My first exposure to Positive Psychology was in 2007. That year, I was going through a turbulent time in my personal life. A friend recommended this book to me: The How of Happiness (384 pages, 2007) by Sonja Lyubomirsky. This book is awesome! It influenced me a lot. Chapter by chapter, the author lists a series of positive psychology techniques. Each chapter has references to research papers and narrations of personal anecdotes. I found this book 'engineering oriented' — it describes practical techniques for implementing positive psychology ideas in our daily lives.

In 2007, I decided to apply Positive Psychology ideas to keep myself positive. I didn't know which ones would actually work for me, so I applied multiple ideas in parallel. Over time, I feel that four ideas have played the most important role in my life: meditation courses, physical fitness, simple food habits, and opening up. Your personal experiences may be different: a different set of ideas may work best for you.

My overall practice in applying the ideas listed below is rather weak. For example, I wish I had a regular meditation practice. I wish that I exercised regularly. I wish that I were more thankful. Still, I've listed whatever I've tried to inspire others to do the same:

Meditation: Most positive psychology books list meditation as a techniques for boosting joyfulness. In 2007, I attended the 10-day Vipassanā retreat. That was a life changing event for me. See articles under Awareness & Equanimity for an overview of this meditation technique. I could not develop a daily practice but I repeated the course multiple times in subsequent years.

Keeping Fit, Spending Time in Nature: From 2009-2017, I organized a few hundred hikes. See 600 Hikes in Bay Area, California. Spending time in nature is very soothing! It always makes me buoyant and positive! From 2014 onward, I did a few backpacking and snowshoeing trips as well. I tried several other physical fitness activities other than hiking but none of them really became an integral part of my life.

Opening Up: In 2007, a friend pointed me a book by James Pennebaker: Opening Up — The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions (249 pages, 1997). This book influenced me a lot. Pennebaker's book suggested a technique for feeling better: 'opening up' to somebody. After several months, in 2008, I consciously opened up to a good friend of mine, sharing with her random incidents from my life which had been bothering me. I had bared my soul to her, keeping nothing secret. That helped. Since then, 'opening up' has been #3 on my list of self-help techniques after meditation and physical fitness. For a longer article, see Opening Up.

Forgiveness and Cultivation of Compassion: In 2009, attended a workshop on forgiveness by Fred Luskin and Rick Hanson. The workshop was held at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, which is about 20 miles north of San Francisco, on 15 August 2009. My personal experience is recollected in this article: Forgiveness and Compassion.

In 2007-2009 time frame, as I browsed through books, I came across three powerful stories of forgiveness which inspired me. See Three Stories of Forgiveness.

In 2011, I did a course at Stanford: Cultivation of Compassion, taught by Fred Luskin. Around 2013, I attended another 2-hour lecture by Fred Luskin at Google. He taught us stress reduction techniques for a corporate setting.

Flow Activities: I call them 'hobbies' :) Around 2007-2008, I assembled a series of Modular Origami Models. Each model takes 2 to 12 hours to assemble and requires a high degree of patience. Later, I spent hundreds of hours writing online articles. These two are the two most prominent 'flow activities' that I've pursued since 2007.

Social Connections: From 2009-2017, I organized hundreds of hikes. These hikes gave me an opportunity to meet hundreds of individuals. Some of them have become good friends.

Thankfulness: This is an area in which I'm weak. I ought to inculcate more thankfulness in my life.

Food Habits: Simple food habits are not mentioned in any positive psychology book today because there is hardly any modern research that connects food with mental health. To some, even the suggestion that food and mental health could be related seems outlandish. However, Eastern thought clearly says that food affects our emotions, our moods, and even our personality. It would be nice to conduct modern research around these claims. The simple food habits that I came across in 2012 are called Plant-Based Diet. These food habits go by different names in different parts of the world. Within myself, I can see a clear correlation between simple food habits and feeling positive.