Most of us are so often driven by external evaluation and relative success. We tend to assess how we are doing based on external and visible parameters of evaluation – be it the career, job title, size of bank account or the car one drives. A lot of us also seem stuck in the idea of relative success – no matter how successful one is, there is an element of seeing it in relative terms to people around us – the guy driving the Mercedes c-class is watching the guy in e-class and the guy in e-class is thinking when’s he going to get the BMW 7-series and so on…as a result, we are living a poor man’s life because we are all the time thinking of what we don’t have rather than be thankful for all the wonderful blessings we do have.

It is this thought process that leaves a vacuum in people’s lives. No wonder the results on the happiness test for the very same “successful” individuals maybe substantially scattered**

Often, people are also consumed by the pursuit of money. However, does seeking money and other pleasures create sustainable happiness? There’s enough body of research to suggest that while there may be a positive correlation between annual income level and happiness until you reach a reasonable level of income (say, US$20,000), there is necessarily no correlation after the income level crosses that threshold. In 2002-2003, the New York Times reported that the real income in the US had risen over 16% during the previous 30 years, but the percentage of Americans who described themselves as “very happy” had actually fallen from 36% to 29% during the same period.

In a more spiritual sense, this constant struggle can be explained by the sense of duality and separation created by the human mind. Based on how the mind gets conditioned from all the past experiences, it forms perceptual maps to operate in the physical world. Over time, the mind’s identification with this map becomes so strong that it begins to see it as the only reality. Since the reality is something else, the gap between perceived reality (expectations) and the true reality causes stress and struggle. The related emotional impact in terms of anxious feelings is merely body’s reaction to the mind.

What do we need to do? What option do we have? Isn’t everyone around us following the same patterns?

The answer is that we need to look inwards – into ourselves. Self-discovery is more important that the discovery of the world. Also, as Lao Tse said, “He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise”. While self-discovery is a journey that may be challenging to complete even in a life time, we need to begin with developing a deeper understanding of ourselves – without which we would continue to be constantly influenced by what’s popular around us.

In that context, I would like to introduce the concept of personal mastery. To me, personal mastery is the journey of self-discovery leading to consistently living the purpose of one’s life. It requires a high emphasis on self-knowledge, clarity of one’s personal vision and its interconnectedness with the people and the world around.

It captures the essence of being highly self-aware and also having a deep sense of one’s purpose in life and its relevance to the rest of the society. In the upcoming blogs, I would like to explore this concept further and attempt to highlight its relevance in everyday life – at work, in relationships, in leading a happier life and even in the biggest global issues of today, namely world peace, alleviation of poverty, and climate change.

**if you would like to try a free self-assessment happiness test, please visit www.rajivvij.com/happinesstest