Brighten Your Day

I have been practicing the art of happiness long before doing this research. The thing that helped me the most at becoming a happier person being appreciative of what I have. This single technique transformed me into a completely different person. Being appreciative also helped me rid of "If I X, I will be happy" thoughts. It is very important to understand that we are capable of being happy in the now.

What can we do to become happier?

- Forgive and forget. Don't hold grudges

- Create strong relationships with friends and family

- Have a passion and develop a skill

- Don't compare yourself selves to others. (Facebook)

- Love yourself. (compliment yourself. recognize your positive characteristics)

- Be appreciative and grateful for the big and little things in life. Create a list at least once a week of the things you are appreciate.

- Be optimistic

- Don't predict when you will happy/unhappy. We tend to overestimate when we will be happy/unhappy. Avoid phrases such as "I will be happy when X" and "I would be much happier if I was Xing".

Things that we think will attain us happiness, but does not

- Money. Money doesn't make you happy, but the lack of money makes you unhappy. (In other words, unless you are in poverty, money isn't very important)

- Fame

- Personal aesthetic (how great our hair looks, how great our outfit is today, etc.)

- Material possessions

- Power

Take everything in this post with a grain of salt. Most of the information provided is from scientific research, but I also took some notes from some less credible sites.