Fire is a good servant but a bad master. Like fire our mind is useful when it is under control. The mind is a like a growing child: always dwells on imagination. It is a wonderful thinking machine. But left alone, it becomes a master and we being enslaved with its unwise thoughts. Can we have a system to manage it so that we can feel happier at all times?

A happier you is not ever lasting. Let me give you an example. Tomorrow is the festival or celebration for the Muslims in Singapore. It is the end of the fasting month. The day starts with a group prayer in the nearby mosque and asking forgiveness from everyone. We are in a happier state. Will we be in that constant state?

For 30 days we fast and take food to the minimal. We do not offend others in any way. We cultivate patients. We propose forgiveness. We do not gossip about others. What is the result? We become an approachable human counterpart. The world becomes a better place.

What happens on the other 335 days? Will we feel happier all the time? Is there a system we can tap from to feel happier constantly? This is what I propose to do to keep me in a happier state fairly constantly.

Health

I propose to lead a healthy lifestyle. Health is a function of lifestyle. Lifestyle depends on what we eat for energy and how we burn off that extra energy. Since my work takes 9 hours of my daily time, I want to do the following regimen:

• I want to walk at least 4 kilometres a day 5 days a week;
• Take lecithin in my morning coffee;
• Do 10 sit ups 5 times a day: morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night
• Do 5 push ups 5 times a day: morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night
• Eat 3 small tomatoes a day;
• Take probiotics

Only with a healthy body you will be able to focus your mind on your goals for an enriching life.

Goal setting

Goal setting is conditional if you want to be the master of your own mind. The mind chatters most of the time. We have around 80,000 thoughts per day and most of them are nonsense. I am going to write out the most urgent goal and then set a time line to achieve it. I have the following goals:

• Goal No 1-To take up a driving class by 2011
• Goal No 2-To move in to a landed property 2014

I will give top marks for goal number 1 so that by getting a licence will make me efficient in my business. In turn I can take a part time job in real estate to purchase the dream house: that is goal number 2.

If you do not plan to succeed, you are planning to fail

If you do not plan to succeed, you are planning to fail. How true it is. Don’t make your mind wander. Let it ponder over the vital skills that you will want to learn.

Skill

Education is the key factor in upgrading your skills. Learning a skill makes your mind occupied.

I always wanted to cook a food which is loved by the majority. One such food I propose to learn is how to make roti prata.

Roti prata is one of the favorite national foods of Singaporeans. The evolution of Roti Prata is from India when Muslims occupied it. It is most probably brought in by the Arabs. It is pancake bread made of well kneaded dough composed of a little fat, egg, flour and water. Roti means bread in Hindi, Urdu, most other North Indian languages and Malay, while Prata means flat.

A mind that is not learning is dead

If you can master this skill, you can use it to enrich your life. You can open up a roti prata shop in your country. You can invite your neighbors and friends for a roti prata party. Learning a skill makes you stand out from the crowd

A mind that is not learning is dead.

Communication

The mind always prompts you with dangerous questions:

• Why do I have to go out to work today?
• Why do I have to spend that boring 9 hours of my precious life at work?
• Why do I have to wake up so early?
• Why do I have to attend the seminar?

Do not see the darker side of things: you will end up on the oasis of procrastination. Instead look on the brighter side: that is where opportunity is

The mind prompts you to see the negative side of things. You have to re direct those questions with better ones:

• What values I will be able to spread in my work today?
• What I am going to learn today?
• What advantage I get by waking up early?
• What tips I can get by attending the seminar?

Do not see the darker side of things: you will end up on the oasis of procrastination. Instead look on the brighter side: that is where opportunity is.

Creativity

Look back when you were young. Were you creative? Did you have that creative juice overflowing in you? What happened to all the passion you had when you were young? Sometimes we are too busy and lost our creativity altogether.

Living is finding solutions to our problems. Creative solutions arise when:

• You define what the exact problem is;
• Write out the possible solutions to this problem?
• What are you limiting belief to this solution?
• What are you limiting values to this solution?

Conclusion

To be happy you need to tune in your own self: your mind. You do not need something to happen to be happy. You do not need festivals to be happy. Have a healthy body, learn a skill, communicate correctly and find ways to have creative solutions to your problems.