If you’ve ever built a model (or a house), you know that the materials don’t equal the finished product.
A good piece of bacon, cooked just right, is awesome by itself. But there’s something also amazingly awesome about a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.
The same can be said of our lives.
Whole, Integrated, Authentic Living
Think back to the moments when you felt like you were running on all cylinders. Your main physical needs were met: Food, shelter, transportation. You were rested, eating pretty well (not junk), engaged in meaningful work that was sufficiently challenging yet not overwhelming, you had time to be active in your yard or with your spouse and kids doing something physical outdoors.
You had time to enjoy your life, to sit back for a moment and savor the beauty around you.
You felt whole and pretty happy, even if you aspired to something more in certain areas of your life.
You had a certain shine in your eyes, a spring in your steps.
That’s what I discovered as I approached my 50th birthday. Although I was far from where I wanted to be professionally and, in fact, had a few sizable challenges looming before me (still do), I realized that I was happy because I was in a situation where I was able to engage with all the things that mattered to me.
The Happy Life Manifesto provides the framework for what I offer here through the Shinecast®.
Shinecast Themes
- Nature
- Health
- Sleep
- Real Food
- Movement
- Connections
- Family
- Relationships
- Community
- Spiritual
- Purpose
- Curiosity
- Creativity
- Recreation
- Vocation: Meaningful Work
The arrangement and classification is, in some ways, arbitrary, because I see each of these as iterative and related to the other. Wholeness is not about adding up to get 70% of these themes moving in the right direction. Each contributes in an exponential way to the results in the other areas.
Integrated, Whole
Getting plenty of sleep will help you deal with health issues (including weight loss and energy), stress, work productivity, creative problem solving.
Time in nature is proven to help reduce stress, improve focus and productivity, and enable curiosity and creativity.
Happiness is not a destination, it is a state of being, a state of mind, that arises when we have most of what we need and are living in a holistic way, not out of balance with our unique needs and aspirations.
Happiness is not the outcome or product of success in work or personal life. Rather, happiness comes from the opportunity to be living authentically and moving forward on the path in a meaningful way.
The Shinecast is about helping you move forward on your hero’s journey along YOUR happy life path.
That’s the message I offer and is at the core of what I share here on the Shinecast website, through the Discover Grow Shinecast podcast, and other resources I offer.
Whole, authentic, real, integrated.
