For everyone that is about to submerge themselves into this article, DON’T PANIC, this isn’t a testimony. It is a list of a few tips that I’ve found that have helped me, and people around me, reach everyone’s most desired goal: happiness. So instead of telling you how happy I feel right now, I’ll let you in on some of my secrets to make happiness a crucial part of life:
1. Stop yourself before your mind drives itself out of control. Whenever your mind decides to go all racecar on you, stop and think, “This is becoming a ginormous snowball. If I don’t stop now it will crash and blow up.” The simple fact that you are conscious of what you think already puts a red light on your redundant thoughts. The next stop, is simply to distract yourself so that your mind can untangle your thoughts.
2. Put a smile on your face even if you feel like your forcing it. I know, many times we simply don’t feel like smiling, and if we do, we just keep it in our minds. However, the brain can be easily fooled! If you put on a smile, your brain will slowly get that positive mood going. Even if it means laughing at how silly that random smile is on your face! Your facial expression is key to getting yourself to act in a positive way.
3. Sing your favorite songs out LOUD… and by that I mean LOUD! Yep, a lot of the times we are angry and we have tons and tons of energy bundled up in our bodies. What better way to solve this than to scream it all out? Pick your favorite songs and FULL ON jam to it. You will be so tired by the end that you wont have time to feel badly about anything, and don’t worry, your roommates will let you do it as long as they get to see that beautiful smile on your face again.
4. Put goals for your personal growth…the effects of them will come back to you as positive things. Many times the big reason why we aren’t happy is because we feel like we aren’t looking forward to anything. Well, you can solve this! Put goals for yourself and try to achieve them. Remember: every failure is a perfect try, and every win is one step forward!
5. Do or say something nice to someone everyday. Nothing has worked better for me than being kind to others. At first, it feels weird to talk to people and say something nice out of nowhere. However, once you start you can’t stop! Eventually, people will start saying it back to you and the strengths you never knew you had will be pointed out too!
6. Journal Journal Journal! While it may be true many people don’t like to write, I can assure you many people like to vent. Whether it is on a piece of paper or with a voice recorder, try to record your thoughts daily as much as possible. Taking that snowball of thoughts and putting it somewhere else is the best way to bring back your piece of mind.
7. Be conscious of having a “positive” lingo. On I daily basis I hear people say “That test was so hard, I’m sure I failed” or “She is so mean, she has something against me”. What if we started to see the good in the world and actually made comments positive? If you are concerned about something, put it in the form of feedback, and if you are happy, just say it out loud! We can change the above comments from negative to ,“Okay, that was not expected, but I am sure I did my best.” And “I wonder if she’s having a bad day, maybe it wasn’t her intention to hurt me.”
8. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT sweat the small stuff. There are so many big problems in the world, but the small ones tend to hide them pretty well. Recognize the priorities you are giving to your worries and ask yourself, “Will this really affect me a lot in the future?” If the answer is no, then you might want to put that in the back of your mind and solve it later. If the answer is yes, then that is something you have to focus on. You will be surprised with how many minor things we worry about on a daily basis!
9. Ask others how they are feeling, and when they ask you: BE HONEST! How many times a day is your answer “I’m good thank you,” when you are actually having a terrible day? For me it happens all the time. I usually try to avoid saying the truth to not overwhelm the other person. However, I have realized you can be honest without being overwhelming! If you are having a bad day, just say it and maybe the other person will trust you on how their day is actually going too! This honesty makes you happy because you realize a “happy mask” is an extra burden you don’t want to have!