Bianca Gonzalez opened up about a life-changing realization on happiness following a solo trip to Bhutan to celebrate her 40th birthday.
Speaking on The Bare It All Podcast, the Kapamilya host shared how the experience shifted her long-held perspective.
"On my 40th birthday a few years back, I did a solo trip to Bhutan and doon life-changing trip talaga, but the most important thing I learned is I was thinking about happiness the wrong way," she recalled.
Bianca explained that in Bhutan, happiness is viewed not as a distant goal, but something found in everyday moments.
"Growing up, parang feeling natin happiness is some bigger concept na you work hard to achieve happiness or you do something and then I will be happy, or when I'm like this, I will be happy. But in their culture, it's deeply ingrained that no, happiness is actually in the everyday" she said.
She added that simple and present experiences are what truly define happiness.
"Having a great conversation with you now, happy. Enjoying a delicious cup of coffee, thank you for your coffee, happy. Going home to pick up my kids from school, happiness. That's happiness," she shared. "This is it. We are living it and if you see the beauty in the everyday, you live such a happy life."
Beyond this, Bianca also shared another key takeaway about happiness rooted in Bhutan’s Buddhist beliefs.
"And second is their belief rooted in Buddhism. So there's a book called No Mud, No Lotus and basically a lotus flower sobrang niyang ganda, symbolize happiness. But the lotus flower will not be there if there was no mud. So the belief is that all happiness actually stems from suffering," she pointed out.
"If you're suffering through something, it's that that will transform you to bring you to happiness. No mud, no lotus. Parang, you don't know light if there's no dark. You don't know happy if there's no sad. Same concept," she explained.
READ: Bianca Gonzalez travels to Bhutan to celebrate 40th birthday
The Pinoy Big Brother host noted that life’s challenges and hardships ultimately shape a person’s growth and appreciation of life.
"It's the challenges in life, it's the trials in life that make you stronger, that make you learn things, therefore show you the beauty of life and which is the happiness. And so that was important to me because sometimes we tend to, you avoid challenges as much as possible, you avoid making mistakes, you avoid failure. Pero actually these things, it can transform you, to give more joy in life."