How To: Happiness

Ups and downs, everyone has them. Anyone who will tell you that the secret to happiness is avoiding the downs and only striving for the ups is lying to you. The key to happiness is allowing the ups and downs to happen. The key to happiness is how you react to them.

Here’s my daily guide to being happy:

1. See the light.

Even in the darkest of times, light can be found. In fact, in darkest times, that is when light shines the brightest. Think of a lit up room in the middle of the day time. Will lighting a candle make much of a difference? Now think of a pitch black room in an uncivilized area in the middle of the night. Now light the candle. That tiny candle expels so much darkness. If you can learn to light that candle in the darkest of times, you can escape the darkness.

I’m not saying that seeing the light is easy. In fact, it’s probably the hardest step. Once one understands that there IS light in the dark, then they can learn to expel the dark by using light

2. Be positive.

Being positive is not always easy. Sometimes you just have a bad day. Say your alarm clock goes off late and you’re late to work. Then your car runs out of gas. While filling up on gas, your coffee spills on your new, white shirt. That sounds like a pretty rough start to your morning. But in every bad day there are some glimmers of light. At the end of every day, before you go to sleep, write down at least THREE good things that happened. Once you get into the routine of this, you’ll start looking for positive aspects of your day and the negative aspects will become minute.

3. Take care of yourself.

You know how when someone compliments you or gives you a gift or takes care of you it sends a rush of happiness through you? The same thing can happen when you’re nice to yourself! Dedicate a specific time of your day to take care of yourself. Everyone’s self care is individualized, but here are some things I do in my life:

• I do my makeup and hair to feel more confident.
• I light some scented candles and read a good book.
• I make sure to make myself three wholesome meals every day.
• I set aside $5 every time I make some money. At the end of the month I buy myself a little gift as a “yay you made it!” kinda thing.
• I take out my guitar and just start playing whatever pops into my head.

You guys get the idea. Do whatever soothes you, and makes you happy. Once you start being nicer and loving yourself, you’ll see your happy levels shoot up.

4. Don’t let others bring you down.

This is an important one. You can’t control the actions that occur around you, but you can control your REACTIONS. It takes time to escape the mindset of needing to be accepted by ones peers and it is not an easy process. The best way to control your reactions is by giving yourself time to think. Often, when someone says or does something hurtful, we lash out in the only ways we know how. Instead of allowing someone to tear down everything you built by pulling a bad reaction out of you, pause for a moment and think. First: Breathe. Give yourself 10 solid seconds to just breathe. Then think how will my reaction effect myself? Will it still effect me in the next five minutes, five hours, or five days? Once you’ve had this thought process, your mind should settle. With a clear mind, you can respond (if you deem it necessary) or walk away.

5. Smile.

I know it sounds simple, but for some people it’s not. I’m not talking about those fake smiles you do to convince people around you that you’re okay. I’m talking about a genuine smile that hurts your cheeks. Often when we’re stuck in the down part of our lives, we don’t think we’re worthy of an up. You are worthy of an up. STOP STIFFLING YOUR OWN HAPPINESS! When a glimpse of happiness enters your life, don’t push it away! Welcome it with open arms and a big smile!

I hope that those happiness tips and tricks helped you out! If your interested in hearing more drop a tip down below or share this story 😊