Happiness On Demand

Hello Reader,

I hope things are going smoothly for you.

Today we return to our regularly scheduled programming,

but if you missed it, and want to check it out still,

​IAM: Inner Alignment Method is now published and available on my website.

Alignment is the core process of bringing your thoughts, words, and actions into harmony across body, mind, and spirit. It’s the shift from simply knowing what’s true for you to actually living it. When you’re aligned, you stop working against yourself. And that’s where real, lasting change from depression and anxiety to lasting happiness begins.

Over time, the Inner Alignment Method will become part of a larger framework: AAA (Awareness, Acceptance, Alignment) which I’ll likely introduce as an online course in the future.

But for now, back to plain ol' newsletters 😄

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What if you had everything… except happiness?

Which would you rather have:

• 2 Billion Dollars
• Unlimited, unshakable Happiness?

I want you to think about this:

In 2014, Markus Persson, aka Notch, sold his "little" indie game known as Minecraft to Microsoft for $2.5 Billion.

Yes, billion with a B.

Notch is believed to have walked away with an estimated $2 billion before taxes.

For most of us, that means the ultimate happy ending. No more stress, no more struggles. Just happy fun times forever after, right?

Yet, some time after the sale, Markus posted something online that caught people’s attention:

“I’ve never felt more isolated.”

He mentioned that when he tried to hang out with “normal people,” he felt like he didn’t fit in anymore.

He was constantly waiting for his friends to get home from their 9-to-5 work so they could hang out.

He also described the strange experience of competing with other billionaires over who could buy the most expensive things, and how empty that felt.

Of course, that was what he later described as a bad day. I’m sure money has brought him many positive things as well.

But the important thing here is:

Yes, money can remove stress, but it can’t automatically create meaning or happiness.

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The Hidden Cost of Getting Everything You Want

I’ve heard many more stories from therapists about rich people who all feel miserable inside. They’ve thought money and success will “fill a gap” that exists in their soul, just to find out that the gap that exists on a psychological or spiritual level cannot be filled with material wealth.

This is also something I’ve experienced myself.

In my late 20’s, I thought I had already figured life out. I had done everything ‘right,’ succeeded in achieving my goals, and therefore, I was living a happy life, wasn’t I?

After years of rigorous studying, I had landed a job at a corporate bank. The biggest and most prestigious one in Finland.

It was everything I had ever dreamed of. I could finally afford a fancy car. I was surrounded by successful people. I went to parties, traveled, and had fun. I had realized my dreams.

Life was pretty sweet. Or so I thought.

Because one day, a realization hit me: I was completely miserable.

I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was driving to meet one of my corporate clients in a nearby city. It’s a trip I very much enjoyed doing, and the people I was about to meet had already become good friends.

Still, I was anxious. I felt constant stress in my mind and body. I was sweating, and my heart was pounding like crazy. I thought to myself, “This is it. I’ve made it. What I’m doing now is everything I’ve ever dreamed of. So why am I not happy?”

Why was I not feeling any joy in life? I could not understand what the matter was. There was no reason for me to feel how I did. I was doing everything that I had learned was supposed to bring me happiness, yet I still wasn’t happy.

It felt like I was always waiting for something different, something more, so that I could finally feel happy. I couldn’t relax, I couldn’t live in the moment, and I couldn’t feel happy.

I was constantly irritated, stressed or anxious and had no idea what was causing those feelings.

Even though I had achieved success and made good money, I still didn’t feel the happiness I had always been told would come with it.

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The moral of the story is that even though we think we want success and loads of money, getting that material wealth won’t fix our deepest fears, worries, and problems.

You could have all the money in the world and still be completely depressed.

You could be in the relationship of your dreams and still feel completely unworthy and unloved.

You could be chilling on a beach in your dream vacation destination, and still be stressed out of your mind.

While external circumstances can influence how we feel, it’s the inner landscape that’s more important.

Isn’t the main reason we chase wealth and success because we believe they’ll make us happy?

It isn’t material wealth that we truly want;

We want to be happy.

The reason we want to make millions because we think that is the way to happiness. But paradoxically, how we think about happiness is completely backwards.

Our model of thinking is: Get money, be happy. But studies (as well as my personal experience of 20 years) show that it’s backwards. Happiness actually leads to having more money.

Happiness is the key to living a fulfilling life:

• Happy people have stronger, healthier relationships.
• Happy people make more money and advance further in their careers.
• Happy people are healthier, both physically and mentally.

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Happiness Is Not the Goal; It Is the Starting Point.

Your inner world needs changing before your external circumstances. Be happy first, everything else will follow.

But of course, it's easier said than done.

So how can you be happy before your external circumstances change? How can you be happy with no money, poor mental health, crappy relationships, or anything of the sort?

Well, let me end with a personal story:

Not too long ago, I was having the worst time of my life. I had lost everything I had built my life around.

I had no job, and no money, I had just started to recover from a severe illness that had me stuck in bed for two weeks.

I was stressed out and had some severely negative thoughts about my life.

Yet, at that time, I had the chance to travel to Madeira. It’s a beautiful island that I have always wanted to visit. So I took the chance and went on a week-long trip.

And you know what? It was amazing! Madeira is astonishingly beautiful, full of nature’s most wonderful sights, and warm and welcoming people.

While I was there, I felt happiness fill my body, mind, and spirit.

I was happy, despite everything that was going on in my life.

How can that be?

...it’s not the place itself that, even though quite magical, radiates happiness that I could absorb.

No.

I was happy because I was able to focus on the moment. I enjoyed every second of my stay and let go of all the stress, anxiety, and negativity I had been holding on to.

Happiness was always there within me, just waiting to be uncovered.

​
​It just so happens that happiness is your natural state of being.

And the trick to finding happiness within is to start removing the things that are blocking it.

You can peel back the depression, anxiety, fear, stress, and worry that bury your innate happiness by treating them as what they are:

signals that you are not living the life you truly want to live.

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We'll talk more about overcoming anxiety and depression in the coming newsletters. I'll try to put out one every week, but expect around 2 to 4 newsletters per month.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to reply to these emails.

And as always,

Think happy thoughts!

​- Atte

P.S. Missed the launch of IAM? No worries. The Inner Alignment Method is still available with some bonuses — and if you feel called to it, it’s not too late to begin.

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Happiness On Demand

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