Happiness begets happiness. When we think positive thoughts, we lessen stress, increase our coping skills and reduce the risk of depression and cardiovascular disease. Everyone likes being happy, but it’s not always easy to get there. To start on your path to happiness and positivity, follow these tips:
Surround yourself with positive people and things. Toxic relationships will make you unhappy. Take count of all the meaningful relationships in your life and work on nourishing them, then distance yourself from relationships that cultivate negativity. Make your home a place that relaxes and inspires you; fill your space with things that you love and de-clutter the things that don’t serve you.
Smile, even when there’s not a specific reason. Smile at people, smile at yourself, smile at children and dogs. Smiles are contagious!
Be present. You can worry about things that have already happened and stress about things in your future, but really it’s what’s happening now that matters. Sometimes when we worry about the past or the future, we forget to enjoy our present lives.
Forgive yourself. There’s no better way to be unhappy than to place blame on yourself. Forgive yourself and try to be better next time.
Do something nice. Doing something for others makes us feel good. Help out a neighbor, make dinner for family or volunteer your time with an organization you believe in.
Move around. Take a walk in the park, go for a bike ride or take an exercise class. Just getting up and moving will make you feel better.
Do something you love once a day. It could be for five minutes or a couple hours, but make sure you spend at least part of your day doing something that makes you truly happy.
Identify any unhappiness in your life. Once you know exactly what’s preventing you from being happy, you can start to work toward changing that thing. Also identify the things that make you the happiest and try to include more of that in your life.