People ask me all the time, “How are you always so happy and positive?”
Well, the reality is, I’m not.
I’ve endured a lot of hardships, and even gone through really difficult bouts of depression during the worst periods of my life.
That being said, as a result, I’ve developed a lot of skills and resiliency that have helped me maintain an optimistic perspective through it all.
I really love this article from Shine about “How to Create Your Personal Plan for Happiness”: READ IT HERE
For myself personally, here are 3 of my best tips for being a happier person:
1) Learn how to accept what you can’t change
I learned from Hal Elrod of the Miracle Morning an amazing tip. After something that happens that really upsets or angers you, put a timer for 5 minutes to allow yourself to express those feelings and get it out of your system. It’s not healthy to completely repress your emotions.
After the 5 minutes, just repeat to yourself, “CAN’T CHANGE IT” and MOVE ON. Don’t allow it to fester inside of you.
What’s happened has already occurred. So rather than continue spending more negative energy on what happened, instead, start planning for what steps you’ll next take to keep going on.
2) Have the courage to accept what you can change
You do have a choice though. In every action you take, every thought you have, every thing you say… you’re making a choice about how happy you CHOOSE to be.
When you choose to respond to something by criticizing or blaming someone else, or shouting or throwing things, or shutting down with a silent treatment… then you are choosing to be unhappy rather than addressing the situation.
I’ve slowly found the courage to be more honest with my feelings, first with myself and then with other people. I’ve learned about how to not make assumptions and instead simply ask questions to clarify why something happened. I’ve had to work hard to not take things personally, because often, people don’t have negative intentions.
When you recognize that you are in full control of how YOU perceive and respond to a situation, you can choose a more positive way to respond.
3) Let it GO
This is the most important part. To be happier, we need to recognize that we need to live in the PRESENT moment.
Whatever has happened in the past, is in the past. The best thing we can do to become a happier person is to let go, forgive, and learn from the past.
When we are living in the present moment, recognizing the gift we have of a new opportunity every moment to live the life we desire and to be able to actively work towards that life… this is very powerful stuff 😃
I hope these tips will be able to shift your perspective about being happier!
Here’s a part of the Serenity Prayer that I start every day with. It’s really helped me become a more mindful and accepting, thus happier, person.
“Please grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
Thanks so much for reading my post! Please comment below if you can relate or if it’s helpful in any way.
With gratitude and joy,
Jenney