When I married my wife and when we had our first child, everything was amazing. I knew what it feels like to be so fulfilled and happy.
There were smiles, laughter, joy, and happiness in the house almost every day.
There were smiles, laughter, joy, and happiness in the house almost every day.
But soon, there was a problem...
For an unknown reason, my energy just plummeted along with my happiness and zest for life...
Most of the times I feel like a robot doing something over and over again without a sense of achievement.
There were days when I'd wake up, and scroll mindlessly through the same 3 apps on my phone.
But I was literally exhausted doing NOTHING.
It was frustrating...
Sometimes it was because I don't have enough money, sometimes it was because my wife and I had a fight, and sometimes I just lose motivation to be happy or to feel good generally.
Everything seemed to be boring, but I had no motivation to do something fun either.
Rarely during happy days, I could easily deal with stress and challenging situations. I had confidence, my mind was clear, and good things seemed to naturally come my way...
But when I feel low, my life sunk...
And WORST of all... I feel like my wife and my kids aren't happy with me either.
Then I just felt a tug in my heart and immediately decided to find out what's really going on with me.
The process of finding the solution took me 30 months.
I traveled to Sardinia to meet with Calvin, a food chemist.
For an unknown reason, my energy just plummeted along with my happiness and zest for life...
Most of the times I feel like a robot doing something over and over again without a sense of achievement.
There were days when I'd wake up, and scroll mindlessly through the same 3 apps on my phone.
But I was literally exhausted doing NOTHING.
It was frustrating...
Sometimes it was because I don't have enough money, sometimes it was because my wife and I had a fight, and sometimes I just lose motivation to be happy or to feel good generally.
Everything seemed to be boring, but I had no motivation to do something fun either.
Rarely during happy days, I could easily deal with stress and challenging situations. I had confidence, my mind was clear, and good things seemed to naturally come my way...
But when I feel low, my life sunk...
And WORST of all... I feel like my wife and my kids aren't happy with me either.
Then I just felt a tug in my heart and immediately decided to find out what's really going on with me.
The process of finding the solution took me 30 months.
I traveled to Sardinia to meet with Calvin, a food chemist.
You might be thinking why I flew halfway across the globe to meet with him.
It's because I realized I wouldn't be able to find the exact answer to my problems by reading articles online because they generally say the same things but people are still struggling. They always need help with their happiness, stress levels, moods, etc.
And when I had a chat with Calvin on Facebook more than a year ago, I discovered that he also wants the same answers to the same questions I had. Not because he has a problem, but because that's what he likes to do as a food chemist, to find solutions and give it to people.
So I met with him in Sardinia and we talked about tons of things about why Sardinians can be considered as the happiest people on the planet, and why they live longer than the rest of the world.
It's because I realized I wouldn't be able to find the exact answer to my problems by reading articles online because they generally say the same things but people are still struggling. They always need help with their happiness, stress levels, moods, etc.
And when I had a chat with Calvin on Facebook more than a year ago, I discovered that he also wants the same answers to the same questions I had. Not because he has a problem, but because that's what he likes to do as a food chemist, to find solutions and give it to people.
So I met with him in Sardinia and we talked about tons of things about why Sardinians can be considered as the happiest people on the planet, and why they live longer than the rest of the world.
The 3 Keys to Effectively Deal With Everyday Unhappiness and Low Moods
First of all, find your happiness set point.
Finding your happiness set point is where your journey to happiness begins.
When you don't know your happiness set point, you wouldn't know how to raise it.
And raising your happiness set point is critical if you want to achieve long-lasting happiness in life.
It's a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Let's say you're a 6. No matter what happens to you, if you won the lottery, for example, you'd go up to 9-10 for a few weeks or a few months, then you'll go back to 6 again.
If something bad happens to you, it can drop to 3-4 for a while, and then go back to 6 again.
If you don't know where you currently at, it'll be hard for you to establish a plan.
Finding your happiness set point is where your journey to happiness begins.
When you don't know your happiness set point, you wouldn't know how to raise it.
And raising your happiness set point is critical if you want to achieve long-lasting happiness in life.
It's a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Let's say you're a 6. No matter what happens to you, if you won the lottery, for example, you'd go up to 9-10 for a few weeks or a few months, then you'll go back to 6 again.
If something bad happens to you, it can drop to 3-4 for a while, and then go back to 6 again.
If you don't know where you currently at, it'll be hard for you to establish a plan.
Key number 2 is Balancing Your Brain Chemistry
Balancing your brain chemistry is the safest, healthiest, and most effective way to raise your happiness set point.
This is one of the most fascinating discoveries in my research. I've found that the main reason why the average person is unhappy is that their brain chemistry is out of whack.
The 4 major neurochemicals (or brain chemicals) to watch out for are Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphin, and Oxytocin.
Dopamine can be responsible for the feeling of motivation. Serotonin is responsible for our mood. Oxytocin for the belongingness we feel. And Endorphin for the euphoric feeling that the average person doesn't always experience.
If they're balanced and working together like clockwork, we feel good. If they're not balanced, we feel stressed and we may not know exactly why. (Well, now you have an idea why.)
Balancing your brain chemistry is the safest, healthiest, and most effective way to raise your happiness set point.
This is one of the most fascinating discoveries in my research. I've found that the main reason why the average person is unhappy is that their brain chemistry is out of whack.
The 4 major neurochemicals (or brain chemicals) to watch out for are Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphin, and Oxytocin.
Dopamine can be responsible for the feeling of motivation. Serotonin is responsible for our mood. Oxytocin for the belongingness we feel. And Endorphin for the euphoric feeling that the average person doesn't always experience.
If they're balanced and working together like clockwork, we feel good. If they're not balanced, we feel stressed and we may not know exactly why. (Well, now you have an idea why.)
And the final key is Diet
Diet is the safest, healthiest, and most effective way to balance the happiness neurochemicals.
The reason why our neurochemicals get out of whack is that of diet. It's also how we can get it back in order.
According to our research, the secret behind the happiness and evident longevity of Sardinians is their diet.
Furthermore...
We found out that the modern US and European diets lack certain micro-nutrients like B vitamins and Selenium which are essential for balancing our happiness neurochemicals…
And that's why most Americans and Europeans walk around with depleted serotonin and dopamine or oxytocin.
Diet is the safest, healthiest, and most effective way to balance the happiness neurochemicals.
The reason why our neurochemicals get out of whack is that of diet. It's also how we can get it back in order.
According to our research, the secret behind the happiness and evident longevity of Sardinians is their diet.
Furthermore...
We found out that the modern US and European diets lack certain micro-nutrients like B vitamins and Selenium which are essential for balancing our happiness neurochemicals…
And that's why most Americans and Europeans walk around with depleted serotonin and dopamine or oxytocin.
After documenting what works and what doesn't, talking to many people who had tried the Sardinian diet, and combining the best bits from each, I had a master plan...
