For Life Coach and Public Speaker, Clayton Kirkland, being a Happiness Hero means helping others explore their happiness, and it means understanding his own relationship with joy and happiness.

In the 2nd season of the What Do You Know To Be True? podcast we’re exploring the role of joy in finding one’s superpower and living into one’s possible self or potential, so I wanted to learn more from Clayton about what he knows to bring true happiness for himself and how he helps others find it too.

Clayton shares many of the lessons from his award-winning book, “Happiness Trek: 200 Lessons for Happiness,” and what stuck out for me the most was how much happiness is created by being in relations with and creating happiness for others.

I had this old notion that only we can create our own happiness, we alone are responsible for our own level of happiness, but Clayton challenges that idea.

He also shares his Happiness Scale, like the Pain Scale a doctor uses in pain management, but the opposite of Happiness is not the absence of happiness, it’s suffering.

And this is where it gets interesting. As a Buddhist, Clayton knows one of the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha is ‘life is suffering,’ and happiness is what alleviates suffering.

Full circle, if you want to help someone experience more happiness, relieving their suffering is a great place to start.

In this episode, Clayton answers the following questions:
- How to create more happiness for myself?
- What is the difference between joy and happiness?
- What are the keys to happiness?
- How to alleviate suffering?

My favorite quote from the episode: “I give myself permission to be human, everyday.”

Clayton shares this as part of his daily mantra, and what this does is opens Clayton to welcome more grace and acceptance into his day for himself. What is possible if we applied this for ourselves?

Resources mentioned in the episode:
- Clayton’s Website: https://www.happinesstrek.com/
- Clayton’s Book: Happiness Trek: 200 Lessons For Happiness

Chapters
0:00 Intro and Welcome
4:21 Difference between Joy & Happiness
10:32 Importance of Bringing Happiness to Others
14:15 The Happiness Scale
17:11 How Much Suffering Do We Create Ourselves?
21:25 Admiring Vulnerability and Adaptability
22:38 Relationship between Vulnerability and Happiness
24:50 Inspiration to be a Happiness Hero
26:09 Framework for being a Happiness Hero
27:21 Relationship between your Purpose and Superpower
29:01 Superpower Impact on Clayton
33:29 What’s true about Happiness?
35:14 Lightning Round

Videos in this episode are from Blue Bird, cottonbro studio, olia danilevich, Pavel Danilyuk, Edmond Dantes, Suzy Hazelwood, Ron Lach, Max Medyk, Pressmaster, Danik Prihodko, August de Richelieu, RDNE Stock Project, Antoni Shkraba, Yaroslav Shuraev, Ketut Subiyanto, Martina Tomšič, Pat Whelen, Matilda Wormwood

Music in this episode by Ian Kastner.

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations where I speak with interesting people about their special talent or superhero power and the meaningful impact it has on others. The intention is to learn more about their experience with their superhero power, so that we can learn something about the special talent in each of us which allows us to connect more deeply with our purpose and achieve our potential.

For more info about the podcast or to check out more episodes, go to: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/

"What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamis