Things You Can Do To Have a Happier Life
Most humans crave happiness, but for many of us, it is much harder to attain than we could ever have imagined. Of course, most of us have moments of pure joy and happiness, but it never seems to last. We are sucked right in again by our negative emotions before we even know what’s happening.
Although it may be impossible to live a life that’s 100 percent happy 100 percent of the time, it IS possible to live a happier life. Here are some tips to do so:
Have a positive mindset
It’s no surprise that having a positive mindset will lead to a healthier life, but it’s often far easier said than done. If you tend to skew to the negative, you will need to retrain your brain to focus on the good things in life. How do you do this? Start by spending a couple of minutes a day listing the good things in your life. Pretty soon, this will become your natural state of mind.
Have a positive mantra
Something else that can help you be more positive throughout the day is having a positive mantra that you repeat (aloud or silently) whenever the negativity starts to creep in. Your mantra can be anything you want from “Life is sweet” to “I am grateful for everything I have.” It doesn’t matter what your mantra is as long as it’s positive, meaningful for you, and good at lifting your spirits when needed.
Celebrate the little wins
Everybody’s life is a series of ups and downs, but there are lots of little moments in between the big things of life that are worth celebrating. Finish that project you’ve been putting off? That’s great! Learn a new note on the guitar? Amazing. Shave a couple of seconds off your running time? Let’s celebrate. The more you can find joy in the little moments and truly celebrate even the small things in life that may not seem that significant at first, the happier you will generally be and the more likely you are to lean towards the positive in your life.
Be mindful
Mindfulness meditation is a fantastic way of switching to a more positive mindset. As in yoga, when you practice mindfulness, you focus your attention on the present moment and the present moment only. Your thoughts may come and go, but you simply accept them nonjudgmentally and let them float on by so they cannot hurt you. When you practice in this way, you are less likely to be stressed, anxious or depressed because you aren’t going over the past or worrying about the future--you’re living in the now and finding greater acceptance of your situation as you do so.
Improve your work-life balance
Most of us need to work in order to pay our way through life, but so many of us hate our jobs. Work is a constant source of stress and anxiety for many people, and if you are one of them, you need to change that starting by getting a better work-life balance.
You could do this in a number of ways, from giving up your job completely to join The Beachbody Company and be a personal trainer, to maybe start teaching yoga or whatever your passion is. You could also look for a new role that offers you the chance to be more creative or rise through the ranks more quickly, or maybe you could just ask your boss to be more flexible and let you work from home sometimes. Whatever you do, striking a better balance between work and everything else will do you a world of good, allowing you to focus on personal projects, as well as professional ones.
Get your creative juices flowing
Artists have a reputation for being a bit moody, so you could be forgiven for thinking creativity won’t make you any happier. However, the exact opposite is true. If you want to be happy, numerous studies have shown that getting creative is a good way to do it. This isn’t surprising because when you’re doing something creative like writing or painting, you are more easily able to enter into a flow state where you are totally focused on what you are doing, and there is no room for negative thoughts of any kind. You’re in the zone and it feels great. And when you complete a creative project, you get a wonderful sense of achievement, which is always nice.
Don’t strive for perfection
Humans are inherently flawed, so if you always aim for perfection in your life, you are going to be disappointed a lot. That doesn’t mean that you should never strive to achieve good things in your life, but it does mean that you shouldn’t push yourself too hard or beat yourself up in the pursuit of the flawless. Practice accepting life as it is--beautiful but imperfect--and you’ll be all the happier for it. Celebrate that we are all perfectly imperfect.
Focus on experiences
When it comes to spending your money, you’ll be far happier if you spend it on experiences rather than possessions. Of course, we all need some stuff to get through life comfortably, but once you have the basics, your cash will be far better spent on amazing adventure travels, fine dining experience, great gigs and things of that nature, than it would be on another pair of shoes. Stuff can make us happy in the short term, but the effect soon wears off. Experiences can last a lifetime. Not only do they create great moments and great memories, but they allow us to connect with others while also learning more about ourselves.
Be spontaneous
Living in the moment is one of the simplest ways to be happy. Not overthinking things and taking chances often leads to some of the best experiences in life. When you overanalyze everything, you frequently end up paralyzed, unable to act, and you often end up missing out on amazing opportunities. So, although you shouldn’t be too rash in any way that could get you hurt, it’s good to have a bit more spontaneity in life.
Have an attitude of gratitude
If you’re grateful for what you have, you never have to feel bad because you think other people have more. You can be more content with your life, whatever it looks like at any moment. If you struggle to be grateful, start writing your own gratitude list each evening, including three to five things you are grateful for that day. Pretty soon, you’ll see that life isn’t so bad and you have a lot of stuff to be thankful for, which will naturally help you to lead a happier life day to day.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a great way to give back, and when you give back and help people who may be suffering more than you, it feels great. It has been scientifically proven that giving is as good, if not better, for the giver as it is for the receiver. In fact, giving can boost mood and lower blood pressure. Get out there and start giving back today!
Try new things
Getting out of your comfort zone is a sure-fire way to squeeze more happiness out of life. By doing things that you never thought you would, not only do you find out more about yourself, but quite often you also end up surprising yourself with what you’re capable of and what you actually enjoy in life. Trying new things helps you to find out who you really are. That can make you even happier.
Stop with the comparisons
If you’re always comparing yourself to others, you are never going to feel fully satisfied with your life, Sure, you’ll be doing better than some people, but there will always be people who you perceive to be doing better than you. That can make it hard for you to feel satisfied. So, stop comparing yourself to everyone on Instagram and start focusing on your own life. Realize that social media usually only presents the highlights of other people’s lives, not the day to day or setbacks. The only person you really should compete with is who you were yesterday. That is how you grow, improve and find happiness, not in comparisons with other people.
Grow meaningful relationships
Humans need love and connection if they are to truly thrive and be happy. So, focus your efforts on meeting great people who lift you up and build the most meaningful relationships possible with them. That way, you’ll always have a strong support network who has your back when you need them. More importantly, you’ll have lots of loved ones to share great times with day after day after day. Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.
As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do to boost the happiness in your life. This may seem like an overwhelming list of things to do if you want to be happier, but you don’t necessarily have to do them all, and you can start to implement them one by one as you see fit.
You can be happier!
