Everyone wants to be happy.
It seems like the simplest, most basic request we could ask. And yet, some search in torment their whole lives for the secret to happiness, and die feeling they never even got close.
Happiness lies most often in the details, and the everyday. Here to help you find happiness in your life, are 5 steps you can take today:
1. Notice the details.
Happiness begins by becoming more aware of the little things. Happiness doesn’t have a grand clause attached that says you can only be happy if it involves a huge event in which you’re smiling form ear to ear for at least three days solid. The happiness of a moment can last for days, weeks, or a lifetime. Acknowledge these moments, and you’ll find more and more of them cropping up when you least expect them, like spring flowers in the midst of winter.
2. Be grateful.
Noticing when you’re happy is the first step, being grateful that you have these moments naturally follows on. Taking a minute or two at the end of each day to just be grateful for the good things you’ve experienced that day, can quickly become a powerful habit that again brings more and more happy moments into your consciousness, and into your life. Even better, start a journal and write them down – “5 things I’m grateful for today” – for example.
3. Help others find their own happiness.
If you’re always inwardly focused, and searching desperately for the secret to just your own happiness, you’re unlikely to find it. An easy way of helping yourself experience good feelings more often, is to help other people find happiness. This can be a simple gesture like sending a card to a friend to let them know what they mean to you, or on a larger scale, devoting time, energy, or finances to a charitable cause.
4. Express yourself artistically.
Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, regular creative expression is healthy, life affirming, and can help you be more happy. You could choose to write, paint, sing, dance, cook, garden or any other creative way of expressing and enjoying yourself. It doesn’t have to be for hours on end, and in fact a little each day is far more beneficial in the long run to raising your overall contentment and wellbeing.
5. Focus on the positive.
It makes sense that what we give our focus and attention to expands. If you watched nothing but a news channel all day long, your mind will be filled with only the bad things going on I the world. And your mood and outlook will reflect that. Instead find the positive in events, in people, in your own life. Any time you think something negative, turn it around into a positive opposing force. Pretty soon this will become habit and, naturally, the more positive thoughts and influences you have, the more happy you will be.
Pick one of the above tips to starting using right away to make yourself happy.
