Guest Post by: Neelkamal Agrawal

“Life” is puzzle to everyone. This mysterious word has many elucidations by thinking caps. Some find answers in philosophy and some try to solve it by experience. The breakneck speed at which the world and technologies are changing is creating question marks in our head, which makes us ponder whether we are happy or not.

In today’s times everyone is running and slogging hard, which creates a morton’s fork sort of situation. People are inquisitive about the true happiness in this life. We are in the midst of situation where we can’t imagine our life without gadgets, technology & work, but on the other hand all these lavishness never makes us feel satiated.

Photograph by: Kul Singh

So the question is “How to live life to the fullest?”

Well here are 25 secrets to have a wonderful & happier life.

1. Live in today: “don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient”. – Bible, Matthew, 6:34 .
Life is not a sand clock which can be reverted. Time can’t be turned back. So if you don’t have control over such things in life, which can’t be brought back. Then why fret over it?
2. Maintain Balance: Life is affected by the four aspects that are mental (brain), emotional (heart), spiritual (faith) and physical (body). To maintain balance of the four aspects is what makes life meaningful, for as Spice girls have sung, “Too much of something is bad”.
3. Forgive & Forget: There are some preconditions to live a life to the fullest, and to forgive and to forget is first and foremost of them. Keeping grudges never brought any affirmative outcomes. So just forgive people and forget about it. Common! You are here to enjoy not for suffering.
4. Take Time to Make Memories and Write a Diary: We should not wait for memories to happen, we should make memories happen. We spend too much time living in the ‘what if’ and need to learn to live in the ‘what is’. Relish every moment of your life, make notes everyday in your diary, no matter how sweet or sour is the moment. When you will read your diary, all flashback of those incidents will make you smile.
5. Capture the Moments: ‘Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life’. Though life is not easy and definitely you can’t take out time everyday for it. But whenever you do, make sure that you are present with all your mind & heart. Capture those sweet clicks with family and friends.
6. Smile: You are not fully dressed until you wear a smile. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. It’s like “You haven’t lost your smile at all, it’s right under your nose. You just forgot it was there.”
7. Join a Club: Man is a social animal. We can’t just sit behind the heap of files and computer work just to show the world that we are busy or toiling hard. Happiness lies in social ties.
8. Accept Change as part & parcel of life: The rule says: Change is the Part of life. So just welcome it. Enjoy the change, as you are going to learn something good from every change in your life.
9. Visit unknown places: I might sound crazy to you when I say this. But trust me! Pack your bags, Call your buddies, Get Set Go. Explore the world with all worried left behind.
10. Read Books: Books make you live several lives in a day. Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.  ~Charles W. Eliot.
11. Develop your Hobbies: There is no age for learning. Do what you always wanted to do. Never let your hobbies dead. Hobbies inject life in you, because ultimately it’s your calling.
12. Learn to give: “If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”-14^th Dalai Lama. The value of a man resides in what he can give, not in what he is capable of receiving. If you have much, give wealth, and if not, give your heart to people. Be empathic.
13. Spend Time With The Young Ones: Spending time with people younger than your age is the best stress buster. So play with kids sometime & feel the tinge of eternal happiness.
14. Open Your Ears to the Elders: Never underestimate your elder ones just because you are better in managing windows on your laptop. The real strength is derived by managing people around, to make better relations, which can be learnt by the experience of elders. Wise people learn from other’s mistakes, Fools learn by doing them.
15. Cry: Don’t feel embarrassed in crying. Express freely. Crying is the best emotional remedy to feel lighter. Laugh loudly, Cry openly, and stretch yourself.
16. Dance: Dancing is also a cool way to feel on the top of the world. Dance like no one is watching you. Open up.
17. Take a Break: Breaks in work are really important. Breaks make you feel refreshed and revitalized. Take a walk of 5-10 minutes between working hours.
18. Work Smart, Not Hard: Never hesitate in asking for help. Remember that you are not alone in the world. Allot work to your sub employees. It wriggles out pressure from work. Do not take the entire task to yourself. 
19. Learn to accept failures: “The only real failure in life is the failure to try.” No one is loser in this life. It’s just perceptions which prevail in society. One must never afraid of trying.
20. Take Risks: “The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.”
21. Meditate: “Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.” Feel the calmness!
22. Discover Your Definite Purpose: ask yourself, “If there was no praise or criticism in the world, then who you would be?”
23. Be Yourself: The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another. This is not justice to your life. Don’t try to act like someone else. You will be adored.
24. Start Caring: Call your old friends, whom you did not call from a long time. Keep a memo of birthdays & anniversaries. Wish people to let them know that you care.
25. Live Life with the World: Enjoy life but with the whole world. Share your sorrows & happiness. Simultaneously don’t turn deaf ear to other’s sufferings. Sometimes it’s just a matter of spending moments with the sufferer, and it’s all gone. People sometimes need just a listener, which is not easy in this busy world. Remember, “Every man dies – Not every man really lives.

Life is just a game of perceptions. Change Perceptions Change life.

Edited by: Heena Joshi Talukdar

About the Author Mrs. Neelkamal Agarwal is Marketing Head at MARG – Asset Management Group