Today we are going to be happier because we deserve it and we have earned it. Happiness does not depend on external factors such as winning the lottery or our boss raising our salary. Nor do I want to fall into the cliché that happiness is inside us. Inside? Where? In the kidneys, in the pancreas?
In Mijares Psicólogos we firmly believe that happiness is built every day. Here we are going to give you some simple “tricks” to cultivate your own happiness, without depending on external factors.
We cannot avoid things that cause us pain: pain is part of life. If I hit my finger with a hammer I will feel a strong pain in my finger. If I spend three weeks thinking about the intense pain I had in my finger, then I am in pain.
Let’s get down to business. What can I do to be happier? Just for today
10 tips to be happier in my daily life
1 – Get out of bed and spend five minutes breathing. Concentrate on your breathing. You don’t need to breathe in a particular way, just breathe in and out. Thoughts will come into your head, I know, but this is not the time to deal with them: these five minutes are for you, yours alone. The rest of the world can wait. Let the thoughts that come, don’t judge them. Just let them pass: there are many hours throughout the day to deal with each and every one of them. But these five minutes are the ones you dedicate to you, to your breath, to your connection with the present moment.
2 – Eat a balanced diet: eat a heart-healthy breakfast containing carbohydrates (whole-grain bread or cereals, for example), dairy products (yogurt or milk) and fruit. Don’t forget to eat a couple of nuts for your heart.
3 – Walk a little every day: you don’t need to become an accomplished athlete, but a little exercise helps fight stress and generates endorphins.
4 – Live in the present: try not to think about the things you have already done and don’t waste too much time on the things to come. John Lennon said that life is what happens to you while you are making plans. Living in the present moment, connecting with life helps us to be happier.
5 – Plan your day but don’t get tied up in that planning: things can change throughout the day. Visualize yourself as a reed, bending in the wind, but never breaking. Being flexible helps us adapt to “what things are”.
6 – Assume “What things are”: it does not mean that you resign yourself, because to resign yourself is to give up. If you can do something: do it, but if you can’t, accept the situation as it is. Without resignation and without resistance because resistance is denying the facts, living with our backs to life. When we assume “What things are” we are living hand in hand with life. It does not mean that we accept them, it means that we are not going to waste time and energy in rejecting (denying), but neither are we going to adopt a victim position. We let things be.
7 – Cultivate friendship, take care of your friends.
8 – Speak clearly, but also politely. If there are things you are not happy with, you have to say so. But always politely and with good words.
9 – Don’t waste time complaining.
10 – Be grateful: when we give thanks for each and every thing we have we are looking at what we have more than what we lack.