How To Live A Happy Life
10 tips to bring more joy into life starting today.
I used to be absolutely miserable. Walk around with a permanent scowl kind of miserable. But then something changed. I got tired of being sour. Nothing was going my way, and I wasn’t getting anywhere with life. So I decided that I wanted to get more fulfillment out of every day instead of always being grumpy and frazzled. And thus, my personal development journey was born.
I am not where I want to be yet, I still notice that scowl on my face from time to time, but I am getting there. We as humans are not programmed to be happy. Our primitive brains are hardwired to survive and keep us safe. Our emotional brain simply has not evolved as much as we have as a species in the last few generations. Of course we experience happiness and joy, but those moments are fleeting.
So how do we experience more consistent joy in life? Through practice! Cultivating happiness isn’t an overnight event, but with consistently being mindful of your emotional status, it is possible to reset your baseline and “rewire” your mind for happiness.
Focus on positivity
I know that this is probably something that you have heard a million times over in personal development material and it sounds overplayed, but hear me out. Take between 2–5 minutes each day just thinking about all the positive things in your day, and then expand into the positivity in your life. Set a timer if you would like, but just focus on the positive. You can even take this a step further and spend 10 minutes instead to journal it.
Accept imperfections
Do more than just accept them, embrace them. Of course we always want to be at our best, and have those around us be at their best, but to expect perfection is too much pressure to add to any situation. Perfection is just an illusion and doesn’t really exist. Rather, accept life’s imperfections and learn to see the beauty within them.
Live for right now
All too often we get caught up in the “what should have been and what could be if only…” mindsets. All this does is create stress. Let go of what was and stop worrying about what will be for a little while and just live in the moment.
Now, I am not saying not to ever look back at the past, we learn from the past by seeing what we could have done differently, I am saying just don’t live there. And definitely look towards the future and set goals for yourself, but don’t spend all of your time daydreaming. Work towards a healthy balance of past, present and future.
Engage with music
There is listening to music, and then there is engaging with music. Engaging with music could be anything from singing and dancing, to meditating to music, to playing an instrument, or even journaling about how a particular song makes you feel. Music has a way of touching our souls and lifting our spirits even when it seems that nothing else can, but it is so much more powerful when we take it further than just plain old listening to it.
Build meaningful relationships
It is only natural that feeling loved goes a long way when it comes to feeling joyful. Humans have a need to be connected to others, and when those connections are positive it goes without saying that we will feel more happiness in life than if they are negative or toxic relationships.
See my article How to Feel Valued in Relationships for ways you can make your relationships more meaningful
Spend time in nature
There are plenty of studies out there that show that when we spend time connecting to nature we are happier in life as a result, and that our connection to nature plays a large part in our mental health overall. A quick google search will bring up tonnes of results on this.
Stop the comparisons
Stop comparing yourself to others. What you see on social media is definitely not always what you get. This was a trap that I admittedly fell into for a while. People post primarily about how great their life is, and intentionally leave out the not-so-nice bits. Allowing yourself to feel jealous or envious over their “super great” lifestyle is really just going to rob your of your own well-deserved happiness in the long-run.
Attitude of Gratitude
Find things to be grateful for every day. When you take time out of each day to really appreciate and be grateful for all of the blessings you have received in life, you will start to notice more and more things around you that you can be grateful for. It is impossible to be both grateful and angry at the same time, so when you start to notice that you are getting a little down in the dumps pick yourself up with a little gratitude practice. It works like magic!
Exercise
The endorphins we release during a workout are no laughing matter, but they might just help you laugh! Endorphins interact with the brain in such a way that they actually reduce our perception of pain, and trigger a sensation in the body similar to that of morphine. Studies show that people who exercise regularly have lower rates of depression and anxiety, and higher rates of elevated moods. Make it a workout that you will find enjoyable otherwise it will seem like a chore. Always speak to your medical practitioner before beginning a new exercise regimen.
Working out first thing in the morning has shown some amazing benefits, find our more in this article.
Celebrate the small victories
It doesn’t have to be the achievement of a big goal that you have been steadily working towards. It can literally be something as small as doing a task that you’ve been putting off like emptying the bazillion junk emails that have been collecting in your inbox, and unsubscribing to some of the email lists that you never open messages from. Your celebration doesn’t have to be extravagant either, it can be as simple as doing a little victory dance when you’ve finished. Taking a moment out of your busy day to recognize even the smallest of victories can reap huge rewards when it comes to your happiness.
Hopefully you have learned at least one new tip, or new way to utilize one of the tips I have mentioned in this article to bring some more joy into your life starting today. Life is so much better when we take the time to work on our own happiness. When we feel good, everyone around us benefits. Let me know in the responses below what some of the ways that you bring happiness into your days are.
