Tips to Being Happy in 2009

Happiness is not a pursuit, it is a state of being. Happiness is not time, money or who our parents are, what job we have. It is an inner state. We may not be able to chase it but we can build on what we have and pursue happiness through the choices we make.

1. Surround yourself with happy people.

This is an element where we have control. We choose our friends. We can remove ourselves from or diminish contact with negative people. Negative people will eventually cluster together, why get caught up? The happiness study showed that the mood of one evolves to match the mood of the other.

2. Handpick positive thoughts.
Do not give power to negative thoughts by giving them time and energy. By changing our thoughts, we can change our experience. If we are not happy with the outcomes so far, the choice is to have a happier life is ours. You see,our lives match our thoughts. We are in charge of our thoughts as well as their creation. Whatever thought we are harbouring, whatever perception we are nurturing, was handpicked. That is the bad news. But any thought that troubles us can be discarded. It is our choice. That is the good news. And how refreshing.

3. Live happiness in the time you have.
Being busy is not an excuse for not being happy. Everyone is busy all the time, we fill the time we have. What matters is how we enjoy the moments we are living while being busy. It takes as much time to be happy as it
does to be depressed or resentful.

4. Interact face to face .

Human contact contributes to happiness. Texting, emailing, voicemail, teleconferencing– fantastic technological progression but sometimes at the expense of our relationships. In a happiness study, two elements were essential to allowing a happy person to have a positive effect on others: frequency (having regular contact in person) and proximity (living within 1.6 km). Find opportunities to visit, connect in person.

5. Value money, recognize it is not everything.

Money does support happiness but reducing stress and offering choices. However everyone knows happy people with economic struggles and unhappy people who seem to have it all.

6. Act your show size, not your age.
Be joyful, get silly. Our culture may emphasize image, popularity and perfection. Once you let go of these concepts and be yourself / act yourself, you can have real fun. Laughter is medicine. Just be you, don’t worry about what others think. Learn to love the fool in you - the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.

7. Have compassion.

Kindness goes a long way to living a happy life, both giving and receiving. “Kindness? It may strike us as absurd to even approach the subject: Our world is full of violence, war, terrorism and devastation. And yet life foes on precisely because we are kind to one another. No newspaper tomorrow will tell of a mother who read a bedtime story to her child or a father who prepared breakfast for his children, of someone who listened with attention, of a friend who cheered us up. Many of us are kind without even knowing it. We do what we do simply because it is right.” (The Power of Kindness).

8. Experiment.

Use your creativity to expand your existing talents. We can find simple moments of happiness when we create – cooking, writing, taking photographs, singing, renovating, gardening. Refreshing a past interest,exploring a new one can lead to greater confidence and fulfillment. “Significant creativity is within everyone’s reach – no
exceptions. What is more, great creativity breeds greater happiness. The creative process is itself a source of joy for most people. And with new creative powers we are also better able to solve the little problems that beset us daily.” (Robert Epstein).

9. Try and try again.
Happiness is a state of mind and comes more naturally to some people than others. Humans are born with a higher propensity to be positive or to be negative – but that does not stop each of us from trying to feel happiness, to experience joy. The primary cause of unhappiness is never your situation but your thoughts about it!