How to be Happy — the age old question! What makes you happy? Stop and think about it for a minute. Being happy seems like a such a simple state of mind, but it is really often more complicated than just “being” happy. After all, if it was simple, we’d all be as happy as possibly 24/7/365.
We all want to be happy—whether it is happier than we are, or just finding some happiness in general, this is a very common goal for all of us. So, how can we start being happier and start finding this peace of mind that we all want.
Well this can be a more complicated quest than it seems, but the good news is, there are a few things that we can all do to be happier in our everyday lives. There are also a few things that we should not be doing when attempting to be happier.
Here are some of our biggest do’s and don’ts of how to be happy. Let’s start positively, and begin with the “do’s.”
Do: Give Yourself a Little Boost of Confidence to be Happy
Before you start working on boosting your happiness, you need to believe that you can be good at it. You need to believe in your ability to be successful at increasing your happiness.
You wouldn’t really be able to be happier if you didn’t believe in your ability to make this change. Prove to yourself that you can increase your happiness. Focus on the small wins, so that you can be more confident that you are really able to change your life.
Starting small can be something as simple as prioritizing spending time doing something you enjoy, or feeling gratitude for the things you have. This will give you the boost you need to know you can change your thought process.
Do: Make Positive Memories to be Happy
One of the best ways that you can help yourself be happier is to make positive memories. Research shows that making positive memories can actually help change certain areas of the brain for the better.
The more positive memories you cultivate, the happier you will be. Another great way to utilize this impact is to think about positive memories whenever you are feeling down, as it will trigger this center in your brain.
Do: Establish Your Values
Before you can find true happiness in your life, you need to know what makes you happy and what you value. As you start to explore some of these “do’s” and “don’ts” of how to be happy, you may find that you’ve always known all along what would make you happy—you just haven’t been doing it.
If you are clear on your values and principles and about what you value, then it will be easier to focus more on these things so you can bring true, genuine happiness to your life.
Do: Be Willing to Change
If you have been struggling to get happy and feel happier, because you currently haven’t been feeling as happy as you want to, you need to be willing to change. How can you expect your life to change for the better if you aren’t willing to change your actions?
You need to be willing to change and be willing to push yourself to overcome your fear and approach life with more enthusiasm, so you can be happy. The first step is being willing to change, the second step is making that change. Trust us, if you take these steps, happiness will follow.
Build Meaningful Connections
A lot of being happier in your life all comes down to making meaningful, positive changes within yourself. After all, your happiness begins and ends with you.
However, building happiness also has to do with how you establish connections with others in the world around you. You need to build meaningful relationships and social connections with people around you. These include friendly relationships, professional relationships, romantic relationships and more.
The more meaningful, positive connections around you, the better. It will teach you to value to what is important in life, practice kindness and to be grateful for the people who are in your life. Focus on the meaningful relationships you have in your life currently and on building new ones that can enrich your life moving forward.
Do: Meditate
Looking for a simple action step to get started on your journey towards happiness? Meditation is a great place to start.
Regular meditation can help you bring peace of mind, help you alleviate stress and help you find more clarity with each and every practice. In short, regular meditation can help you be happier.
You would be surprised to find just how much regular meditation can change your life for the better. I promise you, if you start with just 15 minutes per day, you will see outstanding benefits in how you feel and how happy you are.
These are the things that you can do in order to bring more happiness into your life. And while I believe that you should focus more on the good then on the bad, here are some of the “don’ts” or things that you should avoid when trying to be happy.
Don’t: Let Social Media Govern Your Happiness
Social media is an integral part of many of our everyday lives. However, you shouldn’t let social media completely govern your happiness.
Take a break from social media, as putting too much emphasis on social media can have a negative impact on your happiness. It is easy to believe the picture-perfect posts that other people make and compare them to your own, or get too caught up in the façade of Instagram and Facebook.
Take a break from social media and a break from being too invested in what is being posted on social media and you will genuinely start to see yourself focusing on the real world in front of you and the real happiness of your life.
Don’t: Allow Yourself to Get in a Negative Thinking Pattern
Many of us unknowingly get ourselves in these patterns of negative thinking. Sometimes, we are what Is making us unhappy, not the world around us. We can spend too much time thinking about how our life didn’t turn out the way that we hoped, or about how others have wronged us.
Negative thought processes like worrying, worrying about rejection and self-judgement can keep us down, unhappy and miserable.
When you do feel like you have fallen into a negative thinking pattern which gets you stuck and unable to move forward—just pause and try to refocus your thoughts on to something more positive. Over time, you will start to be able to do this on your own without really thinking about it.
Don’t: Pay Too Much Attention on the Bad
Life can throw a number of obstacles your way, but it is important that you don’t place too much emphasis on this negativity. Do your best to find the silver linings in those difficult things that come your way.
One way to do this is to keep a positivity journal. Every time a stressful thing comes your way, take a moment to write down a positive spin on this situation.
So, while a stressful new project from work can seem like a big setback—take the moment to think about the positive and think about the fact that you have a job and income to help support you and your family.
Don’t: Forget to Create a Balance
One of the biggest things that tends to get in the way of people being truly happy is burnout. You need to have the energy to be happy if you are exhausted and miserable. It can be easy to get so caught up in our work and other responsibilities and ultimately burn ourselves out.
You need to have the energy to build new skills that will help you be happier—but it will take both time and energy if you really want to change your mindset and be happier. If you are able to create a better work-life balance you will have more opportunity and more energy to focus on being happier.
You can make a difference in your life and you can be happier, if you know what you should do and what you shouldn’t do. Keep these tips in mind if you want to make the types of positive changes that can help you find your happiness.
How to Be Happy: The Do’s and Don’ts
How to Be Happy
How to be Happy — the age old question! What makes you happy? Stop and think about it for a minute. Being happy seems like a such a simple state of mind, but it is really often more complicated than just “being” happy. After all, if it was simple, we’d all be as happy as possibly 24/7/365.
We all want to be happy—whether it is happier than we are, or just finding some happiness in general, this is a very common goal for all of us. So, how can we start being happier and start finding this peace of mind that we all want.
Well this can be a more complicated quest than it seems, but the good news is, there are a few things that we can all do to be happier in our everyday lives. There are also a few things that we should not be doing when attempting to be happier.
Here are some of our biggest do’s and don’ts of how to be happy. Let’s start positively, and begin with the “do’s.”
Do: Give Yourself a Little Boost of Confidence to be Happy
Before you start working on boosting your happiness, you need to believe that you can be good at it. You need to believe in your ability to be successful at increasing your happiness.
You wouldn’t really be able to be happier if you didn’t believe in your ability to make this change. Prove to yourself that you can increase your happiness. Focus on the small wins, so that you can be more confident that you are really able to change your life.
Starting small can be something as simple as prioritizing spending time doing something you enjoy, or feeling gratitude for the things you have. This will give you the boost you need to know you can change your thought process.
Do: Make Positive Memories to be Happy
One of the best ways that you can help yourself be happier is to make positive memories. Research shows that making positive memories can actually help change certain areas of the brain for the better.
The more positive memories you cultivate, the happier you will be. Another great way to utilize this impact is to think about positive memories whenever you are feeling down, as it will trigger this center in your brain.
Do: Establish Your Values
Before you can find true happiness in your life, you need to know what makes you happy and what you value. As you start to explore some of these “do’s” and “don’ts” of how to be happy, you may find that you’ve always known all along what would make you happy—you just haven’t been doing it.
If you are clear on your values and principles and about what you value, then it will be easier to focus more on these things so you can bring true, genuine happiness to your life.
Do: Be Willing to Change
If you have been struggling to get happy and feel happier, because you currently haven’t been feeling as happy as you want to, you need to be willing to change. How can you expect your life to change for the better if you aren’t willing to change your actions?
You need to be willing to change and be willing to push yourself to overcome your fear and approach life with more enthusiasm, so you can be happy. The first step is being willing to change, the second step is making that change. Trust us, if you take these steps, happiness will follow.
Build Meaningful Connections
A lot of being happier in your life all comes down to making meaningful, positive changes within yourself. After all, your happiness begins and ends with you.
However, building happiness also has to do with how you establish connections with others in the world around you. You need to build meaningful relationships and social connections with people around you. These include friendly relationships, professional relationships, romantic relationships and more.
The more meaningful, positive connections around you, the better. It will teach you to value to what is important in life, practice kindness and to be grateful for the people who are in your life. Focus on the meaningful relationships you have in your life currently and on building new ones that can enrich your life moving forward.
Do: Meditate
Looking for a simple action step to get started on your journey towards happiness? Meditation is a great place to start.
Regular meditation can help you bring peace of mind, help you alleviate stress and help you find more clarity with each and every practice. In short, regular meditation can help you be happier.
You would be surprised to find just how much regular meditation can change your life for the better. I promise you, if you start with just 15 minutes per day, you will see outstanding benefits in how you feel and how happy you are.
These are the things that you can do in order to bring more happiness into your life. And while I believe that you should focus more on the good then on the bad, here are some of the “don’ts” or things that you should avoid when trying to be happy.
Don’t: Let Social Media Govern Your Happiness
Social media is an integral part of many of our everyday lives. However, you shouldn’t let social media completely govern your happiness.
Take a break from social media, as putting too much emphasis on social media can have a negative impact on your happiness. It is easy to believe the picture-perfect posts that other people make and compare them to your own, or get too caught up in the façade of Instagram and Facebook.
Take a break from social media and a break from being too invested in what is being posted on social media and you will genuinely start to see yourself focusing on the real world in front of you and the real happiness of your life.
Don’t: Allow Yourself to Get in a Negative Thinking Pattern
Many of us unknowingly get ourselves in these patterns of negative thinking. Sometimes, we are what Is making us unhappy, not the world around us. We can spend too much time thinking about how our life didn’t turn out the way that we hoped, or about how others have wronged us.
Negative thought processes like worrying, worrying about rejection and self-judgement can keep us down, unhappy and miserable.
When you do feel like you have fallen into a negative thinking pattern which gets you stuck and unable to move forward—just pause and try to refocus your thoughts on to something more positive. Over time, you will start to be able to do this on your own without really thinking about it.
Don’t: Pay Too Much Attention on the Bad
Life can throw a number of obstacles your way, but it is important that you don’t place too much emphasis on this negativity. Do your best to find the silver linings in those difficult things that come your way.
One way to do this is to keep a positivity journal. Every time a stressful thing comes your way, take a moment to write down a positive spin on this situation.
So, while a stressful new project from work can seem like a big setback—take the moment to think about the positive and think about the fact that you have a job and income to help support you and your family.
Don’t: Forget to Create a Balance
One of the biggest things that tends to get in the way of people being truly happy is burnout. You need to have the energy to be happy if you are exhausted and miserable. It can be easy to get so caught up in our work and other responsibilities and ultimately burn ourselves out.
You need to have the energy to build new skills that will help you be happier—but it will take both time and energy if you really want to change your mindset and be happier. If you are able to create a better work-life balance you will have more opportunity and more energy to focus on being happier.
You can make a difference in your life and you can be happier, if you know what you should do and what you shouldn’t do. Keep these tips in mind if you want to make the types of positive changes that can help you find your happiness.
Dhaval Patel
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