Hi, and welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session we're going to

talk about aligning your life toward

more happiness and less unhappiness.

So when it comes to living a fulfilling

life, it's not always as straightforward

as do more of this and do less of that.

A lot of times we think we're

doing something that will make

us more happy, but it doesn't.

And sometimes we think we're doing

something that will make us less happy,

but it actually ends up making us happier.

For this reason, I think a really valuable

exercise is to get clear on three things.

The first is what are the things, you

know, for sure won't make you happier.

The second, what are the things that

may or may not make you happier?

You're not really sure.

And third, what are the things

you know will make you happier?

So for example, Things that won't

make you happier could be things like

being more egoic, uh, having more

anger, more greed, more attachments.

While some of these things might feel

good in the moment overall, they do create

constriction in your life and there's

less inner freedom and, and inner peace.

But then there are the other

things that may make you happier.

The most things that you come up, come

across will fall into this category

because these are things like fame, money,

relationships, material items, a vacation.

These are things that, depending on how

they unfold, how you relate to them,

how you develop them, they may or may

not bring happiness into your life.

They may still be essential things,

but you can't necessarily bank on

them creating your fulfillment.

So that's the maybe category.

But then there are the things that

you know will make you happier.

And this one is harder, uh, but it can

include things like more self-love, more

forgiveness, more alignment with your

values, more deep connections, or even

just an understanding of impermanence that

helps you move more fluidly in your life.

In this category are the things that

you know beyond a shadow of a doubt,

that as you invest time into them,

your sense of wholeness, ease, inner

peace and contentment will grow.

So the takeaway here is that once you have

more clarity on these different buckets,

you can more carefully pay attention to

where you invest your time and energy.

What are the things you know will give

you a positive return on your investment?

Spend more time and energy there.

What are the things you know

will give you a negative return?

Try and spend a little

less time and energy there.

And what are the things that are

important to do, but have the

potential to be amazing or toxic?

Well, pay careful attention to how you

invest your time and energy there and

figure out how to make those things more

life-giving rather than life draining.

Hope this gives you something

to think about in your journey

of building a great life.

Thank you for your practice and let's

settle in for today's meditation.