Try a deep breathing exercise when you wake up. Not only can this shake up your routine, but deep breathing can reduce stress and anxiety, too.
Try meditating. Meditating can help you calm down your mind and body and can help you live in the moment instead of worrying about all of the things around you. Write in a journal. This can help you keep track of your life and will help you feel less overwhelmed by it all. If you’re really feeling so stressed that you can barely cope with your everyday life, then consider talking to a therapist.
Take a look at your schedule. See if there are ways that you can be more efficient to find more time pursuing your passion, or if there are some not-so-fun activities that you can cut out of your life pretty easily to make time for the things you love.
Spend time with happy people. Laughter – and happiness – really is contagious, and you should be around people who are feeling happy if you want to feel happy, too. In fact, a study done by Harvard and UC San Diego found that happiness isn’t only determined by a person’s individual journey, but by his social network as well. [2] X Research source Don’t spend time with people who complain. People who are always negative, love to whine, and who see the worst in every situation, are guaranteed to make you see the worst, too. Avoid these people as much as you can, especially when you feel like lifting your spirits.
Try exercising outside over exercising in a gym whenever you can. Running that 5K in the sunshine will make you feel even happier – and will be more fun – than running on a treadmill that faces a wall.
Sure, you may not be able to find a more suitable career overnight. But what you can change is your attitude about your work – remember that your career isn’t the be all, end all, and that you have other things to be happy about. Small things can make a big impact. If sitting in traffic for an hour before work every morning makes you feel irritated the whole day, wake up half an hour earlier to avoid the traffic jam. Maybe you’re unhappy because you suspect that you’re selfish, unfriendly, a bad listener, or not being a great friend. Well, do what you can to improve in these areas – if you feel happier with yourself, then you’ll feel happier overall.
Try to go to bed around the same time every night and to wake up around the same time every morning.
Choose physical activity over transportation any time you can. Even walking 15 minutes to the grocery store instead of driving or walking four flights of stairs up to your office instead of taking the elevator can make you feel happier.
Fake it until you make it. You may feel that your smile is fake, at first, but you’ll be surprised by how quickly you begin to actually feel happier when you try to smile even when you’re not feeling it.
Maybe you haven’t put that much thought into which hours of your day actually make you the happiest. Make a list of everything you do each day and figure out where the happiness comes in the most.
You should do at least a few nice things for other people “just because” each week. It is guaranteed to make you feel better. Don’t just do nice things for a friend because it’s her birthday. Give a friend a nice gift just because you’re thinking of her, and see how great it makes you both feel.
Spending time with yourself allows you to decompress, relieve stress, and feel happier. Don’t let a friend’s last-minute plans horn in on your alone time. Treat a date with yourself like it’s a date with your favorite celebrity.
Of course, it’s a little scary to admit that a lot of your life is controlled by the powers that be. But the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to see that your own happiness is within your control.
Keep your list handy and add to it every Sunday. Make a ritual of reading it over every time you come back to it, or reading it over at the end of every year to see how much happiness you have in your life. If you want a variation on this, you can make a “happiness jar. ” Write down something that makes you happy on a piece of paper and throw it in a jar. Wait for the jar to fill up or wait until the end of the year and then have fun reminding yourself of all of the fun memories that have made you so happy.
Make a goal of noting at least five small things that made you happy each day. Once you start doing it, it will begin to feel natural, and you’ll find yourself smiling at things you never thought were so special before.
Being present takes practice and you can learn to do it faster if you commit to yoga or meditation.
Though reflecting can be best done on your own, if something keeps churning through your mind, calling up a good friend to talk about it can also help you think about the events in your life in a new light.
You may think you know a person who has “everything,” but chances are, that person can find something about you to envy, too.
The next time you spend time with a friend, make an extra effort to feel compassion. Understand the situation from your friend’s perspective and ask extra questions about how your friend is feeling and show that you really care.
