We experience pleasure.  That is why we enjoy eating good food, drinking wine, lying in a warm bed, sitting by a warm fireplace, feeling the sun on your bare skin, listening to music, being entertained.

We are engaged.  That is when we feel we are in the moment, the “flow”, the “present” because we are absorbed in the activity.

We are in relationships.  We need social ties because we are social beings; we need people to be with, to share, to related to. We need to feel that we belong to something bigger - that is why being in a “tribe” makes us happy.

We have meaning.  We need to know that our life has meaning, that we make a difference, that we matter.  We want to be part of a perceived quest or social goal. 

We accomplish something that we set off to achieve.  We are happy when we realize that we met our tangible measurable goals.

So that is what we need to strive for in our personal “happy life” project!  We need to make these our happiness goals.