Everybody wants to be happy but everyone isn’t truly happy. Ever wondered why?

Happiness is just too elusive. In our walks of life, we can see various phases of the journey to happiness. And in mine, I have experienced and have come to understand that there are 3 Peaks of Happiness–Achievement, Fulfillment, and Enlightenment.

When I look back at my life, I find that my happiness journey, and I see that I too was struggling with the first peak of happiness–Achievement, for 25 years. Here’s how. I started young at the age of 16 and took an exit at 40 after two and a half decades of going from achievement to achievement at the first peak. It seemed like so many peaks while I was on it – success after success. I thought life just had one huge range of happiness to climb and explore.

Though it was exciting, there were phases of both joy and sorrow. Every time there was a success, there were also problems and disappointments, but such was life–that’s what I believed was the happiness journey of Achievement. It was only after 25 years, that I was fortunate to find the second peak and made my decision with the courage to exit the first peak. I bought my first car at 18, after starting a revolutionary advertising agency. What a success! That was a great feeling. I was truly happy (or so I thought at the time), and it got me to start my success journey. I became a retail tycoon at a very young age, soon after I shut down my advertising business to help run my dad’s retail store. Everything I did gave me happiness–not just the destination, but also the journey. I enjoyed climbing the first peak as much as the efforts that went into preparation. There were lots of challenges, and with teamwork, creativity, imagination, and faith, we converted problems into opportunities and experienced bliss. Success can be intoxicating; it often creates an addiction that blinds one from everything else. All I could see was success, money, and pleasure on the Achievement peak.

It was a decade of success streak–one after the other. I started travelling around the world, bringing in new ideas, and risking larger investments that paved the way for further success and money. I was making more money than I could have ever imagined, and I always had a big smile on whenever I headed to the bank. I was truly happy, very excited, and amazingly blissful, and I felt completely satisfied with the name, the fame, and the pleasure that they created. You name it, I’ve got it! There was nothing I didn’t have – cars, clothes, and cash; there was no shortage of anything. I had everything one could possibly want in life. Question is, was all this making me truly happy?

The truth is my life as Ravi Melwani, was like a roller coaster. There were times when I was screaming in joy, just as there were times when I couldn’t sustain the pain. These ups and downs can be seen by anybody who is on a journey towards achievement. During my success journey, I was lucky to have somehow planted the seeds of doing humanitarian, inspirational, and spiritual work.

When I was 30, I used to go to the streets and serve food to the poor and distribute blankets to those freezing in the cold weather. The joy that I got by making a difference gave me far more contentment than my Achievement. Another great feeling was the inspiration I created in the lives of people. I frequently gave speeches that motivated people to return back from negative to a positive state of mind, motivating them to live with hope, courage, and confidence rather than fear, worry, and doubt. Somehow this inspiration that I vibrated to others created tremendous happiness in my heart. It was not about making money, but it was about transforming people’s lives. My faith in the Creator granted me great peace and solace I needed. It became the foundation of my positive energy. It generated the enthusiasm in me that then became the fuel for my success.

Together, all three of my non-profit initiatives–Humanitarian, Inspirational, and Spiritual work–were giving me more happiness than my success and achievements did. The next 10 years of my life were not just full of achievements but also of contentment. Subconsciously, my happiness had evolved to a far greater bliss in peace and contentment.

After 15 years of Achievement, the next decade–my final decade on this peak–was far happier! I used to think that it is only money that could give me happiness. Yes, money did give me happiness, but not all the time. Money was responsible for the pleasure and fun in my life, but whenever the happiness was waning, it was the humanitarian, inspirational, and spiritual endeavours that kept me blissful. Like everybody else, I too was shuttling between the peak-and-valley experience of joy and sorrow. It was then I realized that making money was giving me happiness, but far greater happiness was coming from making a difference! I was happy – very, very happy.

I probably was one of the happiest people on Earth. I was very grateful as I counted my blessings looking back at the 25 years of my life. Our business had grown from a small rented store to a large property that we owned. I had further succeeded in buying another property that was a lot more valuable. There was a lot more money, wealth, and success in the dreams ahead. I was about to embark on another project that would take me from 40 to 60. No doubt the next 20 years would take me into the billionaire clubs, but would that make me happier? I was sure it couldn’t!

Jesus had said–“For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” I stopped to think: “Should I continue on this Achievement journey, or is there a better way to live?” I decided to exit!

Till today I cannot believe that I had the courage to take this decision. That took place after so much introspection. After I turned 40, spending 25 years on the highway I called success that I took this decision. I changed my direction on the GPS of my life–away from the peak of Achievement and to a highway of contentment. I did not know where I would reach, but I was sure my choice of making a difference would give me far more happiness than making money. I shut down my business and called it a day. Somehow I knew that this peak of Achievement would not help me achieve my objective of life of being happy. I chose to be content living with peace and joy that came from making a difference rather than making money.

People were shocked when they saw me taking an exit from the retail business when I was just 40. Yes, I had worked for 25 years and had become rich, but I decided to rethink the decision of whether I would want to spend the next few decades building an even wealthier empire. I wanted to live, and not just exist like a machine that just makes money. I wanted to pursue the ambitions that were giving me peace and contentment. I did not want to die with millions in the bank that would be of no use to me after my life. Rather, I wanted to live a life filled with joy, peace, and bliss!

I was 40, and I had seen enough of life. I had seen the rich becoming richer but not happier. I had seen people live and die without fulfilling their dream of being truly happy. I could see it so clearly that we had to make a choice of either pursuing a life of achievement or a life of contentment. These were two opposites on the seesaw called life. If one was enjoying the aura of money and success, then one could never be content; but if one was content, then one did not want more wealth but was enjoying true happiness. One of these two choices summarized every individual’s life. It was scary because 80% of the world was settled on the peak of Achievement, but I could see that they were not truly happy. The 20% who were much happier was content and had stopped pursuing success and achievement as their primary life focus.

I made a choice. It felt like a gamble. I was shutting down a profitable business that was making millions to pursue a life that would create more happiness. What if I failed? What if I was making the wrong decision of shutting down my business? I was just 40; maybe, I should take this decision after I was 60 or at least 50. But I didn’t want to waste another 10 or 20 years on the Achievement peak. I wanted to be happy! In fact, I wrote a book – my first book titled “I Wanna Be Happy”– and this inspired me to make the final decision. I shut down my business and decided to pursue the second peak of happiness.

I knew beyond doubt that happiness was not just about Achievement and that there was a peak beyond. But I did not know more…. All I knew is that if I wanted to be truly happy, I should exit and move on towards the next peak of happiness. When I started a quest to look for the true purpose of life, I had so many questions that lead me straight and true to the third peak of happiness–Enlightenment. My journey continues on and should you be inclined to start your quest to seek the 3 peaks of happiness, I’ve compiled my understandings in the book below. Continue to Ask, Investigate and Realize the true meaning of Life.

Explore the Three Peaks of Happiness!