Every great philosophy has an even better story behind how it came to be. The same can be said for the Happiness Trifecta and its origin story.
The idea of the Happiness Trifecta came about during a very difficult and dark time in my life where I questioned what true happiness was all about. I started to experiment with different morning routines and lifestyle changes to see what would bring the most contentment and joy.
I looked back at the different times when I was happy and I realized that they each had three distinct areas of focus that significantly improved my contentment. Those three things (body, mind, soul) are what became the three pillars of the Happiness Trifecta. The Happiness Trifecta is about balancing our time and effort on the three pillars to have a more well-rounded sense of contentment and joy in our lives.
The Body
When I was playing baseball professionally, I was in the best shape of my life and my days were always focused around getting my body into optimal shape to be able to excel at my sport. I found joy during this time as time melted away doing what I loved and doing the hard work to eventually see the results. There was nothing more rewarding than having a difficult goal placed before me and observing my body change over time to achieve said goal.
The Soul
When I lived in Honduras for two years as a missionary for my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), I was constantly focused on improving the spiritual pillar. I would study scriptures, meditate, pray, and proselytize 6 days a week, every week for the entire two years. It was not easy. It oftentimes was not fun. But the rewards for putting in the time and not shying away from uncomfortable and difficult situations were undeniable. I was on such a spiritual high from the work I put in each day and it felt amazing.
The Mind
After the baseball career and missionary work had ended, I was studied to become a board-certified dentist and was completely focused on improving each day mentally. I would wake up before class started and would read textbooks and articles that pertained to the subject taught that day. I would come home at night and continue my studies until the early morning hours. It was not exciting. It was difficult. My wife and I had to forgo family vacations and date nights so I could focus on my exams. It was a challenging time. But, it was very rewarding to see my progress mentally as I went on to pass my board exams with flying colors and move on to be accepted as a pediatric specialist. My hard times slowly melted away into contentment and happiness, and it felt great.
The Birth of the Happiness Trifecta
Looking back at these different times in my life I wondered if I could “hack” happiness and contentment. I wanted to see if my satisfaction could be optimized. I thought I would try and combine all three of these aspects to my personal life to see what happened. I began working on fine-tuning my morning routines to focus on equal parts body, mind, and soul and the results were astounding.
I started small by allotting 15 minutes to each pillar of the trifecta every morning and now it has grown into a complete lifestyle change by focusing a large part of the day to each aspect of the trifecta. These days, I have decided to focus a large portion of my time to spreading the message of the Happiness Trifecta simply because it has added so much value to my own life.
This brings us to today. There is nothing that excites me more than to hear that someone has read, implemented and seen results from what they learned as a part of the Trifecta Tribe. My hope is that you can do the same. I’m glad you are here.
