Hello!! So yesterday, March 3rd was "I Want You to be Happy Day! Who knew? So I thought I'd do a quick post on happiness. I see in searches things like "How do I get happy? How can I lift my mood? How to be Happy?" so people are looking for ideas and thought it could be useful to share 7 tips to help bring more everyday happiness.
Happiness! That feeling that comes over you when you know life is great and you just want to smile about. That all allusive feeling. Sometimes it feels like we are chasing it and we only achieve it by chance. But we have control over this.
How do you find your happiness?
Happiness is often a choice and a gift that we can give to ourselves. Being happy will help to increase our positive outlook which in turn may help and support whatever else in our life we are trying to achieve.
Why is happiness so important? Happiness has been linked to better decision making and more creativity, you are more likely to have a more positive outlook on life and this in turn may affect what you think is possible for you and the actions you may take.
So what can we do to help ourselves in this area? By having certain activities that you know will help to lift your mood, be more positive, you are taking more control in your life. You have more control over your emotions. You're not leaving it to chance or letting other people zap your energy or joy.
Everyone wants to be happy. Of course, you want to be happy, but what if being happy is simpler than you think?
There are many simple and easy things you can do each day that will increase the odds of feeling happy. You’ll take pleasure doing them! They’re self-rewarding behaviours.
Take control of your happiness with these 7 simple ideas:
1. Spend some time outdoors. One of my favorites and easy to do. Even if it’s just 10-
20 minutes. Sit in the sun, take a walk, or work in the garden. Your mind, body, and
spirit need a little sun and fresh air each day. It can do wonders for your outlook on
life.
2. Listen to music that you love. There aren’t many things that can influence your emotions faster than hearing a song that you love. Nowadays, we have literally any song we want at our fingertips with the internet. Set aside a some time each day to listen to a song or two that boosts your mood. I love to play a Beyonce track loud in the car or some dance music like Calvin Harris. What’s your favourite?
3. Know that you are moving forward. If you’ve followed this blog or seen my instagram page you know I’m all about creating amazing goals and making a plan to get them. Feeling that you are making progress towards a goal can help to increase your happiness. It’s those little action steps that help you to feel good, it doesn’t have to be a huge amount of progress to feel good. So make sure you are recognising and acknowledging to yourself all those small wins. What are you making progress on?
4. Think happy thoughts. As a mindset and confidence coach this is one that I really agree with and it is amazing how your thoughts (even those you are unaware of) drive your decisions and your day.
Your thoughts create your emotions. If you think about something stressful, you'll feel stressed. Think about something that makes you happy and you’ll feel happier. What are your happiest memories? There’s no harm in spending a few minutes thinking some happy thoughts and set yourself up for the rest of the day!
5. Forgive quickly where you can. It’s very challenging to be happy when you’re holding a grudge. Forgive quickly and easily if you want to be happier. I know that is definitely easier said than done. That doesn’t mean you have to give the other person another chance or that you condone their behaviour. The forgiveness is for you and it gives you more peace and happiness.
6. Exercise. Many of us are now working from home and so our office is literally downstairs
or the bedroom. We don’t even have the commute of catching public transport or walking.
This means there is even more chance now of sitting all day. I often get lost in work and
forget to move about. So going for a long walk or a bike ride, scheduling in some exercise
is very important at the moment. (It also helps us to get rid of that lockdown weight. The
fridge is too near!) Exercise changes how you feel for the better, helps your mental health
and your mood. A little exercise can definitely boost your happiness.
7. Living in the “now”. So often, we can spend our thoughts thinking about past woes or
future concerns and not spend our time in the actual moment. Enjoying and being
grateful for what we actually have or doing right now. Being more connected to the
moments that we are living now is a good way to increase our everyday happiness.
We often look for external things to make us happy, but I hope the above has shown you that you have control over many things that you can do on an everyday basis. These things can improve your happiness. Remember that you are in control of how to be happy.
I hope you’ve got some ideas here, but ultimately different things will make different people happy, so it’s finding the things that bring you joy and happiness and making the time to incorporate them into your everyday life.
A few simple behaviors done on a daily basis
can move you closer to feeling happy each day.
What are you prepared to do today to enhance your happiness?
Make a plan and add to your positive emotions. Wishing you a Happy 2021!
Kay x
Continuing the theme of happiness - Don’t forget to grab your free download “Make This Your Best Year Yet!” A quick and easy guide to plan out a fabulous 2021. Get it here! >>
Helping ladies move from feeling stuck and overwhelmed in their lives to designing & achieving their goals, dreams and ambitions. For more information on bringing positive change into your life – www.kaymalcolmcoaching.com (life coaching for women in UK and globally)