Happiness as a habit — (Haah)

Photo by Nature Zen on Unsplash

In the last couple of months, the first thing I have after waking up is 1 scoop of protein powder. Protein raises your brain’s tyrosine levels that help produce neurotransmitters called norepinephrine and dopamine. The more good neurotransmitters you have, the happier the bunch of cells(brain) behind my eyes are.

Gyaan aside when brain is not fed properly with the right diet, it’s a liability and master negative energy creator. It knows how to amplify bad things and make you overthink for days. At the same time if you feed it properly, it will works as a well oiled machine. A machine which produces tonne of happy hormones and keep your face well lit like a Christmas tree.

I use to think happiness only comes from a purpose, high-paying job, relationships, sex, friends, travelling, doing some adventure sports, or something you would see in a Bollywood movie. And man I was wrong. It was Naval who coined this term Habit as a Habit that just like any other skill, happiness has to be cultivated everyday.

I started focusing on helping my brain with right nutrition for starters since it’s the easier thing to do than to ponder about my purpose.

For starters, I started having:

1. 1 scoop of protein powder
2. Apple, 2 x Bananas, and whatever fruits I can get.
3. 15 mins of sunlight in a day.
4. Working out 2–3 x time a week.
5. Omega 3 and 6 supplements.
6. Probiotic drink like Yakult.(Why probiotic drink? It has Lactobacillus casei strain, a bacteria which keeps your digestive tract healthy. But what does a digestive tract have to do with my happiness? So, about 50% dopamine is produced in gastrointestinal tract. Healthy gut= Happier you.)
7. Journalling.
8. Taking cold water showers. (Hurts like hell, works like magic. Try it!)

Don’t think you’ll have all of these today and magic will happen. Nope. Brain needs time to adjust to new nutrition and form routine habits around maximising neurotransmitters. It takes at-least a month to see changes in your mood and happiness, just like how long our muscles take to grow and to start showing up.

It took me 2–3 months to follow of these and frequently I forget to follow them. So, I have reminders on my phone. I know 8 pointer list sounds insane so just start with 1 and see how do you feel after a month.

I would say, most days I am 7(out of 10) happy or content due to this routine.

“Maybe happiness is not something you inherit or even choose, but a highly personal skill that can be learned, like fitness or nutrition.”