Yeah, what does make you happy? Such a simple question, right? Maybe even so simple, that it’s easily forgotten? Until of course sometime later (or even years) when you realize you’re caught up in all kinds of things, not entirely sure anymore if that really makes you happy. And then you wonder: who am I, what does make me happy? And even when you know, the question is: do you succeed in giving that enough attention? Anyway, simply by being still for a moment, to listen to your own breathing and by asking yourself that question: “What makes me happy?” you will start to bring peace to your mind. And from this peace an answer will present itself to you. And if it doesn’t, don’t force yourself, just smile at it. You can make the question smaller: “What would make me happy today, this morning or this moment?” It may be a very simple thing, the point is: Where focus goes, energy flows. You’ll start to focus on what matters to you and on something positive. Your actions will follow that focus. And from that point on you can explore until you have a clear answer to what makes you happy in any situation, and dance your way through life accordingly. Alright, maybe not dance, but flounder – or somewhere in between. Either way, to give you an inspirational kick start, do yourself a favor and watch this film. It alone will make you happy, if only for a moment.

I don’t run on Nike shoes and this commercial won’t make me change my mind. Still I like it for it’s inspirational message. It says: “The theory of evolution claims only the strong will survive. But the theory of competition says just because they are the strong, doesn’t mean they can’t get their asses kicked”. Remember that when a business competitor stronger than you is after the same contract. Or what about this line: “The odds may be stacked against you, the other guy may in fact be the favorite. But what the odds don’t know, is this isn’t a math test”. The way I see it, ‘the other guy’ in this case can be anything. It can be a person, but also a statistic, a distance, an illness, a crisis and last but not least, it can very well be yourself, trying to sabotage you in one way or another. The point is, in life we face all kinds of challenges. Sometimes we take them on with great confidence, but if we can’t, this commercial encourages us not to worry, for “passion has a funny way of trumping logic”.

Even when we’re frustrated with something, like our job or rude people in the streets, we tend to not really show it. For a large part because we are taught to remain calm, to keep our cool, to control ourselves and play it safe. So that’s what we do, most of the times anyway. And this can go on for years. For years we can have the job that we know isn’t going to make us happy. For years we can tolerate rude people being rude etc.. I recently stumbled upon this video. It’s called ‘Get mad as hell’. It’s a dialogue from the 1976 movie ‘The Network’ and a great dialogue it is. Although the story is set in the 1970’s, the dialogue could be about 2011. In fact it could be about you about you and I: to get mad as hell, to not take it anymore. To not take what anymore? Well, anything we’re unhappy with, but don’t show. And if you like, here’s the original footage (quite brilliant too).

I’ve been reading Alain de Botton’s book Status Anxiety. And a great book it is. With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, the book examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness. It aims not only to be entertaining, but wise and helpful as well. In this speech he displays some of what’s in the book, only very much compressed and in high speed – as all speakers at TED, who are given so little time for the many things they have to say. Nonetheless, I hope it will inspire you and if you like, you can check out Status Anxiety here (and our Dutch readers here).

Now I don’t own a pair of Levi’s jeans and this commercial won’t make me buy one either. Still, I really like the commercial. It’s actually a mini movie. The images are beautiful, the voice-over is soothing and the words spoken remind us of what’s so easily forgotten: to live life, your life.

This is, if not the most famous, at least the most inspirational speech by Steve Jobs, who died yesterday, october 5th 2011, at the age of 56. The former chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios urges Stanford University graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks, including death itself. It’s a remarkably personal speech and makes you want to grab every inch life has to offer you. Stay hungry, stay foolish. To learn more on how to stay foolish, please read this post and this post and this column.