How do you define happiness? What does joy mean in your life? Today, in honor of Hunt for Happiness Week, let’s talk about finding personal happiness in our everyday lives. Not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow happiness. The real life, in the middle of real ups and downs, happiness.
Do you know what makes you happy? When life gets hard, it can feel like happiness is just outside of your reach. But here’s the truth: we each get to have a say in our own happiness. We get to choose happiness. We get to seek happiness.
That’s what Hunt for Happiness Week is all about: finding our own happiness. So how do you create a life of happiness for yourself?
1: Savor the Small Things
It’s the little things that make life so wonderful. Even on the worst days, there are still small things that can bring you joy. Learn to enjoy those little things.
Here’s an easy strategy to help you as you learn to savor the small things: at the end of each day set aside 10 minutes to ‘recap’ your day. What happened? What went wrong, and what went right? What little moments of happiness are you forgetting? Maybe your dog was especially happy to see you when you got home. Perhaps the weather was exactly the way that you like it. Maybe your coworker complimented your hair. Or maybe a stranger paid for your cup of coffee on the way to work.
Think about your senses. What did you see today that brought you joy? What did you hear that gave you a moment of happiness? Did you taste something especially delicious?
You may even want to use this as an opportunity to journal – write your thoughts down as you reflect on the day. This way you can always look back on past moments of happiness!
2: Care for Your Mental Health
Your mental health matters, and it has a major effect on your happiness! It’s hard to feel happy when you are depressed or anxious. You deserve happiness. So take your mental health care seriously.
Here are a few things you can do to care for your mental health:
- Get enough sleep.
- Rest plays an important role in your mental health. If you aren’t sleeping as much as your body needs each night, it will quickly become a detriment to your physical and mental health.
- Spend time with others.
- Connection is important. We’re wired to need social time, even when we don’t feel like we want it. It’s good to connect with the people around us. So schedule time each week to connect with someone – grab coffee with a friend, have a cousin over for dinner, or invite your neighbor to run errands with you.
- Seek professional support.
- There’s a reason that it takes so much time and education to become a mental health professional. It is a complex issue. Each person’s needs are different. And it matters that you have support from someone who has the right knowledge, skills, and tools to help you navigate your mental health needs. Don’t be afraid to reach out for professional help. We all need it!
3: Learn New Things
Sometimes we fall into a rut, doing the same things every day. We’re comfortable in our jobs, in our personal lives, and we don’t want to step outside of those comfort zones. And when we get into a rut, it can become harder to find happiness in the everyday moments.
Seek out new knowledge and skills. Don’t be afraid of challenging yourself! Try a new hobby, or read a book. Watch a Youtube video on a subject you don’t know anything about. Visit your local museum and take notes on the things that you find most interesting, so that you can look up more information online when you get home. Attend a cooking class.
It doesn’t matter what you’re learning as much as it matters that you’re stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning something new. You’ll be surprised at how much joy you find in the process!
4: Volunteer in Your Community
It feels good to help others. And it feels good to be a part of your community! There is so much happiness to be found in becoming an engaged member of your community.
Volunteering may sound intimidating, but there are so many ways to do it! If you love animals, spend some time at your local shelter. They always need volunteers, and hanging out with adorable dogs and cats is a great way to boost your happiness! If you are passionate about local history, join a historical preservation organization. If you enjoy spending time one-on-one with people, look into nonprofits that work directly with the community, like food banks and services for the unhoused. In cold weather months, many towns provide warming shelters and need someone to supervise for a few hours or overnight.
Find what speaks to you, and get involved!
5: Embrace Self-Love
Accepting yourself is important for your personal happiness. If you can’t love yourself, you’re likely to feel unhappy. Learning to love yourself isn’t easy, but it is worth it.
It may take time to fully embrace self-love, and that’s okay! Start small. When you have a negative thought about yourself, stop and interrupt that thought. Would you talk this way to or about anyone else? We’re our own worst enemy, and if you stop and pay attention to how you treat yourself compared to how you treat others – it’s an easy way to recognize these differences.
When you have a negative thought, ask yourself what you would say to your best friend if s/he was thinking this thought.
Try speaking positive affirmations to yourself. Look in the mirror in the morning and tell yourself something positive. Repeat it a few times. It’s okay if this feels a little silly at first. Just keep an open mind! And keep doing it. The consistency leads to change.
You Deserve Happiness
Even on days when you feel hopeless, you deserve to find those moments of happiness. So here’s a final piece of advice: give yourself permission to be happy. Even when things aren’t going your way. Even when you make a mistake. Even when you’re grieving the loss of a loved one. You are still deserving of happiness.
Because you’re human. Because we all deserve happiness.
So this week, Hunt for Happiness.
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