23 Simple Habits to add happiness in your life
This is post dedicated to help you implement habits to add happiness in your life!
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Happiness is the goal we all aim for directly or indirectly, as someone why do you do what we do, there answer is to achieve happiness.
We take happiness as a goal to achieve, only to realize later on in life that it is a myth.
Happiness is not a goal that can be achieved, it is a feeling and a state of mind.
Happiness, most of all, is one of the many emotions that we experience in our lifetime.
What we get wrong about happiness
One of the biggest misconceptions about happiness is that we take it as a destination. We think we can experience pure bliss/happiness once everything in our lives falls into place.
Once I get rich, attain professional success and fame, find a life partner, and so on.
Once all of it falls in place, I would lead a happy life…
Happiness is not something you can attain, even at your highest you can feel empty, and this is something we hear from a lot of celebrities and successful people.
They share that in their higher era of life their work, fame, and money were flowing, and they experienced the lowest.
Why do you think is that? Because just like, us a part of them hoped to achieve happiness through all these outer achievements
We depend on external forces like this to make us feel, and although, yes, it does make you happy for a fraction of a second.
My personal thought about happiness is that we need to take it as an emotion that we experience along with many others.
We cannot just experience one wave of emotion all our life. There will be moments that make us emotional, happy, sad, anxious, and so on.
Moreover, happiness is a state of mind that we can experience with the change in our state of being.
You can decide in the very moment if you want to be happy and move on with your life or cry,
So To be happy in our life we must focus on two things.
- Leave the idea that we should only feel happy 24×7 because we are bound to experience other emotions as humans
- Put our efforts into experiencing internal fulfillment and happiness
The good news is we can build certain habits that can help us maintain an optimistic feeling throughout the day.
While you may feel sad at certain moments, or feel low, practicing these habits will lift your mood again and keep you overall happy.
23 Habits to add happiness in life
1. Perception of life – gratitude
One of the main obstacles in our lives against happiness is our perception of life.
We, humans become our enemy when we let overthinking get the best of us. Tell me how many times you ruined your day because one thing went wrong.
One thing in your life did not go the way you wished it to be, and you think everything is falling apart, and you get stuck in an endless loop of negative thinking.
I am sure it must have happened a lot of times, that is because of our perception of life.
A year ago, I used to be like this too, but when I experienced my worst emotions, I realized that more than reality, it was my head that made me feel.
This realization helped me be more conscious, about how I take my life as. Still, things are not as perfect in life as I imagined
But I feel happy now because I changed the perception of my life. I focus on the good parts of my life more and things I can control.
Gratitude is the first step towards happiness, each day with the heart you remind yourself of the things you are grateful for
Small little troubles in your life won’t bother your happiness again.
2. Focus on your personal growth.
Nurturing yourself is a path that can help you understand yourself more and happiness. A person who never thinks about how to become a better person and grow in life.
Never realize what truly makes them happy, if they live without as per society without seeking personal growth.
You will never be able to know and even live life, your inner self means something that aligns with who you are and gives you a sense of fulfillment.
Each day you spend to nurture yourself and grow your knowledge, you become better in life.
When you focus on yourself, you stay connected to yourself and away from dissatisfaction and unhappiness in life.
3. Make time for hobbies
The purpose of hobbies is pure joy, nothing else, it’s not success, money, or recognition. It is to completely feel yourself and enjoy the moment, enjoy what you are doing.
As a kid, we used to indulge, in so many hobbies that kept us happy and occupied. But now, as adults, most people never make time for hobbies and joy.
A reason, why we feel more dependent on external forces to make us happy.
Work, no matter how passionate we feel about it, gets stressful and does not bring us pure joy because it’s filled with expectations.
This is where hobbies take part, you do it for no other expectation but to enjoy yourself.
If you want to be happy every day, add hobbies and indulge in them every day
Here are some ideas for you in the below posts!
- 23 Screen-free offline hobbies for adults to enjoy
- 67 Insanely Great Hobbies for 20 somethings adults
4. Body movement
Out of all the habits to add happiness to life, this has been truly the best one to give me results.
Daily body movement is so necessary for us to feel good mentally! It is equally physically important for our mental health as much as it is for our physical well-being.
Whenever I used to feel low and ended up doing a workout, yoga, or dance. I could instantly feel my mental health boost,
It is scientifically proven that moving your body through yoga, exercise, or any other spots for a certain amount of time helps in releasing, a feel-good hormone that contributes to your happiness.
I have even written a post sharing 4 happy brain chemicals that are responsible for us feeling happy – read it here
5. Have good company
People around you matter, they are the ones you share happiness with, and these are the people who add to your existing happiness.
You will laugh, enjoy, and feel at peace with them.
Their company eases you and provides you with good positive vibes, they are the people who support you.
You don’t feel pressured, low, or anxious around them, they don’t put you down or constantly judge, and they don’t limit your dreams or achievements.
Having good people around is so important for your mental well-being! Even if they are less in numbers, their presence helps add to your happiness.
It is also important to keep in mind, that while it is great to have people like this in your life who make you happy,
we should not be dependent on them, solely for our happiness. They may not be available for us every time to feel happy.
6. Do things Mindfully
When we live our lives without mindfulness, we end up building a lot of habits that are destroying our happiness, things that make us feel low and dissatisfied with our lives.
Think, what are things many things you do in a day or every day.
Scrolling mindlessly on the phone for hours? Talking to yourself in your head rudely? Thinking constantly about the worst things? Always equipped with distractions to make you feel good?
The list goes on,
When you become mindful of everything you do, you understand where you need to put your energy.
7. Schedule Downtime
Rest is important, you can’t keep working all day and burn yourself out. you need to relax and chill as well.
Schedule downtime to relax in whatever way you like to, whether it is lying in bed, reading a book, watching a show, or playing.
Schedule rest! Only then you can make room for for yourself to feel good. Your mind needs to relax as well to welcome happiness in your life
If you are always equipped with work and responsibilities, stress won’t leave you.
Here are 23 me-time ideas to spend alone time and relax
8. Set daily routine
Imagine creating A Daily routine that eases your mind. A routine made of a few activities that you do every day and it helps you feel relaxed and in your element.
After a stressful day, you come back to doing your daily routine that lifts your mood and you feel relaxed.
Would’nt that be so great?
You can create a morning routine, night routine, or self-care routine. All kinds of routine help you bring back your peace no matter how tough the day gets.
Doing these relaxing and healthy things makes you feel that life is still good and you can keep going.
It eases you, nurtures personal growth, and helps you better your life, that is how the routine should be.
Here are some routine ideas for you
- My Simple Morning routine : things to do before 8 am
- 15 Best Weekly Reset Checklist for a perfect weekly reset routine
- Simple and Realistic: Daily One-Hour Morning Routine
- 60 Morning routine ideas for adults to choose for overall growth
- 21 Perfect Self Care Night Routine Ideas for you to Start now
- 27 Self care Sunday Routine ideas for an Amazing Weekend Recharge
- The Best Sunday Night Routine Ideas For An Organized Week
9. Try new things
The monotonous routine of life can make it boring, you feel stuck and exhausted from doing the same things for weeks months, or even years.
The fun is when you get to try new things in between, the excitement, and thrill are what help you add happiness to your life!
It can be small things as well, just push yourself to try new things!
10. Pursue your passion / inner calling
You can feel lost or empty when you are doing something opposite to your inner calling or passion. We all have something we feel drawn to do.
Something that may not align with society, but we have a vision, a passion, or an inner calling to take it.
When we pursue the opposite, we do not feel completely satisfied. We keep thinking about what we feel inside to do and keep suppressing our dreams and passion.
It can or cannot be your career, but you can still do it.
Even if you take something else for your profession and you feel inside the intuition to do what you are passionate about, do it as well. As a hobby, a side project, or anything.
Pursue it!
11. Here and now
The enemy of our happiness and peace is nothing, but our minds stuck in the past or future. We forget the moment we are living now, worrying about what has happened or will happen in the future.
The moment here and now is the only thing you need to give attention to
You may sit with your family in your home, not paying attention to the quality time you can spend and instead worrying about something in the future.
Give all your focus and energy to present and enjoy the happiness it brings
So many heartfelt moments are missed because we are busy with so-called future happiness, even if we reach there, we will worry about something else about the future.
So remind yourself to focus on here and NOW!
12. Stopping looking at other people’s life
Another habit to add happiness in your life is to stop looking at others’ lives, The more time you spend on looking at how great someone else life is
The more you will belittle your life through comparison.
That is why focusing on yourself, and your life is important.
We all have unique lives with similar feelings of happiness, sadness, grief, and misery.
All of us struggle and also experience blessings.
But when you spend time looking at others’ lives, you compare their blessing to your sufferings, this is what stops us from being happy.
With the increased consumption of social media, this is a huge issue among people,
If you are also spending your time looking at others’ highlights, it’s time to stop now!
13. Quit Complaining
The habit of complaining all the time can affect your mood and keep you from being happy.
Many people have a habit of complaining about everything, from the day they wake up to sleep, everything bothers them. I the smallest things do go their way they start complaining endlessly.
If one thing goes wrong, they complain about how everything in their life is wrong.
We don’t realize it but many of us have this habit
I did too in the past, and one day I just realized that I complain a lot, I think it was someone who made me realize by saying I complain a lot.
And ever since, I became mindful and stopped crying for every little thing.
Trust the baggage the unhappiness lifted off me.
Observe yourself and notice if you tend to complain as well, yes, it is time to stop this habit
14. Travel
Travel is a great way to add happiness to your life, you get to have different experiences, the excitement, and the whole journey is filled with great pleasures.
You get to experience so many new things, meet people, and even spend time with loved ones, it is relaxing because you get off time from work and focus on just enjoying and exploring.
One must travel 1-2 times a year at least, it can be anywhere, and does not have to be fancy but
15. Do things for others
When we do things for others, it activates the areas of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection, and trust.
We feel happy when we do things for others without expecting anything in return, it is only too good for them, and the feeling is not happiness but fulfillment. that you feel.
The feeling is priceless and cannot be expressed in words.
When you compliment someone and see the smile on their face, when you gift someone pure joy when you help someone in need and see the smile it brings them
It makes you happy.
16. Journaling and affirming
Journaling is a way to express your emotions, it helps you feel lighter, which can help you when you are equipped with overthinking, it helps you boost your mood because you get to vent out your emotions.
Whereas affirmations are the positive words you tell yourself, and these words help you feel good when repeated every day.
It boosts your mood and helps you overcome worry or stress!
Make it a habit to practice journaling and affirmations, and feel great!
17. Let the sunlight in
Sunlight or Vitamin D derived from is an essential element of Happiness. Scie Vitmian is responsible for our mental health and provides us with good feelings.
We feel depressed if vitamin D is deficient in our body, moreover, the Sun releases a hormone that is responsible for our happiness or feeling good.
Check for yourself, when you are exposed to sunlight, how different your mood is compared to when it’s gloomy outside
18. Do things just for fun
There is a lot of noise around on the interest and in society to be always productive and always be smart and okay do things to benefit your career or finances, my page is about self-growth, but in no way do I want to encourage you to only focus on that,
It is also important to do things just for fun, not related to work, finance, or anything productive. Something you just need to have fun
19. Set Boundaries
Boundaries are so important for your happiness and peace. The unfortunate part of life is that we tend to meet people in life that cross our boundaries.
They push in the wrong way, which takes a toll on our physical and mental well-being.
We need to set boundaries and should not be forced to do what we do not want. We should be forced to feel and be anywhere we do not want to be.
If you have toxic people around you, then you need to set boundaries with them for your happiness, without it you will be stuck forever!
20. Connect with Nature
We, humans are a part of and created through nature, so when we connect ourselves with nature
We are in our element, we feel at peace
Spend a day in nature and observe how you feel, you will realize how instantly nature helps you feel at ease.
When you are worried, go and sit in a garden and breathe. You will feel calm and centered.
Nature helps regulate our stress system, which is why we feel great being surrounded by it!
21. Nurture your relationship with yourself
Out of all the habits to add happiness to life, I truly want you to buy this one now. the minute you start nurturing your relationship with yourself, you feel happy in your own company, in doing things on your own
You will be clear about what actually makes you happy, and what you should be doing, and you get clarity.
The most important relation is the one with yourself!
Even if you have great people around you, but you are not connected to yourself, you will still feel empty
22. Create a positive environment
Good and positive surroundings contribute to a positive mind and happiness. How you feel is affected by the things and energy around you!
Ever notice why when we go to hotels or saunas, we feel so good. What is it about their environment that makes us feel like that?
They are clean, minimal, and filled with relaxing things.
If you want to make your home a relaxing environment, I have a post sharing a complete guide, read here –11 Tips for Creating a Peaceful and Relaxing Home Environment
23. Believe in yourself
Lastly, on the list of habits to add happiness in life, it is essential to believe in yourself, when you don’t trust yourself, you feel uneasy and hesitant to do what you want.
Believe in yourself, in your dreams and your capabilities, trust yourself, and love yourself. And everything will fall into place!
If you have an idea or a creative project, believe in yourself and do it!
When you perform, believe in yourself,
If you like this, you will love-
- 4 Happy Brain Chemicals You need to know for Better Mental Health
- The Ultimate happiness challenge -30 days to a happier you!
- 51 Heart touching Journal prompts to increase your happiness
- 90 Summer Affirmations For a Happy Summer
- 30 Day self-care challenge ideas to boost happiness
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