The author of the “How Happy Is…” series, Sophie Keller, talks to the Best You about life, happiness and getting over the things that get you down.
With a unique format, each How Happy is… title begins with a probing, but fun quiz that gets to the heart of the matter in determining just how happy you really are. Readers are then directed to the tips that will best help them fix the things that could make them happier in their own lives
When I was 14 I used to play competitive tennis. In the middle of a game my arm collapsed and I had terrible pain in my back and shoulder. I had pain sitting as well as standing and the doctors told me I would never get better. At the time I was also being bullied really badly at school, and I believed that the two things were connected. I had a gut feeling that my back represented my support system.
So, I decided not to accept the doctor’s prognosis and fi nd ways to heal myself. I trained in pilates, when there was only one pilates teacher in the UK. I did Alexander technique, trained in TM, started to meditate twice a day, went to an NLP therapist – the list goes on and on.
As I peeled away my masks and armour not only did my back and shoulder start to heal but I also found that I became happier and happier. It was that early on when I decided to dedicate my life to helping others become happier as well. Perhaps it seems obvious to say that happiness is the key to so much in life.
If you start with happiness you can have and do whatever you want. Because energetically when you come from a place of joy you’re going to attract the good stuff. I help others open the door to happiness inside themselves. It’s there, in everyone. For some people, it may seem hard, but even so little glimmers of happiness and light still come through. What I do is help people open the door wider so the glimmer becomes a stream of light and fi nally they are bathed in happiness. Once the door is open, it changes everything. You can take your happiness into whatever you are doing, so that happiness informs your life.
I believe in finding the happiness inside rather than going on a external “quest” for it. So in this way you can be as happy doing the washing up as you are lying on a beach in the sun. You can be extremely happy whatever you’re doing. It’s just getting it right inside fi rst, so that the rest of your life is fl ooded with happiness, too!
If you vow to never go out with anyone again after every breakup, Keller suggests you can fi nd a happier love life by looking for similar patterns in the people you date, getting rid of your own unworkable beliefs, and burning away your past to make ways for the future.
If you feel like your marriage needs a new spark there are proven ways to learn how to communicate better, fi nd relationship role models, or fi gure out how you and your spouse can “fl y separately and together” at the same time.
“Your health is number one. That’s it. End of story,” Keller says, and How Happy is Your Health will get you on track with eating healthily, keeping clear of common everyday toxins and show you how the mind and spirit affect the body.
Borrowing from the ancient principles of feng shui (which she calls “acupuncture for the home”), Keller makes it easy to have a happier home by rearranging your space and removing clutter—both physical and psychic—from your life.
