How To Be Happy
Happiness is a Choice
We all want to be happy in life. We talk about how we want to be happy, but most of us do nothing about it. Most of us believe in a lie. We believe that we can only be happy when everything in our life is perfect. We believe happiness is the relationship, job, ring, country home, vacations, beauty products, wardrobe, and weight loss.
The problem is, these things alone don’t create real and lasting happiness.
So, happiness becomes this mysterious thing we want but we don’t know how to get.
Happiness Does Not Depend On External Things
It’s not external – this is good news because that means we don’t have to wait for everything in life to be perfect, nor do we have to have control of everything to feel a certain way. We can have happiness NOW. Knowing this, is a game-changer because it means we can be happy right now. And something great happens when we do this: when we feel happy, our outward experience changes in ways we could never imagine.
It’s common to fall into the trap of thinking we’ll be happy only when everything in our lives is exactly the way we want it to be. And for us to be happy, we must work hard to control these external circumstances to make them “right.”
But, when we make these things happen, we want them to fill us up, validate us, or make us feel whole and complete. Even if they do for a while, these changes will not be sustainable. With luck, we eventually realize that external things don’t make us happy long-term.
Choose Happiness Every Day
For you to be happy, you must first understand what happiness is. Happiness is pleasure and purpose. Pleasure means feeling positive emotions, such as delight, joy, and surprise, in the present moment. And purpose is about living a life which is worthwhile to you.
When you are happy, you savor the food you eat, are more mindful in your daily experiences and appreciate all the beautiful things life has to offer. You count your blessings, are kind to others, and focus on being the best you can be. Every day you are mindful, appreciative and enthusiastic about life.
Making Yourself Happy
Being truly happy starts with being good to yourself. A few ways to do this include:
- Become more aware of your thoughts and feelings.
- Listen to your inner self. It’s pretty smart.
- Forgive yourself for past mistakes.
- Accept who you are in this moment.
- Set realistic goals for yourself.
- Stop holding yourself to unreasonable standards of perfection.
- Take pride in what you’ve accomplished, even the small wins.
- Make yourself a priority.
- Remove negativity from your life.
- Set realistic boundaries and hold firm to them.
- Do nothing. Take time to simply be.
- Reconnect with loved ones.
- Start each day with intention.
- Find the positive in every situation.
- Do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.
- Practice gratitude.
- Find joy in the small things.
Loving and valuing yourself means accepting that you’re imperfect and choosing to be happy anyway. It means working every day to find fulfilment in your life. It means looking in the mirror every day and telling yourself “I love you and I choose to be happy.”
It all boils down to you. You have the choice to be happy. You have the power to be happy.
Do you have the courage to make the changes necessary to be happy?
30 Day Happiness Journal
Get the 30 day happiness journal that provides information on small steps you can take right now, to improve your level of happiness and a page for each of the next 30 days in which you can record what you are doing to increase your happiness and how it turns out.