“Most People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
Yesterday I published the first half of this uber long post on happiness. If you enjoyed it, or this, please take a couple of seconds and vote for me. Thanks!
Click here for the first 10 ways to be happy and please enjoy the remaining 14.
11) Know yourself. The best way to get to know yourself is through the continuous reconstruction of your character. Set regular goals, then meet or exceed them as often as you can. Do what you say you are going to do and make sure everyone around you can expect you to be your best self. Know who you are and never squander the joy of your own life by trying to meld it to the expectations of others.
12) Accentuate the positive. You can’t control every negative thought that seeps through the seams of your mind, but you can control a lot of them, and even the worst situations can be viewed from a positive vista. Truly happy people believe that no matter how bad circumstances might be, there is always a positive to draw from the situation. Your mind is the most powerful element in your personal universe; it can grant you a life that is swollen with smiles or completely void of rapture. The view is largely up to you.
13) Beware of your obsessions. Ambition is good, obsession is not. It is important to know what you want from life and then be willing to do what it takes to get it. However, allowing your goals to become the gnarled and twisted knuckles that make you dance upon a puppet’s strings, is never a good thing. If a goal is something you think about nearly as often as you draw breath, you have likely lost the balance in your life.
14) Listen to your body. Eat when you’re hungry, nap when you need it. Your body is far more vocal than you probably realize. By listening to its essential needs, and doing your best to satisfy them, you will not only live a longer, healthier life, you will also be happier for more of the days that you’re here. You are what you eat. Pay attention to what makes you feel slow, tired or lethargic. Eat the opposite.
15) Be a hard worker. There is tremendous satisfaction gained by being good at what you do, consistently completing tasks and constantly pushing yourself forward. One of the simplest ways to find true happiness is to do work that is worthy of you and then doing that work to the best of your ability.
16) Be a constant learner. Internal growth is one of the fundamental ingredients to a healthy, happy heart. Never stop learning. Be forever willing to grow, expand your mind, and constantly commit yourself to fresh challenges. Read, listen, and adapt. Stretch your mind to accommodate and understand new ideas and information. A constant learner is rarely bored and an engaged mind is often happy.
17) Enjoy the silence. Solitude can be sublime. Modern life is increasingly filled with a multitude of almost magical distractions, but it is always a good idea to take time from the to daily pandemonium to mediate. Wrap yourself in occasional silence and reflect on your life and those things that are truly important to you. Long periods of uninterrupted quiet can often lead to some of life’s most astonishing epiphanies.
18) Enjoy your body. Walk, run, stretch. Ride a bike, swim laps, dance as though no one’s watching. Enjoy a meal, make vehement love, luxuriate in the long sweeps of a lengthy massage. Your body can be a source of joy or the origin of an abundance of aches and pains. Learn to enjoy it and you will naturally want to take care of it. A healthy body often harbors a happy heart.
19) Surround yourself with happy people. Happiness is contagious. People who experience happiness or good fortune often pass the positive vibes to those around them. Happy people tend to travel in tribes. Make sure you are running with the right crowd.
20) Be a problem solver. Inner frustration can often be traced to problems that our subconscious is well aware of, but has not yet dealt with. Identifying the difficulties of our days, both professionally and personally, and then manufacturing solutions can keep us happy, even when things get difficult.
21) Keep things in perspective. Understanding whether something is really worth getting upset about or whether it is actually quite small is a wonderful life skill, worth sharpening to a razor’s edge. Don’t ever surrender to self-pity. If you are feeling overwhelmed, this only means you’re human. Identify your problems, one at a time, appropriately gauge their impact on your life, and never allow the small stuff to swallow you whole. Happy people, in general, never sweat the small stuff.
22) Simplify your life. Face it, you multitask too much. We all do. I’m probably more guilty of breaking this oath than anything else on the list. By trying to get too much done, and all by yesterday, I infuse stress into my life. Unneeded tasks and unwanted clutter, both are equally responsible for adding chaos to the our days. Make sure you are filling your life with the things you truly want to keep and the actions that hold a true benefit to your life. Nothing more is needed.
23) Accept your emotions. Negative emotions have value, nearly as much as the positive. The key is in first accepting and identifying your emotions, then allowing them to help you create a more realistic worldview. Pay close attention to your feelings and how the outside world affects you. You do not need to act on every emotion, but you can slowly groom your disposition through repetitive behavior. Consistently respond to things with patience and understanding and soon enough patience and understanding will be character traits you can be genuinely proud of.
24) Treat yourself. Money can’t buy happiness. Still, an occasional indulgence can sometimes do the trick. Know the purpose in your purchase, and never do anything that will lead to regret, but understanding that our time on the planet is short and that it is meant to be enjoyed can do wonders for your life’s contentment.
Abraham Lincoln had a point. There are many things in our lives that we can do nothing about. Allowing them to erode our happiness is a decision. Look around and do the best you can with those things that are in your control and you will live a life that is happier than you ever imagined.
Writer Dad
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