Many people find it hard to see themselves as a source of happiness. It
is possible to find happiness inside yourself. There are different ways you can
approach this and many techniques you can employ to help increase your feelings
of inner happiness. You don't need to look beyond yourself to find your source
of happiness. Just make sure you take the time to find it.
Develop an optimistic outlook. Work on improving your perspective
in a couple areas of your life at first. Pessimism often stems from feelings of
helplessness. Identify some aspects you’d like to change in your life, then
work on improving them. This will help restore trust in your ability to create
change.
- See yourself as cause, not consequence. Optimists believe negative events or experiences can be overcome. For example, if you're having a bad day, take it as a challenge. Don't let yourself feel defeated.
- Start small. Don’t feel you have to take on everything at once.
Practice active gratitude. This means making a point to be
thankful. A multitude of research confirms that gratitude is good for you. It
reduces anxiety and depression. Gratitude helps you to be positive and feel
happy. It strengthens relationships with others and encourages compassion.
- Some people are grateful by nature, but you can train yourself to develop gratitude.
- Make a time every day, like before dinner, to say things you're thankful for.
- Remember to thank store clerks, delivery people and coworkers more often.
Forgive and forget. Prolific research suggests that
forgiving can have serious benefits for the forgiver. Forgiving produces calmer
feelings, and can have big impacts on well-being. Quelling stress caused by
ruminating on negative feelings can help increase overall feelings of
happiness. Don't just forgive others, remember to forgive yourself.
Meditate. The goal of meditation is to focus
and quiet your mind. It may come as a surprise to learn that you can meditate
anywhere and anytime. There are a great number of different kinds of
meditation, such as yoga, transcendental, mindfulness, and laughter
meditations.
- Try different kinds of meditation. Look online or talk to local meditation teachers to find ones best suited for you.
- Make it a regular habit. Meditation works best when it is done every day at the same time, so that you make it firmly part of a routine.
