I am still working on my outlook and intentions. But as you ask, I will tell you what I have learned in the last year. I started by asking myself:

1: Why am I who I am? 

I had no idea who I was or how to find out. I had no ambition, direction or gusto for a life worth living for me. I did not know what would make me happy. I did not know that I was supposed to 'make myself happy.' 

I have realized that I am a biological organism that has conscious awareness and that I am experiencing consciousness on equal terms as every other member of my species.

The greatest exploration Is Life. 

My exposure to the Bible (that Roman manifesto of spin, to solve the Christian problem) had taught me one of the worst lessons. That I should accept my lot and remember that there are more people worse off than myself. Instead of not accepting it and sitting down and planning how to get the best out of life, after identifying the things that made me happy and discovering what I thought was important and then deciding what I wanted to leave behind me. 

I think I can now see through the neglect that spared Siddhartha Gautama Buddha in order to answer my questions. 

2: What do I need to do to make myself happier?

3: What do I want my perfect life to become?

4: What do I want to leave behind? 

First of all Gautama Buddha was not much like the Buddhists of today. At the age 29, Gautama became unsatisfied with his life as a pampered prince and he became a monk. After 6 years and at the brink of death after finding that the severe ascetic practices did not lead to greater understanding, He found a middle way. A path of moderation away from the extremes – that he had experienced - of self-indulgence and self-mortification. Enlightenment is the understanding of the true nature of the human mind - based on the truth and reality as it is for our species - and the individual - which can be rediscovered by anyone for themselves. Penetration of this reality accompanies the shocking truth that ignorance can be eliminated. According to Gautama Buddha the awakening bliss of Nirvana he attained under the fig tree is available to all beings once they achieve rebirth as a human and see truth & reality as it is, for them. 

Truth and Reality;

You are born - you are conscious - you learn - you experience - you suffer - you die.

Our society is founded on a busy exploitative illusion maintained and perpetuated by ignorance and misdirected values. Your death will be more interesting than your birth but it will be suffering. You are experiencing consciousness on equal terms as every other member of your species. The greatest exploration Is Life. We are the only conscious species we know of as far as we can see. Nothing intelligible has been detected for 88 light years around our solar system. Our Sun is dying. Our lives are short. It is inevitable but we should be happy. What would you like to do on your middle path? 

(We are biologically evolved conscious organisms. Consciousness has been observed as a quantum phenomena.) 

The three marks of Conditioned Existence:

1: The soul cannot be found in the body, it is neither the whole body, nor part of it, neither is it the mind or part of the mind. If the soul where permanent and unchanging, then no change would be possible. 

2: Every thing is made up of parts, and is dependent on the right conditions for its existence. Everything is in flux, and so conditions are constantly changing. Things are constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Nothing lasts.

3: Because we fail to truly grasp the first two points, we suffer. We desire a lasting satisfaction, but look for it amongst constantly changing phenomena. We perceive a self, and act to enhance that self by pursuing pleasure, and seek to prolong pleasure when it too is fleeting. 

[Theoretical physics from approximately 525BC that is still accurate today. Modern discovery has expanded the facts and corroborated Gautama Buddha.] 

I believe he was not the first to live life under that philosophy. He rediscovered it. No matter how comfortable his life was (a highly educated and accomplished prince, being groomed for expected greatness by his father) he chose to face the greatest problem he found. He was shocked by his discovery of his own ignorance of suffering. After he came across what has become known as the Four Passing Sights. After six years he solved his problem and started preaching a philosophy of a happy and peaceful existence, while refraining from principally all worldly life, that he saw as unsatisfactory, disjointed suffering. 

Fortunately for Buddha his dad was loaded and had half expected him to become a bum. I mean profit. No need to plan for the needs of himself or his family, which he did not have to because he chose celibacy after having a son. 

Putting Buddha's philosophy in a top pocket for a moment, we have to provide for what we need/want within the framework of this worldly life that is unsatisfactory, disjointed suffering.

Buddha was loaded and celibate. We are not loaded or celibate – certainly I - want a mate and children. 

Understanding why I am, who I am has given me Emotional Elegance. 

The Definition of Emotional Elegance is being able to look back on my childhood and life to date as observable history and feeling no more than disappointment, turn my mind to planning the salient part of my life, that remains. 

You are responsible for how you feel. Do not dwell or even flirt with negative emotions. Breath in and establish a neutral state, whenever you need or feel a desire to end a negative emotion. In so doing you can work from neutral towards good feelings, positive feeling, and to happy-er-ish-ness. {for me neutral brings me a sense of happiness in control} 

You are both the product of your parents [what characters make them up and their historic links up through their environmental culture/s to form your present identity, in the now] and the mostly innocent constructing illusionists of you.

Today you are genetically each of their links and you inherit their cultural starts as the beginning and part of your formative culture.

If you peacefully look into yourself you will feel the truth of your existence in your relative dimension of time-&-space.

You will soon be able to view objectively, the existence of your parent’s, as formative if not constructive. Remember it is you ‘me’ you are trying to improve, for your benefit, as we all should be throughout life.

Tomorrow you will start to readjust to your new view of your existence of [why you are] Who You Are:

If you are anything like me you will be left with a strong sense of disappointment for your childhood but have a desperate optimism for the remaining opportunity to effect a very precise and personal plan for yourself.

Your older self says to you out of brotherly concern that "I have Assessed and understood the cycle of survivable random failure. I recognise that I have an obligation to only dominate myself and my lifes plan, to achieve what I identify as important for me." 

Our problems should be minimised to enhance the comfort and safety for our households. We need to plan to teach our children everything that we know and what we think about it and all that is important to us. 

I have formulated plans. Two years, five years and terminus age 60-110+ happiest ending plans. Something that I should have been pointed towards before I entered my twenties, so that I could have had the plans finalized by the time I was finished with my hedonistic and fun twenties. 

Think about Truth and Reality as it is for you - Think about why you are, who you are - Then work out what you modestly want/need in order to feel contented - Apply your industrious working eight hours to paying for your above contentment. Cost your plans to include everything including your perfect imagined retirement. You must be prepared to plan for the end of your life. Do not leave it up to the state, otherwise you will be in a state. - Remain focused on it.

Turn on, Tune in, Drop out of the illusion of more and zero in on your happier-ness.

You have been Buddha'd.