Live a Happy Life By Being Happy
Live a happy life? Why not? I’m always big on finding out ways to live a happy life.
I’m a happy person.
If you know me, you will see that I am quite happy to be home behind my computer writing the whole day.
It wasn’t always this way for me.
In the beginning, when I started my career, I was always chasing time.
Deadlines.
Construction schedules.
Time was always at large, and deadlines loomed in my face.
I wasn’t a happy person.
I just looked happy even when I had meetings I dread attending daily.
I just learned to wear my scowl back upside down.
Is happiness necessary to live a happy life?
I know this is a paradoxical question.
The solution or the answer is the same as the question.
Happiness is vital to our life’s goals.
Just being happy can help us achieve our ambitions and goals.
The truth is before I could be happy living a writer’s life – I had to learn to be HAPPY!
I had to be happy to make this choice to leave my former life behind.
I only realized this in hindsight.
After three years, I realized that this is the fundamental reason why happiness is so essential to propel us to change.
I never saw the potential in me to impact others with my words – to change lives.
A Ridiculously Good Happy Life is Possible.
I’m reading a new old book.
I’ve had this book as a gift for a few years.
I never got around to reading more than the front and back covers. Sometimes I would read the inscription inside.
Limitless: Devotions for a Ridiculously Good Life by Nick Vujicic
The cover was intriguing.
The title? A Ridiculously Good Life!
How is that even possible?
A Ridiculously Good Happy Life takes the top off.
Nick wasn’t talking about the good life, the happy life that most of us gravitate towards every day.
He was sharing about a Ridiculously Good Life!
His Ridiculously Good Life.
Today I shared my reading with the two people who are impacting me in ways beyond my imagination.
One asked me gentle probing questions. The other friend always wanted an answer.
I thought to myself – how can I answer, how do I help.
So, I do what I do best. I spend my Sunday thinking and writing this.
There are no secrets to living a happier life.
There’s none that I know of as in magic formula as in hocus pocus mumbo jumbo! LOL.
All I know is the joy I feel – I am happy.
The elusive quantum leaps into happiness.
I had a friend who feared happiness.
When we were growing up, she would chant this mantra whenever anyone asks how she is doing.
So-so. Neither very good nor very bad.
Even when she wanted to tell me that she enjoyed something, her response is always,
Not Bad.
I never understood “Not Bad” even though people try to explain it to me.
For me, if something is good, just say that it is good. If it’s wrong, then just move away. Simple.
I would ask her why not try to live a happy life.
For me, I am authentic and allow myself to feel both positive and negative human emotions.
Think of these positive, feel-good.emotions. If emotions are an excellent elixir of life, the proverbial fountain of youth – would you want more of these in your life?
- happiness
- joy
- interest
- curiosity
- excitement
- gratitude
- love
- contentment
If negative emotions cause sickness, diseases, and eventual death, wouldn’t you make sure you dont invite these problematic, even painful emotions to enter the door of your mind and stay?
- sadness
- anger
- loneliness
- jealousy
- self-criticism
- fear
- rejection
The key to happiness is GRATITUDE.
The key to healing is LOVE.
Grief is that intense sorrow, caused by a loved one’s death – that too needs healing.
Happiness is not Elusive.
Her happiness is elusive because her brain and many others have evolved to survive, to protect ourselves, to keep us alive.
Sure, there are moments of happiness—periods of contentment. And maybe even joy.
But many of us are plagued with persistent negative emotions.
For Gem, our emotions were a roller-coaster that she couldn’t relate to at all.
She instead not feel joy, so she doesn’t feel the pain that comes with pleasure.
Until today Gem still has the same mindset.
Too afraid to live and love.
My brain is wired differently from hers.
I learned later in life that this meant I was living an authentic life – how I live my daily schedule.
It goes by blocks of two hours.
So, throughout the day, I neither happy nor sad all the time.
If I measure my daily happiness quota – it is always in the positive.
I know I go to sleep every night (late)
l lie in bed tired and happy.
I’m planning my tomorrow with the full assumption that I will rise like the sun.
Here are 31 Ways for you to live a happy life.
It all starts with beautiful, unique YOU.
1 Being imperfect.
I was the little Miss Perfectionist.
I used to set the bar too high.
Even a missing or extra comma in a sentence used to annoy me. When I think back to those days, I throw back my head and laugh.
The other day, someone said that he found red hair on a Malaysian woman to be amusing.
I saw great humor in that and laughed along with him and am blessed.
Yes, I thought it amusing, too, and was delighted that I made him smile.
Accept imperfection.
Many of us strive for perfection — we desire to push ourselves to be our best.
Being a perfectionist and setting high standards is hard.
To be truly happy, we need to embrace life with all its imperfections.
2 Be someone else or be uniquely You.
One of the best things you can do to boost your happiness is to be yourself simply.
You are uniquely you. You don’t have to be anyone else.
Once you love and accept yourself for who you are – know your limitations.
You need to spend some time getting to know yourself.
Be comfortable in your skin.
- What defines you?
- What do you believe?
- Who are you?
- Whose are you?
- Where do you belong?
3 No one compares to you.
Social media has a way of making us feel inadequate.
When we scroll through our newsfeed, we may feel negative emotions of envy and resentment.
Comparing lives may rob us of appreciating what we have when we compare with the things everyone else has.
Care to deal with some feelings?
All of us have a lot of feelings. Sometimes we laugh and cry at the same time.
That is good – those are called, tears of joy!
4 Being Positive +
For long term happiness – Spend one to two minutes a day to look for positives in your daily life.
Do these three times a day for 45 days, and your brain will start doing it automatically.
You can choose a positive mantra.
“I am grateful to be alive.”
Being grateful is a great way to start feeling gratitude. #gratitudechangeseverything
Ever since, I take moments in my day to see things positively and be grateful – things have changed for the better.
I want to love and live a ridiculously good life – I am grateful, always, always, and forever.
I meet right, kind people who are on the same page as I – we want to grow positively to impact the world.
5 Saying NO, without feeling guilty.
How do you turn someone down without feeling guilty?
Can you say no?
6 Forgiveness is the key to living a happy life.
Forgiveness is the hard part. Making someone happy is easier.
Forgiveness of others and forgiveness of self are the two hardest parts of every relationship.
Think back to the time you held back forgiveness.
Think back to the time you forgave.
7 Making someone happy.
I remember that my mom would buy me ice cream whenever
8 Celebrate little victories.
Life is full of ups and downs, BUT it’s the little wins, the victories that keep up in a celebratory mood. I learn to celebrate everything and not to wait for the HUGE gains. So, this is one reason I feel a sense of accomplishment and happiness.
Today I cleared a drawer of old receipts.
If I know Gem, she will ask, why did you allow yourself to accumulate rubbish in the first place.
Now I when I hear that nagging voice, I just laugh at her memory.
I take enormous pleasure in these little achievements. They add up and pay BIG dividends in our emotional bank account!
8 Turn negative talk around.
You have friends, business associates, neighbors, and worst still negative relatives?
I had an old colleague who we call Dr. Doom and Prof. Gloom.
Now that I’m nowhere near him, I just make sure I stay far away from negative people.
9 Be Optimistic. Live a happy life.
When you reduce your time spent with negative people, situations, and the environment, you get to breath better.
Being optimistic comes more accessible and more comfortable.
For our career change, I had to disassociate myself from many people so that new like-minded people could come into our life.
At one point, it was a little crowded.
10 Practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness brings our awareness and attention to this very moment.
The present.
I do a simple box breathing technique to bring about being present, aware, and curious.
When I am mindful of our breath, it helps me accept the challenges I am going through – decreases stress, helps me see every situation as is.
Through the practice of mindfulness, I find peace and affirmation in ourselves.
11 What are you working on?
Me, Myself and I
12 Find your work-life balance.
Work takes up a lot of our day; we are in danger of losing yourself. Remember, your friend, who was concerned? Well, he is right – it should not be the only thing that I do. For a while, I thought of Steve job,
“Aside from work, I have little joy.” – Steve Job
It’s important to pursue activities and interests beyond our job. But then, our job is not a job – it is our passion. So, we are aware and am a work in progress.
I need to learn to create a work-life balance and learn to express yourself, laugh, and have fun.
All work and no play make a dull Doris.
13 Be creative.
Being a creative my entire life means I need to stay upbeat.
You may think of artists as being moody and depressed, but studies show that engaging in creative activities makes you happier.
Those who spend time using their imagination and being creative have more enthusiasm and are more likely to have feelings of long-term happiness and wellbeing.
Such creative activities can include writing, painting, drawing, and musical performance.
14 Do what you love.
It’s hard to be happy if you hate your job – even if your job pays the bills and buys your holidays overseas.
If you don’t find joy working in a job that provides a high level of satisfaction, you will not be happy no matter how much your salary.
15 Why is the money necessary?
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic – I thought to ourselves having money and not being able to it makes no sense. The reality of having money is to spend it on experiences.
16 Spend wisely.
How you spend your money will determine how happy you feel – buying experiences and sharing the experiences with others are the things that make us happy.
The top of our list is travel, dining, movies, art galleries, and concerts.
Happiness connected to acquiring material things, and items fades.
It is our different experiences that define our purpose – our passions in life.
17 Cultivate gratitude – YOU WILL ALWAYS BE RICH.
#gratitudechangeseverything
Gratitude changes everything.
Ever since I found out to show grateful appreciation for what I receive in life, things start to change – I become happier and feel more content.
I find more and more ways to cultivate gratitude daily.
Being grateful is something that pays high dividends in playing it forward to help others.
I learn ways to show appreciation.
When I spend little moments each day to acknowledge all that is good in our life – I start to see that I’m no longer anxious. You can try it – soon, sadness, and depression will be a thing of the past.
18 Giving Back.
Be generous.
If you have money, give some of it away. If you don’t have money – give your time.
- Give to those you love.
- Give to those you care about.
- Give to others in need.
You will be surprised that when you give, you get a sense of selflessness and humanitarianism.
Many of those who are generous in spending money on others; well, they tend to have good health, more positivity, and a sense of wellbeing.
Perhaps giving has a feel-good side effect, which lowers stress and your blood pressure.
19 Life is to be celebrated – Nor dreaded!
Gem told me a long time ago.
Since pain is universal in the human race; it seems to be an inexorable law of our planet that sooner or later great happiness is followed by great sorrow. ~ Joe L. Wheeler
Of course, that is NOT TRUE. I didn’t buy into that thinking.
Imperfect Gem would control the joy in her life. Her explanation was this;
In life happiness is followed by sorrow. Once you feel joy at any point in your life, you wish to be in that situation forever but that is not how things work.
Nothing is constant; everything that this world is relative.
Hence, it’s all in your perspective.
She never caught my joy, and I refuse to buy into her belief system.
Oh well, we win some – we lose some. Life goes on.
20 Stop worrying. You can’t change anything by worrying.
When we worry about everything, we become gripped with fear and anxiety.
When negative thoughts bound our minds, everything may spiral out of control.
We become apprehensive about everything and anything and become paralyzed with afraid.
The truth is we cannot experience joy with our thoughts consumed by worry.
21 Keep happy people in your circle of friends.
Remember the old proverb; Misery loves company.
People who are suffering are comforted by the knowledge that others are also suffering like them – a universal truth.
Gloomy moods are contagious.
The more we share experiences, the more our emotions and behaviors become synchronized.
Therefore, the secret to long-term happiness is surrounding yourself with others who are also happy.
22 Live in the moment. Live a happy life.
While we dream and plan – our thoughts often stray to the unresolved hurts or events of the past.
The reality is we can only experience the present.
What we are going through now, be it drinking a good cup of coffee or enjoying a conversation.
To be fully alive and to live a happy life, we need to be fully engaged with NOW.
Live each moment, appreciate each breath. And begin to cultivate a deeper appreciation for your life.
23 Little treats and surprises.
I used to hate surprises. I never like a present that I received. I was ungrateful, come to think of it.
But all that changed with gratitude. I learn to be happy and accepting.
24 Surprise yourself.
When we set goals outside our comfort zone, we may be surprised at the outcome of our goals.
When we allow ourselves to be in new or unexpected situations, something changes.
There is excitement, and you may be more than a little surprised by life.
25 Listen to and Engage with Music.
When we are listening to music – our brains release dopamine.
Eating chocolate does the same.
Dopamine is a neurochemical connected to pleasure and reward.
People who attend concerts, listen to music, or engage in dance, often share that they feel good.
They experience a high level of happiness and a sense of wellbeing.
I just feel happy when I listen to lively music.
Sometimes speaking to someone with a zest for life is good.
You can hear the enthusiasm in their voice, and it is lifting.
26 Build meaningful relationships.
Few of us realize our most fundamental needs is a deep desire to love and be loved.
As humans, we need friendship, community, love, and happiness.
All of us have a fundamental need to be seen and heard.
We need to interact and connect with others – most of the time, we gravitate towards our kind.
We seek out our tribe – the people who will support us and understand us.
Without meaningful relationships and no one to be there as we go through life’s roller-coaster ride – We feel lonely and isolated.
We’re happier when we pursue and happiness with others.
27 Spend MORE time in nature.
The higher the time we spend outdoors in nature, the more we can relate to life – the higher our sense of appreciation of our place in the world.
Our connection to nature, when we hike, go for treks, walk in the park, or even gardening plays a role in maintaining positive mental health.
28 Reminisce over happy memories.
We become nostalgic because nostalgia makes us happy.
Reminiscing about our past can help us reconnect with good times, and happy memories inevitably help us reconnect with feelings of love.
We remember our sense of wonder and fulfillment as children.
When we have meals with old friends, we feel closer to them. Our past shapes us and defines our identity today.
29 How can we live a happy life?
It’s the feeling of truly enjoying our life, and the desire to make the very best of it.
Happiness is the “secret sauce” that helps us be our best and to do our best.
When you know that happy people are more successful and happy people are better at reaching goals.
30 What will you choose?
The choice is entirely up to you to live a happy life.
When Gem looks at me and asks, “I need more positive energy.”
I want to tell her to look inside herself. I don’t dispense positive vibes, and it’s not something that anyone can buy over the counter.
What deeds can we perform to live a happy life?
31 What is the secret of happiness?
“The secret to happiness is to make everyone around you happy.”
By default, we will get the satisfaction of bringing joy to others, and their positive energy will come back to us as we live a happy life.
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