WAYS TO INCREASE PERSONAL HAPPINESS

Happiness is important for everyone. Why bother being happy? Really? We are only in this life for a finite number of years. Who wants to go through life miserable? No one.

Sometimes, though, a person can be in a season in their life where happiness seems to be out of reach. There are a few simple things anyone can do to bring happiness into their life.

Express Gratitude

The first simple thing that will increase your happiness is to express gratitude. Sometimes it is difficult to be grateful in trying times. There are days when you have to dig deep to find anything to be grateful for. It is important to dig for those things everyday.

Everyday I say “I’m so grateful,” multiple times. You know why? Because gratitude causes you to focus on the positive things in your life instead of the negative. This positivity contributes to overall happiness.

Life should be full of joy! One way to feel the joy is to be grateful.

List What You Are Grateful For

Sometimes you might need a little push to begin expressing gratitude.If you are feeling down or miserable, you will probably need to practice being grateful. Reflect back on your day every night. Write down things that you are grateful for.

I would say write down 10 things, but some days you may not be able to think of 10 things. Those are the days you need to really reflect on why that day was so bad that you can’t think of 10 things to be grateful for.

If you are consistent, it will soon become second nature for you to find things to be grateful for. After you have successfully gotten into the habit of writing down things you are grateful for at the end of the day, then start working sentences of gratitude into your day.

It can be something small like “I’m grateful this bagel tastes so good,” or “I’m grateful that traffic wasn’t too bad on my way to work.” Think of things you’ve never expressed gratitude for. I promise that as you continue to do this, you will start to feel a change in your mood and emotions.

The misery will just begin to magically fall away. You will start to feel joy. People will begin to notice that you have a more positive outlook.

Things I’m grateful for today as I write this blog post:

Count Your Blessings

One other way to increase feelings of happiness is to count your blessings. This is very similar to listing things you are grateful for. It starts with “I am blessed because.”

I am blessed because I have a wonderful family. I am blessed because I am alive. I am blessed because the bills are paid.

You get the idea. You can start with the little things. This should start your day. Every morning, list at least 5 things that are blessings in your life.

Counting your blessings makes you focus on the good things in your life rather than the bad. Look for the blessing in everything, even the bad things. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “blessing in disguise.” Focus on that when something bad happens.

Be Consistent

I’m not saying this will happen overnight. It’s like turning a battleship around in the middle of the ocean. It takes time and effort. But if you want to be more joyful and happier, then these exercises will help you.

They helped me. When I was younger, I was the most pessimistic person you could ever meet. I felt at times like the whole universe and all the people in it were against me.

I gossiped and criticized. I’m not proud of it, but it is what it is. The thing is, I finally got tired of being unhappy.

Why did I get tired of being unhappy? I’ll tell you. I worked with a lady that was so happy and so uplifting. I wanted to be like her. So I observed her. She always had good things to say about everyone. She was encouraging and complimentary. She was always laughing and happy. I wanted what she had. I wanted the laughter and the happiness.

She had dozens upon dozens of friends. People just gravitated to her because of her positive energy. She constantly expressed gratitude. I heard it from her all the time at work.

So, I slowly started listing things I was grateful for and counting my blessings, slowly started saying sentences of gratitude, and it worked! It took a while for me to get to the point where I was Positive Penny instead of Negative Nelly, but it was worth the effort. Now I am a positive influence on people I know.

So, you start your day counting your blessings, and then you end your day listing things you were grateful for that day. Consistently doing these things will really change your attitude to one of positivity and happiness.

Your life will become joyful! People will notice and start to gravitate to you.

Perhaps then you can be an example for someone who is in a season of misery and unhappiness in their own life.

Knowing that your positive outlook might just help someone else is definitely a blessing and something to be grateful for!