. We lack positive attitude. We don’t see the adversities as opportunities to learn. Rather, we get in panic and feel suffocated. I used to be that person; with the fixed mindset. I used to foster negative emotions in my mind by over thinking about the things that haven’t even happened or there is 0.001% chance that they would occur. I used to stress a lot whenever I faced a failure. I remember when I completed my intermediate and couldn’t get into the Med-school. I started doubting my capability. But, with the passage of time, I over came that toxic habit. My best friend Alveena helped me a lot. She has been a constant support and inspiration.

Alveena and I :’)

Shawn has given five 5 ways to practice happiness: 1- Gratitude about 3 things that you have. 2- Journaling about 1 positive thing that happens in 24 hours with you. 3- Exercise 4- Meditation 5- Random acts of kindness

I believe that thing that helped me over come my negative thoughts and to change my fixed mindset was the 5th one. I started doing the random acts of kindness. I volunteered with an educational organization. It gave me a new perspective, I literally got addicted to helping others. It helped me to become more positive. But still when it came to myself, I wasn’t positive. I have been very self critical. I used to punish myself for past mistakes. I used to feel responsible for everything that ever goes wrong in the circle of my life. I used to be worried a lot, even about the stuff that’s not under my control. Then it all changed, when I joined Amal Academy and came to know the power of positivity. I feel like a completely different person now. :’)

This is my Amal family and I am so proud to be a part of it. :’)

I would like to share my sources of happiness with you. :’)

)

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