Here it is...The Secret to Happiness (Pt 1)

You don't need to read another newsletter from anybody my dude. I've solved happiness (lol). Here it is, the secret to happiness...
It's a 2 step process.
Sculpt away the unhappiness with automation
Become more alive
In today's newsletter we will be taking about part 1
How to Sculpt Away Unhappiness (w/ automation)
Before we jump in, please note that if you have serious addictions, significant mental struggles, and/or health issues of any kind you should work with the appropriate medical personnel to take care of those before anything else. As is probably obvious, those will be the biggest bottlenecks to your happiness.
That being said...
There are 5 main things you can automate to sculpt away unhappiness. When we are angry, sad, or just feeling shitty we usually attribute it to other people, to external circumstances, or our own self worth. We forget that our bodies and mind are intertwined in profound ways. Sometimes, we aren't angry, we're just hungry.
To sculpt away unhappiness it is important to identify the important things that allow us to keep our baseline health at a good level. To that end, I've done a LOT of research. I have read all the books, watched all the videos, discussed with smart people, etc..
But most importantly, I used cool apps like https://exist.io/ to directly track what actually affects my mood. I now know the 5 specific things that affect my mood. I know exactly what makes me happy and unhappy. And after discussing with many friends who are just as nerdy, I wanted to share these with you.
It's clear that there are 5 main things you need to automate to be happy. Most of these are things you've heard before, but they bear repeating. Others are more unique.
1. Sleep
I wrote about this here:
4 Weird Things You Can Do For Better Sleep
It's a cliche for a reason. Sleep is a superpower. And if you are able to wake up every day feeling well rested, your mood is undoubtedly going to be better. If you struggle with sleep check my post I referenced above that gives you unconventional tips to get better sleep.
2. Exercise
Look you don't have to look like this:
All you have to do is work your way up to moving more every day. This could mean daily walks, cardio, light strength training, whatever. Train yourself to love exercise.
How?
Start small. Pick a time and only commit yourself to 5 minutes of walking (jumping jacks, whatever) during that time. Once the habit sticks, slowly increase that amount
And Voila! you got an exercise habit.
3. Diet
I'm going to write more about this in the future. But right now, I'll keep this simple.
Eat less sugar + Processed food and start learning to love the taste of healthy food. Train yourself to actually taste when you eat instead of mindlessly shoving stuff into your mouth hole.
Remember it's possible to get addicted to the good stuff. You think unhealthy food tastes good because your body and brain have forgotten how good healthy food tastes.
4. Developing Awareness + Presence
Meditation is the name of the game here. To sculpt away unhappiness, you have to be aware of unhappiness.
All you need to do is sit everyday at a designated time and follow your breath for 5 minutes. After you get into the habit of doing that, look into a meditation app.
I love Sam Harris' Waking Up personally, but you should find the app that works best for you.
5. Dealing with Difficult Emotions and Negative Self Talk
Dealing with negative self talk is so so important.
As I started to automate my sleep, diet, exercise, and add awareness practices I was way happier. But, I still struggled with my own emotions and negative self talk. To that end, I took a course by Nick Wignall. I was so impressed by his essays and content, that I signed up to help expand the course's reach and improve the student experience.
The course is called Mood Mastery
And if you're interested in living a happier, more productive, meaningful life... I would check it out.
This week we talked about the more obvious secrets of happiness. We talked about the things lot of people know, but nobody knows HOW to do.
Hopefully I gave you ideas on how to actually automate your happiness. Next week on Embrace Your Lazy, we will talk about the more fun, and unique ideas on how to become happier.
We will talk about being more alive.
Usually, psychologists, Stoics, and doctors talk about being happy by removing unhappiness.
They rarely talk about how to actually be happy. How do you bring more joy into your life? How do you live your life in a state of supreme confidence? How do you become more alive?
Next week we'll talk about shaking your shadow's hand, becoming a lover, and how to dance to music among other things.
I'll see you here next week.
Till then my friend,
Pranav