How to be Happy With What You Have in Life Now: 21 Easy Tips
How to be happy with what you have in life
How to be happy with what you have in life now is a concept that many people struggle with. When most people think about what it is that they want most from their life, they often answer ….” to just be happy” as if this is a concept that is somehow difficult to obtain or is fleeting and only enters our lives on sporadic occasions, such as weddings, births, expensive purchases or holidays.
A lot of people tend to look at their daily situations from the viewpoint that they are, if not unhappy, certainly not totally happy, maybe not even moderately so. Why is this? What makes us believe that on a day-to-day basis, happiness eludes us? What are we doing wrong? Is this so hard to achieve on a personal or professional level that we are going to go through life just getting glimpses of happiness but never really revelling in it?
How to be happy in Life
The answer to these questions is both simple and surprising. It is something that we can all apply to our lives instantly, costs nothing, can be done at any time, any place and we don't need anything or anyone to aid us.
The key to being happy is to change the way that you think… that's it. Now although this is a simple concept, it's something that many, many people have great difficulty doing.
Many people, truly believe that happiness can only be bought or experienced and that it is a feeling and an emotion that comes only from external gratification, not from within.
People shouldn't be judged or criticized for having such beliefs, after all, certainly in the West, we are brought up with the ideas and attitudes that material possessions are what will make us happy in life. Having a great car, a big house, and many possessions is the key to happiness.
Indeed so many of us believe “If I just had a better job, a bigger house, more holidays, etc...” that everything in life would be just perfect and that we would always be happy.
Advertisers sell us this dream, beauty companies tell us that to be happy all you need to be is to be slim, pretty, and have perfect hair. We look at social media and see a snapshot of the lives that other people live and believe that we too would be that happy with their existence.
We are constantly bombarded with the oh-so-fabulous lives of celebrities and again feel that the only way to happiness is to be like them.
To discover happiness look inwardly
What we rarely do is look inward towards ourselves and ask if there is anything that we can do that will give us a better life without having to have all of the “stuff”. If we just moved away from social media and advertisements and took stock of our lives what would we find? This is where we might be surprised by the answer.
You see you really can think yourself into happiness. After all, happiness is just a feeling that is brought on by the thoughts that our brains create so by changing our thoughts we then start to change our feelings.
This is the part of the concept that is easy. We can all understand that we have control of our thoughts right? It is up to us what we allow into our brains.
If we stopped looking at social media for a few days we would stop comparing our lives to everyone else's. In that way, we would start to remodel our brains to think differently.
This is where it gets a little bit more challenging. You see the brain loves to take it easy. It has set patterns and routines and ways of thinking that it's been doing over and over again, often for years, so it's not going to like sudden change.
We all know what it is like to give something up, for instance, it takes a few weeks for the brain to start aligning to a new pattern but it can be done and once it has adapted to the new pattern that will then become the norm and it will happily go along with this new way of being.
Change what you are thinking
Therefore to be happy you have to start changing your thought patterns and start using a different language that your brain is going to adapt to reprogramme as the new norm. Start by thinking of all the things that you do have. So often we tend to look at the lack of something in our lives instead of all the amazing things that we do have.
This is where the practice of Gratitude comes in. If you were to make a list of all the things that you were grateful for that didn't cost any money you would no doubt be surprised by how many things were on your list. For example, being able to see, hear taste, and touch is all free and wonderful.
Sunshine-filled days, wildflowers, and music….all free and all able to take us to places of great happiness.
The more grateful you are for what you have, the more you will have to be grateful for. When you start to see things everywhere to be grateful for, you then in turn begin to see happiness everywhere.
Once your brain starts on this new path of thinking it will start to think happier thoughts, by pure science it has to because that is what you have put into it and those thoughts will produce happy feelings.
Think Happy Thoughts
Therefore it stands to reason that when you are feeling unhappy, merely placing a happy thought into your mind will elevate your mood and will start to make you feel happier. Obviously, some people will need to work longer and harder at changing their thought patterns but with time it can be done.
There is plenty of evidence to support the idea that we are the creators of our happiness, not external factors. Psychologists have coined the term Hedonic Adaptation to explain it.
This is when all the material possessions that you possess begin to lose their shine and stop making you feel as happy as they did when you first bought them. After a while, you need new stuff to give you that buzz of happiness but you know what... over time the same thing is going to keep happening, over and over, no matter what you buy or how much you have.
How to be happy with what you have in life now 21 easy tips
Follow the tips below to increase happiness in your life;
Have goals that excite you
We all feel happier when we are doing something that we love and that excites us, so to bring more happiness into your life, set yourself some goals that you know will instil excitement and passion.
Make the most of the relationships in your life
If you are fortunate to have people you love and care about in your life, then celebrate this and make the most of these connections.
Although other people can’t make you happy themselves you can be happy if you choose to be in the company of loved ones so rejoice in this.
Be physically active
Moving will always give you a feel-good bounce because of the endorphins that are released into the body when you exercise. So if you want to feel happier get physical.
Reminisce on past joyful times
If you need an instant boost to your happiness, deep dive into some happy memories, a surefire way to instantly make you feel happier.
Learn to see the good in all people and all circumstances
Remember, you are in control of how you feel. When you think of external factors, such as other people and circumstances, see the good in everything and don’t go looking for the negatives. Keep your thoughts happy and you will feel happy.
6. Make peace with the past
We will all have had times in our past when we have been touched by sadness, grief, stress or misfortune and nobody will be immune from these circumstances.
Instead of carrying them with us through life, make peace with them and move on. Never carry anything into your future that isn’t going to serve you.
7. Don’t Fall into Comparing Your life with Others
It’s all too easy to get sucked into the world of social media and see all the fabulous lives that other people seem to be living but don’t fall into the trap of comparing your life to other people, most of the images that you see are all smoke and mirrors and are not a true reflection of their reality.
8. Smile more
You can trick your brain into believing that you are happy by smiling. If you want to feel happier, then smile more often and trick your brain until you are really there.
9. Get a Good Night’s Sleep Every Night.
Sleep is incredibly important to our mental and physical well fare and getting a good night’s sleep every night will help to boost happiness levels in your body. Make your bedtime routine a priority in your life.
10. Make Having Fun a Big Part of Your Life
We can all be far too serious in life. Day-to-day issues can begin to take over our lives and can start to zap happiness from them. We have to make fun a bigger part of life. Learn to live for the moment and inject as much fun into your life as you can.
11. Become one of life’s optimists
To feel happier you have to think happier thoughts. Instead of looking at the negatives in life, always take the other view and become an optimist. Look for the positives in life and ignore the negatives.
12. Work on a long-term, not short-term perspective
Set more long-term rather than short-term goals if you want to feel happier and less stressed. Setting goals is a great way to plan for your life, but you need to do it in a way that doesn’t cause you too much pressure and anxiety.
13. Become less materialistic
Happiness doesn’t come from things it comes from feelings. You can only derive so much happiness from buying stuff.
Start deriving more happiness from life’s experiences and other people and concentrate less on trying to buy happiness.
14. Adopt a Minimalist Approach to Life
Some of the happiest, most satisfied people in life will be those who on the surface seem to have a very minimalist life. The less clutter you have in life, the happier you can feel. 10.
15. Allocate More Time for the People You Love
Spending time with loved ones can bring immeasurable happiness to us so it makes sense to try and spend as much time as you can with loved ones. Make your relationships a priority to bring more happiness into your life.
16. Learn to live in the moment and be more mindful
Many people can find that they are unhappy in their lives because they spend too much time thinking about things that have happened in the past or what they think may happen in the future.
Instead, learn to live in the moment in a more mindful and meaningful way.
17. Learn to enjoy your own company and your own time alone
A great deal of happiness can be gained from spending time alone. It enables you to do the things that you want to do in the way that you want to do them. Never be afraid to spend time alone instead revel in it and get as much happiness as you can from it.
18. Think about how far you have come in life
Whenever you get a sense that life is not going the way that you want it to and feel that you are feeling sad, remember all of the achievements that you have already made in your life and how far you have come. Celebrate your successes in life.
19. Create a Happy Environment in Your Home and Workplace
Make your environment a happy environment both at work and at home. Make them places that you want to be and spend time in.
Your happiness comes from the thoughts that you are thinking so make sure that your environment creates the thoughts that you need to be happy.
20. Eat foods that elevate your mood
What you put into your body is crucial to how you feel. Make sure that you feed your body with foods that are going to serve it well and lift your mood to create happiness.
21. Make gratitude a habit every day
Gratitude is one of the quickest routes to happiness. Being grateful every day for all that you have in life will make more of the good stuff appear in it. Live with an attitude of gratitude and watch your happiness levels soar.
Final Thoughts
How to be happy with what you have in life now is entirely up to you.
You are the sole controller of your happiness, it can't be bought or passed on from someone else.
It's up to you to create it with your thought patterns and once you know that, then you can create the happiest of lives and you can start to be happy now.
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