““True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.””
~Dalai Lama~
For most of us humans, happiness and fulfillment is a far-fetched goal. We go through life through all the motions, yes. But we don’t make our own fulfillment and internal happiness a priority and thus we find ourselves stressed, unhappy, and burdened by life’s daily chores.
It is no wonder so many of us find ourselves in either anxiety or depression or a variety of mental prisons, bogged down by the day to day. We get into things like mid-life crisises because we weren’t clear from the very beginning of what we wanted our life to be like and how we wanted it’s experience to be like.
People taught us how to read, they taught us how to count, but no one taught us how to be happy. And I dare say that learning how to be happy and how to live is a much more important lesson to master than even math or reading.
5 Things You can Do Right Now to Be More Happy
Neil Pasricha, author of the The How of Happiness, states that fear of death and the necessity of survival is what has driven the human race for all these generations. So our brains naturally are not programmed to be happy, they are programmed to worry and to make sure we are safe.
But our brains our remarkable organs, and they can be programmed to be happy. How? We now know that it is not your circumstances, nor your genetics, that is the primary factor that determines your happiness. It truly is your outlook on life and intentional activites you engage in to keep yourself uplifted.
Instead of theories, let’s dive into practical things you can do to be happier in life.
- Find a positive friend you can open up to and talk to.
- Go out in nature.
- Do random acts of kindness to help those in need.
- Practice mindfulness meditation (maybe through a guided meditation on Youtube) that makes you more aware of your internal thoughts and feelings.
- Focus on the little things you can control in life.
Let’s briefly go over
1. Positive Friends
Having a healthy social circle can make the biggest difference on your overall satisfaction in life. We are social creatures that need some people around us that can support us mentally and emotionally. If you’re a bit anti-social, reflect on those in your current social circle that have a positive influence on you and that you like talking to. Having trouble finding friends you can open up with and relate to? Try looking for some at local events of your interest, or by searching online for people with similar interests or similar struggles you can relate to. Be sure to look for those that you feel comfortable with and feel happier to be around. And join our newsletter and Facebook page so we can also be a part of that positive social circle! 🙂
2. Nature
Nature has a primordial healing affect on our consciousness. One research from the University of Chicago suggested that people who lived in public housing who had had trees and more exposure to nature reported four positive social traits as compared to their counterparts with less nature around their housing. The four benefits were:
- Knowing more people.
- Having stronger feelings of unity with neighbors.
- Being more concerned with helping and supporting each other.
- And having stronger feelings of belonging.
3. Random Acts of Kindness
Doing random acts of kindness especially those to strangers can be heart-warming and uplifting even to the most coldest of hearts. It is well-known that those who volunteer actively to help those less unfortunate usually are less prone to depression. Giving your time and energy and resources actually helps you to not only remember the blessings you have that you should be grateful for, but also gives you positive emotional interaction that reminds you that you can make a difference in your own life and the lives of others through the simplest acts of love and care.
4. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the talk of the day! By simply practicing on the art of focusing on the experience of this moment, you can let go quite naturally of the anxious or depressive thoughts that are pulling you down. It’s a natural and free way to reduce stress and manage our emotions!
As Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, MIT grad and creator of MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) techniques and director at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts, says, “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.” There are a lot of great mindfulness-based guided meditations available on the internet that you can check out and use to instantly feel a little or a whole lot better!
5. The Little Things You can Control
Jane McGonigal was an intelligent gamer girl that found her self in deep bouts of depression, to the point where she went suicidal and was ready to take her own life. Through the help of therapy and social support and focusing on little things throughout the day she can control, she found she slowly felt better and better and her beliefs about herself and the world changed. Now she is founder of the hit app “Superbetter,” focusing on the little things that you can do today that are within your reach. Whether you’re in the mood or not, cleaning the dishes or walking or a simple call, added up day by day, will help you in becoming alive again! Forget the heartbreak or the hard circumstances or the pain you may be holding up, give it a go and focus on the little things you can control!
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