Happiness Hacks

We are always striving for more and adding more things into our lives, and that can lead to us ignoring the good things we have right now. When something good comes your way, you should pay attention to it. You should experience it and savor it. Too often, we ignore the good in our lives in our relentless pursuit of the better. We tell ourselves we won’t be happy until X or Y happens, and in the meantime, we miss the good we have already achieved. Pay attention to the good you have already have and feel the happiness it brings. 

Physical problems can affect your emotional state. If you are experiencing a small pain, ache, or discomfort in your body, address it now: get a massage, see a physical therapist, go to a doctor. Small physical pains can grow over time and start to affect your life in negative ways. Remove these pains from your life to create a hap- pier emotional state. 

Distractions are nice every now and again—they take our minds off our troubles and allow us to rest and recuperate without having to think too much. However, distractions start to be a problem when they are distracting you so much that you are losing hours of your day to diversions instead of tending to the things that matter in your life. That video game, those Internet articles, those Facebook posts . . . they’re fun, but they will not bring you real happiness. Distract yourself only in moderation and don’t risk sacrificing the meaningful parts of your life.

There is no one “correct” body type. Sure, you should strive to be as healthy as you can, but if you feel comfortable in your own skin and you’re happy with your life, don’t let other people’s opinions of body types get in your head. Don’t let other people tell you you’re not beautiful or that you could be more beautiful if you only did this or that. Your opinion of your body is the only one that matters. If you are not happy in your own skin, then take steps to improve yourself, but only if you truly desire to make those changes. 

You cannot be idle in your own life and just wait and hope that good things will come your way by coincidence—no one who has experienced good fortune has achieved it coincidentally. You must take an active role in the world and your life if you want good things to happen. Be grateful for what you have and appreciate all you have accomplished, but never stop striving to make the most out of your life. 

None of us know what the future holds, but if you can remain optimistic about the future and your ability to accomplish your goals, then you will be happier. Surround yourself with people who nurture and support your optimism. Having a naysayer in your life who constantly tries to redirect you away from your goals or make you feel embarrassed about them will only tarnish your outlook. Nurture positive relationships with people who help lift you up. 

If you are experiencing obstacles to happiness and you can’t figure out how to overcome those obstacles, a life coach might be able to help you. Life coaches can help you evaluate your life and determine what you’re not happy about. Maybe you are sabotaging your own happiness without even realizing it! Talking with a life coach can help you discover what you can do better (or stop doing) so that you can live a happier life. 

We all screw up. The secret to being able to handle life’s stumbles is to forgive yourself. You’ll encounter setbacks, and when you do, you should not give up or become despondent—instead, tackle the setbacks. If you are doing the right thing most of the time, then you are doing pretty well. No one can make it through life without a few stumbles along the way, so forgive yourself for having made those errors and move on. 

This may seem like a contrary statement considering all the advice in this book about focusing on the good in life, but when you are faced with a frightening or anxiety-riddled situation and you cannot force yourself to find the good in it, some- times the best plan is to focus on the worst outcome. Figure out the very worst thing that could happen as a result of the situation and think about how badly things could go (in detail). In most cases, you’re going to discover that your anxiety about the situation is exaggerated. 

Each night after dinner, write down five good things that happened to you during the day. Most people are tired after a long day at work and can tend to drift toward the negative, but by doing this exercise, you can redirect your mood toward the things that are going well and thus increase your positivity. Pause for a few minutes to write down the things that went just the way you’d planned or perhaps some small surprises during the day that put a smile on your face. Writing down these gratitudes may sound trivial, but journaling this way has been proven to reduce stress and redirect people out of negative cycles.