The recipe for happiness can be a metaphor for the nutrients in our food. We need nutrients for growth, both physically and mentally. People who do not get the required nutrient or a balanced diet becomes deficient or malnourished.
Similarly, we need happiness to make us flourish in life. Happiness has its components – satisfaction, pleasure or enjoyment, and meaning.
- Meaningful life. According to Martin Seligman, meaning comes from serving something beyond yourself and developing the best with you. A meaningful life requires taking responsibility and extending it to others. It requires making a sacrifice for yourself and others.
- Satisfaction. Satisfaction does not mean having all that you want. Some people have everything but are never satisfied in life. Others, too, have little but are satisfied. However, no matter what you have, if you want everything, you will find it difficult to be happy.
- Pleasure or enjoyment. Having a pleasurable moment is part of happiness. Unfortunately, people sometimes confuse fun or entertainment with being happy in life. For instance, people can enjoy their favourite drink, food, sporting activity, movies, and music and think they have happiness. So what happens when you are not having enjoyment? Imagine lying on your deathbed, asking yourself if you had a good life, and trying to answer by tallying all the excellent food you had eaten or all the music you have ever listened to.
Living a happy life can be found in balancing pleasure, satisfaction, and meaningful life.