How to Get Instant Joy and Happiness…Right Now

Hello cyber world. Do you know what a truly wonderful thing about the cyber world is? Realising that you are not alone. That human experience is not as unique and isolating as we might originally think. I’m here to tell you that you are not the only one who has fallen into the dark pit of sadness or simply lack of happiness. This pit will vary widely in depth and darkness, that doesn’t make it any less of a pit you want to get out of.

Of course gradual change and healthy habits are important, as are accepting and processing your emotions. Allowing yourself to feel sad when you need to and analysing what has caused it. But if there is a way to alleviate those feelings, to be joyful, wouldn't you take that option? Wouldn't you want those tools? Sometimes you feel neither happy or sad, the sadness is temporary or caused by a situation or comment that you know shouldn't have any power over you. You feel down and can't conceive of a reason for it.

I am unhappy. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m in a mood. I’m feeling down today. It’s going to be a crappy day. It’s all downhill from here.

Sound familiar? What if you could accept, if just for a moment, that these thoughts are lies? That they are simply thoughts, a part of your mind that you are able to observe. What if you could accept that they have about as much reality and substance as you choose to give them? That you can be happy and joyful. Not tomorrow or next week but now, right now?

As someone who has gone through all the above negative thought processes and emotions, feeling that happiness and joy were just things meant for others and not me, I understand that in those moments you do feel truly powerless. But over time and studying various methods and philosophies I found some ways to take that power back, break free of that negativity, and so can you.

So buckle up as we come to the first tip on my list:

1. Realise that you have a choice

I’m talking utter rubbish aren’t I? You can’t choose how to feel? That’s ridiculous!……Or is it?

I think that sometimes, giving into a modern culture that is so accepting of negativity and sadness being something that just is…. is not liberating, it can in fact imprison you within the very idea itself.

What if you simply chose to believe that you have a choice?

This is the first step. Sometimes that alone gives you a bit of relief. What if you thought of those negative thoughts I mentioned earlier as a set of bricks you’re carrying on your back and you chose to drop them? Because I’m telling you now that simply holding that belief is liberating. It’s your brain, a plastic organ in the sense that it is incredibly open to manipulation. You’re the one driving it. You are not your thoughts, with practise you are able to sit back and observe them. When that happens you are able to let them go instead of following them into a negativity spiral Feel that weight off your back.

Believe you have a choice. If you don’t think you will ever be happy. You won’t.

2. Gratitude

This is a very powerful tool. But something I want to emphasise first, when you’re in this mindset, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of feeling guilty for not being grateful.

I’m such an ungrateful, terrible person .

Scrap these useless ideas. Scrap them now and forget them.

Choose to be grateful now.

Your life is often a heck of a lot more wonderful and privileged than you realise when you just stop to think about it. As you’re reading this article right now, guaranteed you have a huge amount to be grateful for.

You have access to technology and thus education at your fingertips. You have eyes to see. So far as you’re alive, there are always things to be grateful for. You can be grateful for long term aspects of your life such as a network of friends and family who love and appreciate you. For access to education, plentiful food and water. living free of war or injury. Many of you reading this are living in comparative luxury to many others in the world when you really think about it, and even they can find things to be grateful for.

There are always the smaller immediate things to appreciate. A sunny day. The sandwich you get to enjoy on your lunch hour. Or the fact that it’s started raining, but you have an umbrella. That job that you find banal? But you have a job. You can be grateful for the salary and the freedom it affords you.

Everything, no matter how small can be appreciated. With it comes a burst of good feeling. Often sadness and despair come from feeling a lack in your life. A lack of the circumstances you want, the lover who has left you, the dream job you don’t have. Often the best way to take focus away from what you lack is by focusing on what you already have. You always have more than you think.

3. Focus on Right Now

You’re alive, you’re breathing! Your physical sensations. It’s a miracle. Focus on your senses, what you can hear, see, touch, taste, smell, feel. This is all you ever have to worry about and is a gift in and of itself.

This is a cornerstone of the teachings found within Zen Buddhism. It is a principle explored in detail by Eckhart Tolle in his brilliant book “The Power of Now” which I would highly recommend.

The past can burden us. But it’s already happened. It doesn’t exist anymore. There’s nothing you can do about it. It is now just a chemical trace in the brain. The future is much the same. Thinking of the future can be very overwhelming. It’s possibilities are limitless. But again. It hasn’t happened yet. It doesn’t exist. The only moment that ever exists that makes your past and future is right now.

When you focus on the present moment and just living it. You will find that worries and sadness brought on by past mistakes and future concerns simply fade away.

4. Smile

Just do it. Doesn’t matter that it’s not real. The physical action of smiling automatically releases dopamine, endorphins and serotonin. These are neurotransmitters that make you feel good. Try it.

5. Hug someone, hug yourself or just imagine someone giving you a hug

This physical action has the same effect as smiling.

But what’s truly wonderful, is that even imagining this will have the same effect! The brain cannot distinguish between what you're imagining and reality. This can be our downfall when we imagine disaster and embrace negative thoughts, but it can be turned on its head when imagining things that make us feel good. The brain will still believe that it’s actually happening.

6. Think of memories that make you happy

This follows the theme and reasoning of the above two points. Just playing the image or scene of a happy memory in your mind will feel to your brain as if you are living it all over again.

Examples could be a great family holiday or date. Even watching a fantastic movie. Anything. To get the greatest result, it’s best to close your eyes and run through the memory in as much detail as possible. What can you hear, see, smell, feel? If it’s a day you spent by the beach for example. As cliched as it might be. The grains of sand scratching at your feet. The smell of salt in the wind whipping your hair and the crash of surf in the background.

You might reach a point where you sit there and you say you can’t think of a single happy memory. Remember that the brain doesn’t register or distinguish between fact and fiction. Imagining a scene that would make you happy has the same effect.

7. Think of a time when you felt truly empowered or overcame adversity

Often feelings of sadness can be brought on by feelings of helplessness. Feeling that your situation is so dire and there’s nothing you can do about it. You feel as if you are powerless or weak.

But we all get through adversities in life. Remember that no doubt you’ve been through such situations in the past and overcame them. Using this same visualisation technique, think of a time you felt truly empowered or powerful. That day you handed in your notice, you won a competition, you completed your university degree, you earned your first pay cheque. Remember that to have made it this far, you need to have successfully survived and overcome every single day that came before. You did it successfully. Take the time to remember that you do have power and agency, you do have the ability to overcome, and often far more than occurs to you immediately.

8. Can you do something about this?

Following the previous point, what you’re about to learn is the golden rule for eliminating worry and alleviating sadness instantly. Something is upsetting or stressing you. Take a page out of the Dalai Lama's book:

Can you do something about it? Yes. Then why worry?

Can you do something about it? No. Then why worry?

Remember that none of your troubles are worth worry. If there is a solution, you know that you are not powerless. There is something you can do about it, take joy in that and act. If there is nothing you can do, then worry and sadness are useless emotions in this scenario because they won’t change anything and there is no burden of responsibility or guilt on you to act if there is nothing you can do.

9. Do something positive and/or productive

Anything. Anything at all. It doesn’t have to be big or important. It could be seemingly minuscule. The task itself is not the point. The act of doing will take your brain off the thoughts it is immediately consumed by. Doing something positive or productive gives you a little hit of feel good serotonin. You can feel good about yourself, even if this is a temporary fix. You put positivity out and you will get it back.

Some simple examples that have helped me in the past:

Tidy up your room on a timer for 10 minutes .

Drink a glass of water or eat a piece of fruit (something healthy) .

Do 10 star jumps or ten sit-ups .

Message a valued friend or family member and tell them that you love them/appreciate them .

So that wraps up the techniques to attain a little instant joy or happiness, right now. The following are a little less instant but very straight forward to do.

10. Watch some comedy

Find some comedy clips, some humour that appeals to you. As someone British I find that “Live at the Apollo” is always good for a laugh. It could be a sitcom, “Friends” for example. Anything to make you laugh. To make you feel good. Humour is a wonderful attribute that is almost completely unique to humans and a great giver of joy.

11. Listen to music that makes you want to dance

Music that has that kind of effect on you makes you lose yourself to an impulse and focus on the present moment.

When you listen to music that makes you want to dance or is otherwise uplifting, it automatically transforms your mood. Feel good hormones flood through your body. The right music can completely change your thought process and emotions if you are able to focus on the music itself. A steady rhythm or beat is often something concrete we unconsciously focus on or count.

So there you are. My list of top tips to raise you up, to give you that instant hit of joy and happiness when you need it most. The guide pointing you towards that light that is always there, even if you can't always see it.

I must stress that I am not a mental health professional. These are methods I have found useful but if you are facing issues such as deep depression or anxiety for example, I would urge you to seek professional advice and assistance.

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