I’m sharing with you today five ways to be happier with your life that I hope you’ll find helpful! 🙂
Happiness is a process. Not necessarily for bouts of happiness and giggles, but for long-lasting happiness, it requires a process.
When you see blog posts on the topic of becoming happier, you’ll notice that many of them talk about how to make your life happier “right now.” This post is very different from those because I don’t believe finding long-lasting happiness is an overnight process, let alone something that can be achieved just after you read my post.
I think it takes some work on our part to instill new, positive thoughts and traits in ourselves so that when not-so-pleasant things pop up in our life, we will be happier at our core and have trained our minds to react in a different way than we used to.
Let’s dive in, friends!
Gratitude
By definition, gratitude is “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Something that I find so wonderful about gratitude is that it’s not only about feeling thankful, but it’s also about projecting that thankfulness to others.
When you are feeling grateful, you are more apt to give back to those in need. You want to be helpful, you want others to experience what you’ve been so blessed to experience.
The world certainly needs more kindness, and what a wonderful way to spread it.
Gratitude should be at the core of happiness. There is always something to be thankful for, as cliché as that sounds.
To have a heart filled with thankfulness, we have to believe it and keep it centered in our mind. For each of us, some days are better than others and while we are always blessed, it can be a little more difficult to see it on those tougher days.
To keep gratitude a daily focus, implement this quick and easy exercise should help you!
Repeat this daily to continually remind yourself that you have so much to be thankful for:
- In your daily planner or on a piece of paper that you can keep on your desk, write down three things that you are thankful for.
- These items can be as simple or deeply-thought out as you’d like.
When life starts to get a little rocky, you can take a look at what you’re truly thankful for. This helps to keep your mind on the big picture.
To step this exercise up a notch, you can keep a gratitude journal to keep everything in once place. Then you can take a look back over all of the things you’re thankful for, over a period of time. It makes for a great reference to reviewing the year, as well as just keeping our hearts thankful and appreciative of what we have.
Make Yourself a Priority
It is not selfish to take care of you – please don’t believe anyone who says this to you. You cannot pour from an empty cup, friend.
Taking care of yourself is just as necessary, if not more so, than taking care of everyone else that you’re thinking about right now. I understand it doesn’t always feel this way, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
One of the ways that you become happier with your life is to do more of the things that you love.
Make time in your schedule for yourself – it could be a bubble bath, an hour with a book you’ve been wanting to read for awhile, or curling up with a soft blanket and watching the Hallmark channel.
Clear Your Mind
Sometimes our mind seems to be filled to capacity. Do you ever feel like you just can’t process any more information?
We tend to have a lot going on in our day-to-day lives. It’s truly no wonder that this happens to us. What I’ve found helpful is letting it all out!
A brain dump can be so beneficial for releasing everything that’s going on in your mind. Once you’re written it all down, you can begin to look at things more rationally and less overwhelmed.
It’s similar to talking to someone you love about a situation that’s been bothering you. Once you let it out, you feel relieved.
Learn to Let Go
There is a lot of talk about letting go lately on social media, and there’s a good reason for that! While it isn’t the easiest thing to do, it is crucial to creating a life you love.
You simply cannot move forward while living in the past. You may think that you’re not living in the past. Consider the questions below and answer if you do any of these.
- Do you find yourself overthinking a lot?
- Are you worried about things that you can’t actually go back and change?
If you answered yes to any of these, you’re likely somewhat living in the past. It’s hard to let things go, I truly understand that. I’ve adopted a habit of beating myself up, but I can tell you that it has never once served me well.
No matter how much you worry yourself sick about something, it will never change what has happened or what may happen next. It only affects YOU and causes your entire being stress, as it doesn’t actually have any effect on the situation at hand. If you’re putting yourself through this awful process, it’s past time to stop.
Stop Self-Sabotage
You have to get out of your own way. Many forms of self-sabotage exist, and some of the most common are fear, doubt, negativity, and toxic relationships.
Each of us will have experiences with all four of these cronies, but it’s how we react to them that will determine if we are self-sabotaging ourselves.
I truly hope that you’ve enjoying learning 5 ways to be happier with your life! I’d like to note that no matter how tough things seem, they will get better.
The one constant we have in this life is that things change (funny, I know!). When things get rough, things will get better. That unfortunately means that we will still likely face more hardships in the future.
But the better prepared you are and more investment you put into your personal development, you will react far better to those hardships than you would have before.
Let’s Chat!
Do you want to be happier with you life?
What’s something that you really love about your life now?
Do you have any tips for feeling happier?
Margot says
Such a beautiful article !
It’s so important to always be thankful for what we have,
Gratitude always make me more happy.
xx
Margot
https://troughthepasturesofthesky.com
Make Life Marvelous says
Thank you so much, Margot! That means so much. 🙂 I completely agree with you!
These are such great tips Ashely!
Jennifer
Effortlessly Sophisticated
Thank you, Jennifer! You’re the best! 🙂
These are amazing tips. Clearing our mind and letting go is so helpful.
https://www.ninakobi.com
Thank you, Nina! 🙂
These are great tips. Back when I was taking meditation classes, I really learned the value of cultivating that feeling of gratitude on a daily basis.. and I mean really feeling it and meditating on it. It really starts to seep into the rest of your life, kind of on auto pilot. Clearing your mind is so helpful too… all these are great ideas.
Thanks so much, Julie! That’s awesome!! I would love to try a class. While I’ve tried meditating at home, I don’t feel like it’s on the same level as a class.
Such a great post. Thank you so much for sharing these tips. I completely agree with everything that you wrote.
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Thank you so much, I truly appreciate your kind words!! 🙂
Love this so much! I keep a gratitutde journal as part of my morning routine, and it has made such a difference in how I enjoy life.
Ashlee | https://www.maybeafterbrunch.com
That’s awesome, friend!! I want to make that part of my routine, too!
Oh these are great idea! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks so much for your kind words and for stopping by, Jamie! 🙂
Love this! Simple, but all true!
My favorite part is “ You can’t pour from an empty cup my friend” so so true!
Thank you so much, Sarah! 🙂
100% agree with this post!! Thanks for the tips!
http://www.rdsobsessions.com
Thank you so much, Rach!! I appreciate it!! 🙂
I love to read a book, it’s so relaxing. I had to learn too to take some me-time in between to recharge the batteries.
xx Simone
Little Glittery Box
That’s fantastic, Simone!! 🙂
These are really great tips. Thank you for sharing 🙂
xx Alyssa | STYLE VANITY
Thank you, Alyssa! I really appreciate your kind words and you stopping by! 🙂
A happy life is what we all wish for! Your superiority will transform you into a rare personality.
https://helene-goldnadel.jimdofree.com/
Absolutely, Helene! Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Making yourself a priority is huge! You’re so right about the empty cup. You have to put on the air mask on yourself before you can help others. :]
I hope more people understand about all this. That will make life beautiful.
Thank you so much! 🙂