christopherjboyce

Seven Years of Happiness

It was seven years ago that I set out on my bicycle to Bhutan. I quit my job, my flat, and ventured out into a world of happiness. Up until that point in my life, despite a decade of research on happiness and knowing most of what there was to know on the topic, I was about a million miles away from tasting it. The journey to Bhutan was the start of changing that.

On every single day of that journey, I asked myself how happy, how purposeful, and how anxious I felt, rating myself between 0 and 10. That in itself was a break from the past. Despite routinely using the answers given by other people to these sorts of questions to carry out my research, I’d not thought of asking myself each day – which is very odd when I think about it now.

I have kept up my daily happiness check-in ever since. And it has helped. A happiness check-in has brought greater awareness to how I’m feeling each day. With that awareness has come a clearer sense of what helps me to have a happy day (and life). I do those things much more now and I’m happier for it.

Of course, it is still a bumpy ride. However, I’m much quicker to notice and respond to periods of difficulty these days. Also, having been measuring my daily happiness for seven years now, it puts any current struggles I’m having in perspective and helps me ride out the storm with greater acceptance and self-compassion. I know I am doing my best in a less than best world and I can quickly find my way back to a calmer state.

***If measuring your happiness is something you might find helpful then I’ve created a spreadsheet that will help you do that – you can find it in this blog post.

16 comments

  2. Hi Christopher, I’m always happy to see an update from you in my inbox. But I was very surprised to realise that it’s seven years since you started on your bicycle journey to Bhutan. I followed your updates at the time and can that really be seven years ago? Makes me think about what has happened in my own life during that time. Quite a bit, it appears.

    So glad to see that you are feeling happier. And wondering what it would be like to make a chart and score myself? Will think about it. 🙂

    Reply

    • Yes, I’m surprised its been seven years too. So much can happen in such a space of time and its often useful to reflect on the how and whats, I think. It’s really easy to score one’s self on happiness, and I put my scores in a simple spreadsheet. Perhaps I should do a simple “how to” post and share a basic spreadsheet template to help people. I hope you’re well and all those happenings in your own life have brought you nourishment or soon will.

      Reply

      • Tried to post this on the blog, but had some password issues, so trying
        via regular email here:

        I would enjoy a simple “how to” post and a spreadsheet. Interestingly, I
        feel that I’m a bit scared of scoring myself. Am I concerned about what
        I might find out? (I generally consider myself a happy/content person.)
        Have you had that experience yourself – of being concerned about what
        the data might show you?

      • Okay – I’ll get onto creating a simple “how to” post and spreadsheet that others can use – bear with me. And yes, I think it is quite natural to feel scared of scoring our happiness, or doing anything we’ve not done before. Who knows where it will take us? Personally I began doing it for myself because I was curious and I had no expectation around what it would bring – I’m willing to try almost anything if it gives me a greater awareness of myself and my place in the world. As a related side issue, I had a work colleague put off reading my book for a while because they were worried it would make them realise they weren’t happy, but in fact it made them realise the opposite – that they were happier than they thought they were.

      • Funny how your colleague didn’t want to read your book.

        But maybe not more funny than me being concerned about scoring myself.

        In any event, I look forward to you sharing the “how to” post. And it’s
        fine if you take your time. Then I can work on building up the necessary
        muscle in the meantime…

      • Hi Christopher

        I had trouble logging on to the site so responding here.

        Thanks very much for sharing your template. I was away on Christmas
        holiday and got away from it, but, now I’m ready to give it a go. I’m
        quite curious to see what it’ll be like… I’m currently doing a 21 day
        yoga programme with meditation and yoga at 5.30 in the morning, so I now
        wish I’d started beforehand so I might be able to track if that is
        having an effect, but it’s always like that, isn’t it. “I wish I’d done
        this before…” 🙂

        All the best
        Barbara

      • Hi Christopher
        I’m scoring away now (although that sounds easier than it really is…),
        and finding it very interesting. I seem to remember that you were
        organizing a discussion on this in February? Is this still happening –
        or is it maybe too late to register?

        All the best
        Barbara

      • Glad to hear. Yes, please join, I’ve got one space left so it sounds like it’s yours. Sign up in the link on the website so I can send you out a joining link nearer the time.

      • Thanks – I found the google form and signed up. Looking forward to it.

  3. Your journey is truly inspiring! The idea of tracking happiness daily feels like such a practical yet transformative habit. It’s amazing how self-awareness and reflection can help manage life’s ups and downs.

    Reply

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