Happiness project - Monthly update | July 2025

Karan Kothadiya
Aug 6
3 min read

Reflections and progress update

After a really slow and unproductive May and June, I finally spent some time on the happiness project in July. As per the original plan, this phase was meant to shift from open-ended exploration to diving into specific questions… And we’re getting there. धीरे-धीरे. थांबा.

It’s not like I didn’t begin the next phase at all. Along with the usual content consumption and book reading, I focused on one simple question for a week: What are some high-leverage activities that could improve our happiness levels? ChatGPT helped a lot here. Slight digression, but I genuinely think learning methods are going to change significantly and soon.

I also finally finished reading Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. Even though it’s rooted in psychology, the humour makes it an extremely fun and engaging read. After The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama, this is the next book I’d wholeheartedly recommend. Alongside that, I’ve also been reading a couple of spiritual books: Swami Vivekananda’s commentary on the ancient Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Honestly, I don’t grasp most of them on a conceptual basis. But both books evoke a deep inspiration every time I turn to them.

A colleague asked me over lunch to tell her five lessons I’ve learnt about happiness so far. It was actually the first time I recalled and articulated what I’ve been learning, spontaneously, on the spot. Here’s what I ended up saying: (1) It’s not about you, yet you’re the only person you can change, (2) everyone needs to consciously learn about happiness, (3) joy, contentment, and meaning are all vital macronutrients, (4) small everyday actions can make you significantly happier, and (5) the mind dominates the game, but it’s also gullible in ways that can be nudged and manipulated. I might change the order at some point, who knows! Hit me up if you want to chat about any of these in more detail.

An unexpected but delightful source of happiness content this month? Instagram Reels. I discovered Arthur Brooks there and really enjoyed this one about money, this one about being happier, this one about not chasing feelings, and this one about macronutrients of happiness. I can now shamelessly justify my doom scrolling.

So, going forward, I’m going to be collecting three things from all of you: Reels, questions, and your lessons about happiness. Shoot. :)

3 concepts learnt in the month

First, we need to balance joy, contentment, and meaning. Each of these is vital, and that’s precisely why finding a balance matters. They’re also deeply personal and subjective. What brings one person joy might not mean much to another, and the same goes for contentment and meaning. But if I can find a way to align all three on the same plane, even briefly, there’s nothing quite like it.

Second, as Daniel Gilbert puts it, we cannot do without reality, and we cannot do without illusion. The tricks of our mind are what make us hope, dream, and keep going. They help us create meaning even when none exists objectively. But those same tricks also make us anxious, desperate, and dissatisfied. So the name of the game is: how do we balance reality and illusion?

Third, maybe a better goal than happiness is transcendence. To be honest, I don’t fully understand what that means yet. I’m parroting this from the spiritual books I’ve been reading, hoping that some of it will eventually stick. But the idea keeps coming up, and it feels worth allowing it to percolate.

Happiness mantras

I can only change myself to improve my happiness.

Choose to be happy.

One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; one of the best ways to make other people happy is to make yourself happy - Gretchen Rubin