10 Things to Do to Live a Happy Life
We get up, get everyone ready for work/school, rush off to our own jobs, come home, get dinner ready, watch TV, get everyone back to bed. Sleep, rinse and repeat.
Isn’t there more to life than that???
Yup there sure is. A lot more. So how do get to that happy place?? You’re in luck! I’m gonna share with you 10 things you should start doing like right now if you want to live a happy life.
More on that in a sec, but first…
So did that routine sound familiar? Have you fallen into this daily schedule? Does this sound a little like your life?
Monotonous, boring, comfortable with no change in sight. Are there things you think you should be doing but keep forgetting, or claim “you don’t have time” to do that?
You’re not alone. Many of us, myself at one time, live like this. Robotic almost. Mundane. Just existing and not really living. And we all have one thing in common: we all want to live a happy life.
There are a few things you can do today to change that. The changes will be painless and mostly fun. They will be easy and effortless. And, best of all, they will make a huge impact.
(this post contains affiliate links so if you make a purchase I make a small commission-affiliate disclosure)
So what is a happy life?
To be perfectly honest, I think to live a happy life means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
Some people are simply happy to be alive. Others are happy when they are with their children. Happiness is a state of mind and a feeling in your heart.
But not everyone has happiness in their lives.
People are always wondering how to find happiness but the truth of the matter is, it’s up to you to find it. We can’t chase it. We have to find things to do that bring us true joy and fill our hearts.
We get to choose how we feel. We can either feel happy or be miserable. It’s up to you!
I think a happy life is when you feel at peace with where and who you are the people in your life. You are proud of who you are and how far you’ve come in life and there is little that disturbs your inner peace or joy.
Before we dive deeper into this I just want to share my new self help shop with you. It’s finally ready and it’s is full of powerful and life changing self help books and courses. If you’re ready to change your life, let go of the past, have more joy and peace in your life and heart, then this self help shop is just for you!
Click the link here to check it out or the image below for more info and to grab the self help book or course that calls to you.
Don’t you want to be happier in life?
I’m pretty sure you do otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right now. And I’m happy you’re here (see how those little things make me happy?) We have to realize one very important thing. We create our own lives and our own happiness. Yup.
All the choices and decisions we made, well, we made them. No one else did that for us. So if you aren’t happy in life right now, well, guess what?
Ya. You kinda had a hand in that.
But there’s good news! You most certainly can live a happy life if you really truly want one and if you follow any or all of the 10 things I’ve listed below you just might get happy sooner!
Yay!
(so mature!)
So without further ado, if you want to be happy in life, here are 10 best life tips I can give you!
10 Things To Do If You Want To Live a Happy Life
1 Get outside!
Take at least 5 minutes to go sit outside with no electronic devices. Go watch some birds fly around. Feel the warm breeze on your skin. Let the sun kiss the tip of your nose. Listen to the sound of children laughing and playing in the park.
Be alone and one with the outside world. Let it clear your mind and re-energize your soul. Easy, effortless and the results are amazing.
Or if you start feeling tense or angry or anything but happy, go for a walk. That will really help calm you down.
2 Smile more!
Why don’t we do this more? Smile.
When we are at the grocery store or in a line up at the bank, why don’t we smile at the stranger beside us? Too many of us have our heads down and are completely absorbed in our cell phones.
Keep it in your pocket or purse for just a few minutes and take time to look up and smile at people.
The most amazing thing happens when you do that. They smile back. It’s a win-win and two people are smiling and feeling happy at that very moment. And that memory will linger on and it will be beautiful.
And then you’ll want to do it again and again.
3 Let go of the past
Like right now. The past is gone. All the hurt we felt, the pain we endured, the exes, broken friendships, you name it, it all hurt but it’s behind us now.
You have to let it go. Seriously. We can’t keep hanging on to all the horrible things from the past. It’s not healthy and it does you no good. What’s the point? Why do you want to keep it and display it like a trophy?
It’s not a trophy. It’s an effin ball and chain. Just let go of all of it. If you’re having a hard time forgiving someone for hurting you, you may like this eBook in my latest mini self-help eBook series “How To Forgive Someone Who Hurt You”.
You can click here to grab your copy or the image below.
4 Journal more
I can hear so many of you saying “Oh but I hate writing”. Well maybe you do but you’re not writing a letter for a job or anything work-related or professional.
I just want you to journal some happy thoughts. Write out some things you are grateful for or maybe write a love letter to yourself. Write something happy or beautiful!
On a side note, if you are really angry with someone you could try writing a truth/forgiveness letter to them and get it all off your chest so you can let go of it and be happier!
You might like this article on how to write a forgiveness letter.
5 Try something new!
Anything! New food at your favourite local deli. A new route home from work. A new park to sit and meditate in.
And speaking of meditating, if you haven’t done that yet, try it.
Instead of reading books at home, go to your library.
Do something new and totally outside of your comfort zone. It will give you a refreshing break from the ho-hum routine you’ve slipped in. And you just may make new friends. What fun!
6 Help a stranger
You know that homeless guy you always walk past downtown and snub your nose at, maybe buy him a coffee or a bottle of water. What about that old lady that lives alone next door. Maybe she is a little cranky but maybe it’s just because she’s scared and old and alone and crankiness is her way of expressing her fear.
Pick her some flowers or something! There are a billion trillion ways to help strangers. Find one. The end result? Your heart will explode, you will feel happy and you will want to do it more often!
And then maybe tell your friends and they will help more people too!!
Or go volunteer somewhere. An organization or place that speaks to your heart. I know personally, that volunteering at the homeless shelter was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. For real.
7 Think and chill first
In other words, before you go off in a fit of rage over something really silly, take a big deep breath, remind yourself how little it is and chill out. Too often we get worked up over nothing and the end result is we’ve ruined our entire day.
Don’t do that anymore. It’s not worth it. Breathe in and breathe out. Practice doing this.
It will save you from hours of stress, anger, and toxic emotions. Remember you are here to live a life of joy, not a life of stress, frustration, and anxiety.
Sometimes all you need to do is chill out to achieve that place of peace and happiness.
8 Less TV, more people or peace
Turn that idiot box off and either take time to be with you or with friends and family.
I am a huge advocate for NO TV. I haven’t owned one in almost 4 years now and I don’t miss it one bit. I get so much stuff done without it, I’m not exposed to mindless and senseless drama and negativity and I’m not a couch zombie.
There will be plenty of time to flat line when you are dead. Turn the TV off and go live now. Go explore the world, meet new people, learn new skills. My God the possibilities are endless. Go volunteer at an organization that speaks to your heart.
Go do something else besides watch TV all the time.
9 Get your own happy
If you’re waiting for other people to bring you happiness or make you happy you’re gonna wait an awfully long time. Oh sure they can bring you temporary happiness but…that’s not what we want.
You need to go do the things that make you happy. Your things. Your passions. You know what they are. Go do more of those things.
You can’t buy happiness. When we buy things that make us happy, they only make us happy for a short time and then that happiness is gone and then we go look for more things to buy to make us happy again.
Stop doing that. They are all just Band-Aids.
10 Turn negative thoughts into positive ones
Next time you have a negative thought, and we all do, I want you to stop yourself immediately and then think of 3 positive things. I get that negative thoughts creep up when we least expect them to.
They just don’t have to stay and ruin the whole day. It’s up to you to turn them off and flip a happy switch.
See, this is a perfect example of how you choose how you want to feel. You can choose to let those negative thoughts ruin your whole day and be miserable, or you can choose to turn them into positive thoughts and be happier!
I talk a wee bit more about this and how to be happy in your life in my latest YouTube vid. Check it out below and while you’re there don’t forget to hit that subscribe button :)
If you really want to live a happy life…
It’s up to you. The key to live a happy life is deciding you want one and start taking the steps to get there.
The things I shared with you may sound like really simple, almost ineffective things to do, but trust me, they pack a powerful punch. Just in making these small changes in your life, you will quickly start to notice how life opens new doors and how much lighter you feel and how you will be closer to a happier life.
Trust me on this one.
If it all seems a wee overwhelming, take one little thing at a time and start incorporating the next one and then the next one. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Start now!
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Peace and Love
Iva
Perfect! :)