6 Essential Steps to Becoming a Happier Person

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Happiness sometimes can seem elusive and yet it is the greatest quest in our life’s journey. We all can use more happiness in our lives. Often life’s lessons can seem to deplete our happiness at times, especially when we are facing challenges. Life is a series of cycles, ups and downs. None of us are “up” all of the time.

That said increasing happiness is a worthy pursuit. Happiness does not mean the absence of negative emotions. Happy people still experience the full spectrum of emotions but the frequency of negative emotions is less and they process those negative emotions differently by finding meaning and an alternate perspective that others many not.

The more we experience happiness, the more beneficial it is to our lives as a whole. Research confirms that happier people are more successful in all areas of their lives. Happy people are healthier and do not get sick as often. Happier people perceive their life to be easier despite challenges and have a more positive outlook overall. Happiness is contagious! Happy people have a positive influence on those around them and their environment. As a result they have deeper conversations with friends and colleagues and tend to be more creative and productive. Lastly, happy people smile more.

We all can use some tips and strategies to increase our happiness and prevent us in getting in a downward cycle of despair when our life seems to be in a downward cycle. These tips are helpful not only in breaking a downward cycle but also to help us smooth out the ups and downs of life and experience more happiness consistently as you traverse through our lives.

Train your mind.

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Be grateful in the moment. Actively find more and more things to be thankful for. The more you are grateful, the more wonderful things you will see appearing in your life. This is a process of reshaping your mindset. Consider it a mental exercise of gratitude in the moment. Challenge yourself to notice and appreciate the ordinary moments, the brief moments of joy and satisfaction such as right after quenching your thirst with a drink or stepping into a warm shower when you are cold. It is the little things, notice the sensation and appreciate it. Through this process you are training your mind to increase your happiness by focusing on the little blessings in life. You are priming your mental pump to experience more joy!

Distract your mind.

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Notice when you start to feel sad and break the cycle immediately. Find a way to distract yourself from the negative emotions or thoughts. Listen to music, energetic happy music that pumps you up. Focus on happy moments and relive these happy memories mentally. Look at a photo album with pictures of happy times. Do you like to read? Lose yourself in a story for 30 minutes. Go to a movie. Take a walk or get some exercise. Get out and spend time with some up beat friends. Notice when your body starts to tense and focus on relaxing. Take deep breaths to release tension, shift your posture and physically move yourself back to center. Find a mental distraction and shift back to being grateful in the present moment.

Be nice to yourself and others.

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Performing acts of service increase your feelings of joy and satisfaction. Be kind. Focus on others and how you can be of service. Think, ‘How can I be of assistance to another?’ Giving of your time and energy to help another or a worthy cause increases your sense of self-worth, appreciation for life and overall well-being. Find a volunteer activity or help a friend or family member. And don’t forget yourself; you deserve to be treated with kindness too. Do something nice for yourself. You deserve it! Focusing on service, on doing something kind, shifts your focus to the positive. As this changes your overall demeanor you will find yourself experiencing more happiness.