Living A HAPPIER Life

Who doesn’t want to be happier? Many people find it difficult to bring themselves to happiness. While there is no such thing as being constantly happy, these tips can help you be happy more often.

1. Associate with Happy People:
   If you are feeling down, which type of person would you rather be with? An individual who is down themselves, or someone who is upbeat? It doesn’t take much to guess you’d pick the optimistic person. When you are with happy people, their actions and words will also be happy. This has a greater chance of turning an unhappy person around than a person who is gloomy himself.
2. Socialize with People:
   Socializing is a vital part of the human experience. If you need proof, simply take a look at how popular the social networks have become. Face-to-face socializing is the best form, but you can still get something out of being online. Try to do this several times every week. It is crucial to happiness, and you should not avoid it.
3. Spend More Time with Family:
   There is nothing better than spending time with family. They understand you better than anyone else, and they want to see you be happy. If your family situation does not lend itself to this ideal situation, try and take steps to make it better.
4. Fix What Is Making You Unhappy:
   You are in one of three states in any given day: happiness, contentment, or unhappiness. If you are unhappy often, you need to discover what it is that puts you in that state. It could be your financial situation is not in order. Perhaps there is a person who is bringing you down. Another possibility is that you are not in optimal health. If it is something you can control you should try to make changes. When you are unhappy, you cannot be content or happy.
5. Try Taking Up a Hobby:
   Hobbies can be a great way to escape the realities of life. It can be something you are already good at or you could try something completely new that you have always wanted to try. You can choose an individual hobby, or you can turn it into a socializing opportunity as a group.
6. Get More Exercise:
   Exercise has been proven to release endorphins which are the chemicals in our body that causes us to be happy. Exercise too could be turned into a socializing opportunity, as long as it doesn’t become an excuse just to hang out. Although the social benefits of being at a gym are also helpful, you still need to work out. You should use a concentration of about 90% working out with 10% socializing.
7. Become Stress-Free:
   Although being completely stress-free is impossible, you should take steps to reduce stress as much as possible. Think about a place or situation that you consider your go-to place (mentally) when you get stressed out. Whenever your stress levels are elevated, picture yourself in that place. People like to call this their happy place. Exercise can also help reduce the onset of stress.

Step 1 

Plan on attending, at least, two social events in the next week. Try to find events that recur so that you can sign up to go to these every week, or as many times during the month as possible.

Step 2

List two individual hobbies that you always wanted to take up. Also, list two group hobbies to bring socializing into the mix.

Step 3

List three to five items that are currently making you unhappy. List actions that you could take that may help reduce the frequency of those items from your life. Consider professional help if you cannot find ways to reduce their frequency