Happiness comes in different faces— sometimes it stems from the grand and lavish things this life has to offer, sometimes it springs from just being at peace of what you are and what you have. Sometimes happiness is as simple as walking down the street with your friends. Sometimes it’s having the privilege to pursue your dreams. Happiness often lies in the habits deeply engraved in our minds.
Regardless of how true happiness looks for you, there are still a few tweaks that you can do to feel happier than you’ve ever been before. To live a more satisfying life, start breaking bad habits that may sabotage your happiness, and work on building more positive habits.
While these habits worked well with others, there is no guarantee that they will leave the same results with you. If some of the listed habits below don’t really suit your lifestyle and bring you frustration, get rid of them. But before doing so, give them a try.
Take a look at these 11 simple ways to feel happier and puzzle out what works for you and what doesn’t.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is appreciating thankfully the goodness of whatever it is that you are receiving, may it be tangible or intangible. Practicing gratitude can dramatically increase happiness because it makes you conscious of all the good things that you have, instead of focusing on areas you stand in need of.
Before starting your day, think of something that you are so grateful for and ponder on all the good things in your life.
Constantly appreciating what you have can strongly help in having more positive emotions, which in return, brings good experiences, stronger relationships among peers, and better health. When you practice gratitude in all things, the way you think throughout a day changes— you have a more positive spin, allowing you to think of a more efficient solution to problems that might cause frustration.
Write Your Feelings in a Diary
Journaling aims to get all your worries in a paper so you can come out of the cycle of rumination, confront those thoughts, and organize ways on how to address them. Begin writing down your concerns every day, describe them and the reasons why you find them disturbing, then identify the options you have to solve that distressing thought.
Although writing down your feelings in a diary is a bit outdated in this era, studies otherwise show that doing so will allow you to organize all your thoughts. By writing down what you feel in a journal, you can work through ideas that cause you frustration, helping you to relieve stress and overcome emotional discomforts.
Exercise
The benefit of exercise isn’t limited just to your body. It also reduces thoughts of anxiety, decreases stress, and alleviates symptoms of depression. It boosts happiness and self-esteem. Even just a 5-minute short exercise can make a huge difference in your life. However, don’t throw yourself out into a vigorous exercise routine, or else, you will find yourself cramped.
Exercising can be as simple as taking a walk in your neighborhood every night after eating your dinner or signing up for a beginner’s class in tai chi or yoga. Doing activities you enjoy like bowling, dancing, or golfing could also be a good form of workout.
Smile More
We often thought that smiling is the upshot of happiness. Although there’s no doubt that it’s true, there’s more to smiling than what meets the eye. When you smile, your brain produces hormones that make your feel happier.
You don’t have to force yourself to smile all the time. However, when you are feeling so low, remember that smiling could make your day a bit better. Make it a habit to crack a smile on your face every morning to start your day with positive energy.
Spend Time with Your Loved Ones
Spending time with people close to your heart, like your family, can remarkably shrink the possibility of developing depression. When you fall prey to disbelief, hopelessness, and negative self-perception, the best course you could take to get back on track is to reach out to your loved ones.
Humans are highly sociable beings and interacting with your family could be the key to building a stronger sense of confidence and gratitude for things. Having someone on you can rely on lessens the feeling of stress and anxiety, even in the worst edgy situations.
Show Random Act of Kindness
Performing an act of kindness can be as easy as giving a sincere compliment. According to studies, people feel more satisfied after showing a random act of kindness to people they meet. Try giving out compliments to people around you and you will be surprised at how it awards you with pleasant sensation.
When you show kindness to someone, you’re not just brightening up their day, but also giving your happiness a big boost.
Do Digital Fasting
Deliberately refrain from using digital devices like tablets, computers, smartphones, and free yourself from the chains of the internet even with just a short period of time. Several have become addicted to their smartphones and engaged themselves in excessive social media use in recent years. If you are one of them, unplug yourself for a while.
Digital detoxing is an effective method in building a sense of control. While you’re on a phone break, immerse in self-care activities like reading, meditation, or socializing. Unplugging yourself away from the digital world can help your mind wander for a change.
Start spending time walking on green spaces around your neighborhood, garden, or backyard, and take time appreciating the nature and fresh air you breathe.
Learn Something New
There’s a lot of ways learning can affect our entire well-being. By being exposed to new ideas, curiosity and engagement heighten, which later, produces resilience, and a sense of accomplishment. When you learn new things, you feed and exercise your brain in a new way, stimulating creativity. This eventually influences other areas of life, including happiness.
Engaging in doing blossoms happiness. Unlike when you’re in school, forcing yourself to grasp concepts you are not interested in, take time to learn a piece of new information and skill that highly interests you. Doing so will boost self-efficacy and self-esteem, making you feel a lot more satisfied from your self-motivated learning.
Discover the things you truly want to do and lose yourself learning that passion. Do your best in that area and you will have a greater sense of happiness stirring up from your most rewarding work.
Declutter
Although decluttering seems like a laborious project, setting aside a few minutes every week doing so can leave a significant impact. Take 15 minutes to clean an area in your room.
Tidy up everything in place and throw or donate extra clutter that doesn’t have any value to you anymore. Put them in a box to avoid creating more mess. Do this every time you feel like your place is getting beyond your control.
Get Enough Sleep
You must have encountered this advice several times that you can’t even count but let me emphasize to you one more time — GET ENOUGH SLEEP!
No matter how much modernity drives use towards sleepless nights, we can never deny that adequate sleep is vital in good brain function, emotional well-being, and overall health of a person. Give yourself some slack and enjoy the luxury of seven or eight hours of sleep.
