What does happiness mean to you? To some It can mean pure elation, to others it could mean being content in your current situation, but to me happiness is the feeling from a fulfilling life. This doesn’t mean that everything in your life has to be fulfilling.
You might feel fulfilled being in your perfect job, having a great social life, or travelling the world. All of which are awesome things to feel fulfilled about. This doesn’t mean you have to feel fulfilled 100% of the time, all day every day, because let’s be real, life can be crap and get you down.
You’ve got overdue bills to pay, you didn’t get the job you interviewed for, or you just generally don’t feel great today (for example, hitting your toe on the side of the bed, which has literally just happened to me and I’m writing this through held back tears!).
The trick is to find fulfillment in the every-day little things. Don’t get bogged down and depressed because you’re not exactly where you want to be in life right now or things may not be going your way for the time being. Just remember than no one is completely fulfilled 100% of the time, that’s not normal and unattainable, not to mention quite unhealthy.
If you feel unhappy and unfulfilled, here are some of my top tips to turning that around that you can use TODAY to increase your level of happiness.
Tip #1: Have a ‘Why’
Have direction, something to work for, a life with a sense of purpose, and work towards it. I’m not saying that you should migrate to China and live in a monastery (I actually know someone who did this) but have something to give purpose to your life. This could be the ‘everyday things’ such as striving to see your friends and family more or saving for a house. Other instances I know that give people direction and joy are charity work, striving for your dream job, being free from work to be your own boss, going for a Guinness world Record even!
Tip #2: Start Your Days Right
This is very important because if you don’t start off right, it will only snowball throughout the day. You want to start it off right so that it snowballs into something productive and worthwhile. This is obviously subjective. Some people have a big breakfast to get them going, some skip breakfast and work their best, some people go to the gym at 5:30 and others meditate. By far and away the most popular way to start the day for most people is to have a cup of coffee for that ‘wake me up’ hit, in order to get that boost of motivation and confidence to take on what the next 12 hours may bring. Experiment with different activities and routines and see which has the greatest effect on you.
Tip #3: Don’t Fixate on Money
Don’t get me wrong, we all do it at some point. Money allows us to live our lives in relative comfort, and money means we eat, but money will only bring happiness to some and not others. For example, someone with very low amounts of money will be made happier in the short term by a large amount of money, but someone who earns £250,000 and comes into more money will not be as affected. What is worse, is that some people compromise their health and happiness in the pursuit of money which Is a fairly toxic habit to get into. I’m not going to say it’s the route of all evil, but don’t let the desire to have it (and more) consume you, because you will never be satisfied.
Tip #4: Surround Yourself With People Who Make You Happy
This can be family and friends, or a community. A great example of this could be a sports team you are part of, a volunteer group, your church. Anywhere you have like-minded people you can socialise and bond with. A great place to start is meetup.com. They have tons of groups all over the UK spanning many interests that I couldn’t possibly list here. Check it out and see what groups are near you. There’s bound to be a group you like the sound of within touching distance, or thereabouts. The homepage as of typing this, states ‘What do you love? do more of it with meetup’, need I say more?
Tip #5: See the Positive When it’s Easier to See the Negative
The following example is dedicated to all those heroes who have had kids. If you are bringing up a child, you have lots of good times, but you also have to deal with nappy changes, incessant crying and temper tantrums, do you see yourself as a slave to this mini human or a protector/nurturer of this little lifeform? You can also think of this as ‘see the challenge, NOT the obstacle’. This is for example purposes, I’m sure you love your kids, but can you see how a mindset change can alter how you would react to sitautions? And ultimately change how you feel, and approach life?
Did you like these tips? If so, make sure you comment below and share this post with your friends….
Stay Confident,
Luke