Carpe Diem means seize the day in Latin. Today is unique and you may never get another one. Enjoy it while it lasts. Happiness has to be seized as well. Happiness doesn’t happen to you, it happens because of you. Other people can’t make you happy. You have to find and seize your own happiness. You have to seize it every day of your life.
Researchers have found that people who describe themselves as happy are in better health, live longer, and have less depression. They also found that 50% of an individual’s happiness level is determined by their genes. So if you have happy grandparents, you can thank them you are a happy person. On the other hand, 40% of your happiness is in your control. Which leaves only 10% of your happiness is based upon your circumstances. Having happiness habits is one way you can improve happiness in your life.
How Does Happiness Impact Your Health?
Happiness gives you a sense of well-being and a purpose in life. It has a profound effect on your over overall health. Here are some benefits of being happy.
- Better heart health: Happiness benefits your heart, making you less apt to have high blood pressure or heart conditions. They linked happiness to reducing the risk of a stroke. A stroke occurs when there is less blood flow to your brain. People with a more positive view of life were better able to recover from a stroke than individuals who felt negatively about their life.
- Better able to fight stress: When you have a lot of stress in your life, your stress hormones get released into your body. This can trigger heart problems, autoimmune diseases, and high blood pressure. Individuals who feel more positive about their life have more antibodies that support their immune system and fight off infection and disease. Happy people also let go of stress through exercise or social activities to help them relax.
- Healthier life choices: Being happy increases the likelihood that you eat a more nutritious diet, exercise, and stay active. Happy people often refuse to retire, because they enjoy interacting with people, the physical exercise, and the mental stimulation.
- Helps with pain: Did you know if you’re happy you may have less pain? Having a positive mindset can lower your pain, especially in chronic conditions like arthritis.
What are other ways your happiness habits benefit your life?
Besides health benefits, having happy habits can affect your life in other ways.
- Happy people are better at problem-solving: When you’re happy, negative thoughts or fears don’t hold you down. You’re willing to try things, and even if you fail at something, you see it as an opportunity to learn something rather than a reason to quit.
- Happy people make good employees: Happy individuals are more productive and can work together with others.
- Happy people affect those around you: If you’re a happy person, you affect the people around you positively. You like to help people and you’re good at working with difficult people because they don’t steal your happiness.
- Happy people may earn more money: Feeling happy with your life means you work hard to get a degree or certification for higher earnings, and you’re willing to take risks to find higher-paying jobs.
Here are 12 steps to seizing your happiness everyday:
Try taking these measure to feel joy.
1. Choose To Be Happy
Happiness is a choice. It doesn’t happen by accident. You decide every day whether you are going to be happy. Nothing outside of yourself can change that unless you choose for it to. Be positive about yourself and your life. Don’t let issues or problems alter your happiness for that day. Treat everyday as a gift that you may not get tomorrow and make the most of it. Make everyday the best day of your life. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
2. Stop Worrying
If you have the resources to fix something, then fix it. Otherwise, stop worrying about it. Worrying never solved anything. All it does is inhibit your happiness. So do what you can when you can for who you can and let the rest take care of itself. Mark Twain said it best, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”
3. Change Negative Thinking
We are our own worst critics sometimes. When our inner critic raises his head, push it back down and tell it to shut up and sit down. Beating yourself up does not solve the issues or complexities in your life, nor do they contribute to the solution. If anything, those negative thoughts hold you back and keep you from your happiness.
4. Forgive and Forget
Holding onto a grudge does nothing to fix a bad situation and only reminds you of the hurt. Holding onto a grudge just hurts you over and over again without actually changing the person who hurt you. Let it go and move on with your life. Stop dwelling on those old hurts and let them heal with time. Forgiveness is a sweet gift of freedom for yourself, and not necessarily for the other person.
5. Be Grateful
No matter how little you have or how much you think your life sucks right now, there are always things to be grateful for. Find those things and embrace them like your life depended on it. Recognizing things in your life that are good, beneficial or that make you happy and accepting them will raise your happiness level. When you are grateful, you do not dwell on that which you lack but on that which you have in abundance.
6. Money Can’t Buy Happiness
Money can buy you pleasures but not happiness. Pleasure is temporary and does not fill that hole inside. No amount of money can replace true happiness and contentment. Chasing money is an endless race with no finish line. Focus less on what you can’t have and more on what you do have.
7. Build Friendships
Friendships are the bedrock of real happiness. They will lift you up when you can’t get up yourself. Together you all can achieve what none of you can achieve alone. Build on existing friendships and cultivate new ones. Find friends you can talk to and do things with. A single stick can be broken but a bundle of them cannot. Find strength and resilience together and you can never be broken.
8. Take Part in Meaningful Activities
Stop being a couch zombie and go do something worthwhile with your time. If it was your last day on Earth, would you really want to catch up on a television show? Go do something new, go find your own adventure. Go venture into nature and enjoy the beauty of this life.
9. Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
Social media only shows you the highly cherry-picked aspects of someone’s life. You never really get to see the nitty gritty of the daily grind. Stop comparing yourself to other people’s highlight reel. Go out there and make a highlight reel of your own. Go do things that make you feel happy not what you think other people will think is awesome.
10. Be Kind To Others
Be kind to others and they will be kind to you. Bring happiness to someone who needs it and you will find yourself sharing in their happiness. Happiness is contagious and you could be a carrier if you really wanted to be. So go spread some love. Your inner beauty and kind soul will become contagious! There is a rewarding feeling of gratitude when you do things for someone who doesn’t expect them.
11. Enjoy Life’s Simple Pleasures
Find enjoyment in the simple things – a great sandwich, a beautiful sunset, a rainy day or a cold beer on a hot day. Take nothing for granted. Hot showers, a warm bed and a roof over your head are indescribable pleasures after you have been deprived of them for a while. Memories cannot be stolen; you will always have them with you, so go make some good memories to carry you through the rough times.
12. Create and Achieve Goals for Yourself
Set small achievable goals for yourself. Give yourself something to strive for, to get out of bed for or to simply make a boring chore a challenge. Achieving goals and accomplishing things make you happy. You have not wasted a day. In fact, you achieved something that was undone before you did it. You made something happen. Every day, find something that makes you happy and make it happen.
Final Thoughts on How to Create Happiness for Yourself
There are so many benefits to being a happy person. It’s true your genetics play a part in whether you’re a happy person, but you have a lot of control over your happiness. These happy habits will raise your happiness meter so you can enjoy the benefits of your life.
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