How to Find Happiness

There have been many books written about happiness and how to find happiness in your life. Most of them always lead back to a few basic principals. It seems if you follow these principals happiness is very simple to achieve. Having tried some of these methods and found that they did work, I thought I would share some of them.

In order for people to achieve happiness some of our basic needs must be met. Having enough food, shelter, and health already brings happiness to most people in the world. In the US with our consumer culture and higher standard of living, happiness is a little harder to attain.

Here are a few tips that have worked for me:

1.) Keep a gratitude journal and record everything you are grateful for every night before bed.
2.) Live in the present. Enjoy the moments in your life whether they are spent working, eating, or playing with your kids. Live in those moments and don't let your mind wander to another place.
3.) Forgive yourself and your loved ones. There is no need to hold on to old mistakes or grievances. Life is too short. If an event has passed and you feel that you or your loved one has learned from their mistakes, let the past stay in the past.
4.) Decide to be happy. Sometimes just waking up and telling yourself you are going to have a good day is all you need to do. If you wake up dreading the commute to work, you work day and the weather, you have already lost the battle for happiness that day. Instead, tell yourself today is going to be a great day and go with that positive thought.
5.) Work on being good at something. Life can become stale and mundane if we don't strive for something. Even someone who has everything gets bored with life if they have nothing to challenge them. It can be as simple as mastering a souffle recipe, your tennis game, ballroom dancing to trying to become the best at what you do in your profession. Life is more interesting if you challenge yourself.
6.) Work out and live a healthy lifestyle. Do you notice how good you feel after a good run or workout or when you eat a nice healthy meal of unprocessed fresh foods? Just eating whole foods daily and getting some daily exercise will help your body function properly and relieve stress in your daily life. With a healthy body, you are properly equipped to face all the challenges you face daily. Health is something a lot of young people take for granted. As we get older, bodies start to ache and organs start to show strain. If we take care of our bodies, our bodies will take care of us. Good health allows us to have the freedom to do more of the things we love in life. Without health, happiness is more difficult to achieve.
7.) Help others when you are able. When we help people who need help, we actually feel good about it. The feeling of being able to help others gives us a sense of pride because most of us like to feel that we have something valuable to offer another person. Spend time reading to someone at a Senior Citizens home. Work at a local food bank once in a while. Donate clothes, toys, and furniture to local charities. Whatever you can do for another person will actually give you happiness in return.
8.) Love yourself for who you are. Learn to just accept yourself. Don't spend every day looking in the mirror and telling yourself that you are too fat, too thin, too short, or have too many blemishes on your face. Instead look at yourself and think about all your positive traits. Are you a good daughter? Do you make great meals? Are you taller than average? Are you super creative with crafts? Can you fly a kite better than most people? Give yourself credit for all the things that you are good at. Think about why your husband, wife, mother, father, children, or friends love you. See yourself through their eyes and believe it.

Work on a few of these ideas every few weeks. Eventually you will realize how lucky you are in your life. Don't spend your time beating yourself up. Be happy.