I am not a doctor. Nor a counselor. I am not a professional of any kind really. I make a living as a technology consultant and bar tender. Just an everyday regular guy you could say.

My life has been ordinary, yet I always thought of myself as extraordinary. I was raised in a middle class family, did well enough in school to make it out with decent grades. Managed to eek out a living in various companies doing various things. Nothing special.

In a mid-life crisis of sorts I pondered the age old questions one asks when trying to decide how to make the next career move:

• What is your passion?
• What do you love to do?
• What do you want to be?
• What makes you special?

Do what you love to do and the rest will follow they said.

What was I passionate about? What did I love to do?

I thought long and hard about it and  it hit me:  I was happy.

I loved being happy. I was passionate about being happy. And I was good at making others happy.

But why was I happy? How could someone with no special talents and regular IQ be happy most all of the time?

Why did I care about making those around me happy and what made me feel so good when I did? I had to look closer to find out what made me this way.

So one long night I wrote down a huge inventory of my life then found a way to distill it all into what I now call the 9 Elements of Living a Happy Life.

And now I want to share it.