How to Unlock Your Happiness

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. It's been a while since I've been able to say my Soul of Innovation with the way I wanted to. Things are coming back to normal, and that's, that's, that's what I want to talk to you about. How do you get things back to normal? How do you get things back to where you want them to be? How do you get— how do you find yourself, that happy place that you lost along the way of doing life's normal things, going to work, taking care of family, taking care of yourself, taking care of friends, taking care of everybody else? And along the way, you lost yourself. Along the way, you forgot even who you were at times. Let me tell you a story. I think everybody, every one of you have a story about how hard things are right now. Everybody is upset. I really, in all the years that I've been around, I'm not that old, but I guess My kids tell me I'm pretty damn old, so don't know who to listen to, but I interact with enough people, watch enough, talk to people enough, and I've never seen as a whole, as a mass— and I'm not just talking about any particular country, I'm talking about almost every country and all cultures and all languages— people so unhappy. Even people with money are unhappy. They've, they lost their way even more. Right? Poor people, or people who don't have enough for the basic necessities, don't understand why people who have enough are unhappy. It is because we've lost our way. Things have changed, and we think that what we became used to is the norm, when the norm is not getting used to anything. That's heavy. With all the changes happening in the world geopolitically, with all the governments, with the wars, with the religious fever being picked up internationally, with politics, anger, racism, technology bringing massive insecurity to people. Artificial intelligence, they're saying, is taking their jobs when it's really not yet, but corporations and bosses are using as excuse to fire people at a rate we haven't seen in 20 to 40 years, depending upon who you listen to. Divorce is up everywhere in every country. Some countries are experiencing over 75% divorce rate, and it could probably be closer to 100%, but couples, the other 25% are deciding to just sleep in separate beds or sleep differently, if you know what I mean. Society's changing in ways so quickly that people cannot react, and we've lost our way. The story I want to share with you is just a short story of how to find your way again, and it's a process. And I feel like an idiot saying it's a process because I know when I hear processes in meetings, my eyes roll and go, "Oh God, another process discussion." But this process is just consistency from you. That's it. That's it. I, like you out there, I've been, you know, I'm just like you. I'm struggling with things and want to make things better. But I've been consistently trying to make things better. I've been consistently going for walks, racking my head, saying, If the formula doesn't work, change the formula. What in my life has stagnated? What in my life has become a pattern? What in my life have I accepted that has become the norm? And I'm pissed off and frustrated that it's no longer working. How do I change it? What do I change? And I've been on for several months a journey of changing things in my life, changing the way I see things, changing how I do things. If I stand, for example, think about it. If you're standing, always used to standing on one street corner, and you're looking out across to several other streets, you only have one perspective of all the buildings, of all the people, of all the cars, that one perspective. If you shifted over and crossed the street to the other street corner, just a few feet away, a few meters away, and looked down the street, the same view you had before, the same direction, but your view is different, you now have a different perspective. You might see that that building that was over there wasn't really a building, it was a sign. You might see that that archway or whatever was actually a schoolyard and a jungle gym with kids playing when it looked like it was part of a building. You'll see things from a different perspective. You'll see people from a different perspective. You always wonder, why was that homeless guy always standing there all day long. From the other side of the street, you realise he wasn't homeless and he wasn't standing. That was his candy store, or that's his spot where he sells his hamburgers or hot dogs or newspapers. You change your life, you change the position, you change your perspective, you change your life. What have you been doing repetitively? Day after day, year after year. What thoughts have you had day after day, year after year? The same thoughts. That's trapping you. That's making you unhappy. Because the world has not been stagnant. The world does not think the same thing day after day. People react to other people, and that person reacts to the other person, and that group reacts to that person, and there's this domino effect, and what that equals is Change. It's like the law of entropy, right? Total chaos will always return back to normal, but there is always total chaos. And total chaos, everything's affecting everything. Entropy, the law of entropy, everything constant change. But we don't want change. We want simplicity. You want everything to be the way it was. You want things to be nice. The way the universe works, the way life works is, is constant change, and that you are fighting everything and all that change. Have you crossed that street in your life? Have you unpurposely uncomfortably, intentionally recognize that you need to change your habits. You need to change your perspective. That the way you thought— past tense— The way you think— excuse me— current tense is no longer applicable. It doesn't work in our world. It doesn't work for you anymore. I'm very sorry to tell you that. I'm very sorry to tell you that the person you marry, that the person you're dating, the person who's your roommate, Your favorite teacher, your best friend, they're not the same person anymore. Your favorite coach, your lifelong idol, your mentor, everyone and everything is changing all the time, and they will forever change. And your fight to keep everything the way it is is what's causing you massive unhappiness in your life. Have you intentionally changed the way you thought? It's painful. Now, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not pointing a finger at you. It's not about right and wrong. It's about The way or the path to my happiness is that I have to get uncomfortable and change my perspective. I have to change my formula. Have you crossed the street of life to see how things are differently with what's upsetting you the most? Have you looked at it from the other person's perspective? That expression comes from just changing your view, crossing the street.

Right?

That's what it means. Stop seeing things only from one point of view, from one spot, from that same street corner. Change your life street corner. Everything in your life, change every street corner, change every foundation point that you have. And you see that it's still your life. Maybe a bit scary because you're changing how you see things, how you frame things. But the end result is you're gonna see, like I said a moment ago with that example, that that wasn't a homeless man standing there, it's actually a guy just selling newspapers. And this always was a guy selling newspapers, but you never change your perspective. So you always thought it was a guy who stood there all day long as if he was homeless. But is actually a working man or woman. So many things in your life can be so much better and so different if you just change your perspective. You actually will start to like different people, different groups. You'll actually start to like things that you never even thought you would like. And then you feel this feeling of like loss, like, God, how much time did I spend thinking the way I did, feeling the way I did? Change where you stand on some things in your life, then on most things in your life, then try to change everything you stand on, the way you feel and think about everything in your life. You may come back to the same spot, but if you're authentic to yourself, if you're realistic, if you allow life to See it, smell it, be it, touch it, let it touch you, let it smell you. You'll never— you'll not be the same person. You'll not return to who you were because you're excited and in love with who you're about to become. Go forth and spread beauty and light. By crossing the street and standing on a different corner, experiencing life from a different perspective. I believe in you. The end result will take time. It's not an instant epiphany. Matter of fact, walking across that street which is symbolically what I mean, making that change and how you see someone or something, that, that time, that process of making that change, it's the same as walking across the street. It's hard because you don't know which direction to cross. Should I cross the street going north? Should I cross the street going south, east, west, or something in the middle? What is right and what is wrong? Should I jump or should I lay down? There's so many choices. The only right decision is staying where you are is the wrong decision, and that's the only fact. So no matter what you decide and where you go, it is better because you will learn and see life and experience life, and periods where people will experience you in a different way. Let me leave you with this last thought. Kind of heavy. This whole conversation I've had about you changing your perspective, about you crossing the street and standing on a different curb, looking down the same way and seeing life from a different perspective. But let's flip it around. If you spent your entire life on that one street corner having that same perspective, thinking the same thing you have thought, then that means that everybody in your life has only seen you from one perspective, with one thought process. Is that who you want people to think you are? That's heavy. Are you so limited? Are you so narrow-minded? Are you so entrenched in your belief system? You are by definition if you've been standing at that one street corner your whole life with that one perspective. What that means is if you don't want the world to see you as narrow-minded, limited, one-horse ponies expression. Only stands for one thing, only believes in one thing, doesn't want to hear about anybody else's opinion because they are strongly a believer in what they believe in.

Yes!

You don't want to be that person, and that's what the world sees. So you have to cross that street. You have to change who you are. You have to change your perspective. You have to be the person you were meant to be. Pick up your feet. Take a couple of steps. Put down the mobile phone. Get off the internet. Call a friend. Walk into a building or store that you never went into before. Attend a show that you've never attended before. Go to an event you've never been to before. Maybe you don't even like country music. I've never been to a country music show, but that would be calling my bull if I ever attend one. And in the process, I'll probably find another part of me that I didn't even know existed. And I'll probably meet people who will probably change my life and make me laugh and probably teach me how to line dance, I think it's called. That's hysterical to see me line dance. And at the end of that night, I'm a new person with a new wonderful memory. And then at the end of your day and then your night, you'll be a new wonderful person with a new memory with a whole bunch of new friends. Change your perspective. Move from where you are, and so many happy and wonderful things will happen. I promise you. I'm Thomas Anglero. I believe in you. I love you. And I'll see you across the street. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com. And you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.