Happiness is something pursed by many people but few are those who manage to find happiness in their lives. How to find happiness is a process that can be both long and short term. You can find happiness from the little things of everyday life but you can also change your life and your way of thinking and find happiness in the long term. Happiness is like butterflies, some writers say. “Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you”. Psychologists on the other hand do not believe that, but believe that happiness depends on us and can be built with our efforts. This article outlines 20 hacks on how to find happiness in your daily life but also 7 ways that you can prepare your self for a happy life.
We can choose to be happy by changing our thoughts and way of thinking. We can hunt happiness. To find happiness we have to limit the negative thoughts, such as pessimism, the abhorrence and anger. At the same time we should strengthen positive emotions such as compassion, peace and especially gratitude.
Recent surveys showed that our personal well-being and happiness depends to a minimum degree on goods such as health, wealth, good appearance or social status. Happiness seems to be related to the way we live our lives with those things that we have already.
Remember the theory of «set point» associated with the weight. This theory suggests that weight loss is only a temporary phenomenon. People for example, make diet and lose weight for a temporary period, in a given period they return to their normal weight. This theory seems to apply also to the question of happiness. We tend to go back to our normal levels of happiness. We knew that we have a thermostat in the house and car, now we learned that we have a «thermostat happiness» in our brains, which adjusts the «ups and downs» caused by various life events.
Other recent research suggests that the answer to the question: “how to find happiness” is found partly in our genes. From this we can conclude that genes determine to a certain point our level of happiness, except for some cases of course. For example, excessive poverty for a long unsettled period may affect the level of happiness.
If you feel disappointed that you were not born with an abundance of genes and still wondering how to find happiness, do not be discouraged. Remember that genes do not determine to the full extent the level of happiness you are able to experience, but only to a certain degree. Genes simply give us a great resource, which can be processed. It depends how we will use this resource to find happiness.
To use another analogy, suppose you live in a house, which you have inherited from your parents. It is up to you to decide in which part of the house you want to live. You can live in the basement, which is dark and dirty, or in the top floor of the house, which is bright and shiny and has a wonderful view of the ocean!
The desire to find happiness can help us, but also has the power to harm us. It can help us when we are encouraged to achieve positive and worthy goals. But the desire can become infinite and continuous. The uncontrollable desire may become a permanent source of misery. Therefore, at some point in the conquest of material goods and personal fulfillment, pleasure and satisfaction is necessary to maintain a certain level of happiness.
Happiness comes from whether someone can meet the challenges set by his family, work and other responsibilities and obligations. But in order to feel satisfied, you must be in a receptive mental state. Similarly, you won’t find happiness from a perfect job, a perfect family or a perfect society. Happiness is the result of our efforts to achieve something perfect and when we feel that we live a productive life.
How to find happiness in a productive life? The life we live is productive when we know our potential and when we use it for a good cause.
Try to see your work and family as your own personal mission. Consider the services you offer to others as part of your personal integration. Deal with projects that are in line with your values and help yourself to get the skills and abilities to move to the next high level.
The more challenges you can manage and the more you are using your personal abilities, the more will be the positive emotions that will enter your life, the more chances your have to find happiness.
How to find happiness – 7 Steps
1. Desire for the conquest of happiness
The first step on how to find happiness is a conscious choice to be happy. According to psychologists, the intention is the active desire and commitment for someone to be happy. It is the choice of activities that make us happy and the adoption of behaviours that lead us to happiness and not in misery.
For example, you may need to reconsider your values and beliefs. To learn to properly use you’re communication skills or your abilities and skills in the workplace. Moreover, you can choose to be in an environment with people who raise your chances for happiness.
The management of our emotions as well as our relations with others is a key factor on how to find happiness.
When someone takes the decision to be happy, must pursue strategies that will help him in this direction.
2. Gratitude
One strategy that can help is that of ‘exercise of gratitude’, as the psychologists suggest. One may note in a paper the things that feel grateful. This list removes people from the bitterness and despair, and promotes happiness.
3. Forgiveness
To have negative feelings for someone can have adverse effects on our mental and physical health, as many studies show. One way to reduce these effects is the forgiveness of others. This reduces the power of negative events that create bitterness and loathing. It is a big step on how to find happiness.
4. Overcoming negative thoughts and feelings
The fourth way on how to find happiness is to eliminate the negative thoughts and emotions. A person can exercise control over negative emotions and thoughts. There are many ways to do it but needs a lot of work. Someone, for example, may choose meditation, yoga or relaxation techniques to become calm. People can learn to recognize the thoughts that give them feelings of weakness or failure.
5. Money does not buy happiness
This is something you must have heart many times. You cannot find happiness with money. As surveys show, the money does not guarantee happiness. Having overcome the poverty level, the extra money offers little in terms of happiness. Despite the efforts we make to make money, psychologists say that money will not ever guarantee a permanent state of happiness.
6. Strengthening of friendships
The cultivation of friendly relations is still one of the best ways to find happiness. There are only a few antidotes to the unhappiness that are better than friendship and relationship with people who care. Research in Australia revealed that people over 70 years who had the strongest network of friends lived much longer. The social ties, protect us from depression and provide support in difficult times.
7. Being active and not passive
The participation in activities that are meaningful can help you to find happiness. In such cases, the brain is absorbed in activities that are meaningful and challenging for the abilities of the individual. As shown in surveys, watching television provides one of the lowest levels of happiness.
Every useful activity requires increased attention at the beginning before it starts to become enjoyable.
20 hacks on how to find happiness in everyday life activities
Besides the 7 steps, on how to find happiness, there are simple hacks you can do in your everyday life and find happiness. The happiest people in the world are not those who have perfect lives, but those who have learned to enjoy things that do not reach perfection. Some things that you do not pay attention to can give great pleasure in your life and help you find instant happiness. Enjoy the small pleasures of life!
1. Wake up early to watch the sunrise and the night turning into day.
2. Think of those you love, those who love you, which help you and be happy that you had the chance to meet them.
3. Observe the moving clouds, the waves of the sea, and the flowers of your garden.
4. Smile! Enjoy the scent of flowers, the fresh sweet, and your aroma. Taste a bit of chocolate. Observe your child or your beloved while sleeping.
5. Plant a tree, and take care of it.
6. Remember that you have a body: breathe deeply, exercise, and sit on the noses of your feet.
7. Remember a desire that you had as a child. It is never too late to make it.
8. Dress with bright, warm colours.
9. Make someone happy for a day.
10. Erase from your memory the evil.
11. Sit next to the sea and let the waves touch your feet.
12. Go to the cinema and enjoy a movie.
13. Listen to your favorite music. Let yourself be carried away from your favorite melody to remember things that made you impressed.
14. Call a friend who had time to listen.
15. Eliminate your work stress, do things that give you pleasure.
16. Place in your office some flowers, a photograph.
17. Write on a piece of paper how much you love your partner and hide the paper in his/her pocket.
18. Try to do something new: sing a song, play a game, get on a bicycle, taste a new sweet full of calories.
19. Prepare your luggage and go on vacation by closing your mobile for a weekend.
20. Walk in the rain. Look at the sky, feel the rain!
How to find happiness is a process that you can control, is not something that depends entirely on luck. Some people are lucky enough to have genes that promote happiness. Other people have to work hard and be optimistic that eventually they will find happiness in their lives.
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