9 Ways To Be Instantly Happy

Posted: June 8, 2015

Wondering how to be create more happiness in your everyday life? Here are 9 sure shot ways to be instantly happy.

Create memories

Clothes, mansions, promotions at work, cars and all other material luxuries that money can buy often brings us a fleeting taste of happiness or, in other words, momentary happiness. But to be really happy, we need to invest in experiences and build memories engaging in activities that exhilarate us and with people we love. In fact, minimalism is a great way of maximizing happiness.

By scaling down our material possessions to retain only what’s most essential, we can increase our joy in enjoying the pleasures of a simple life instead of worrying about maintaining and counting our possessions. The more we have, the more we crave; the less we choose to have, the easier it is to be content.

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Slow down and connect

In today’s busy world, we often overlook the simple pleasures our surroundings can offer us. It could be the fragrance of flowers on the street side, or a baby laughing in the neighbourhood, or the immense peace of deep meditation, travelling and perhaps, prayer. Some people, like me, find real happiness connecting with nature, yoga and travelling, and some others, like my mom, find happiness by connecting with God through prayer. We all have different ways of tuning into our inner selves and giving ourselves a break. Finding what our ‘way’ is and doing it is key to finding our unique happiness.

Peace+love=happiness

In the words of a song in Barbie the island princess, “Love knows, love grows bigger than before…in your heart there’s always more”. When we choose to care more deeply and for more people, our capacity to love expands because we always have more to give.

Peace is found pursuing in what we love

Often, loving others is the key to being loved and this cycle often has an effect of giving us joy. Peace is found pursuing in what we love. And love is often found in sharing and caring with people, which add up to give guaranteed happiness.

A little more kindness

Be kind to others and even more importantly, to yourself. You’re not perfect and life is not perfect.

Don’t let regret swallow your time

Don’t blame or give yourself negative pep-talks; instead learn to forgive your own mistakes, to learn from them and move on.

Smile

Your smile helps boost the levels of your ‘happy hormones’ like dopamine and decreasing the levels of stress hormone like cortisol, according to research published in Psychology today.

Happiness is a constant choice

Every time we feel happy, it is because we choose to and not because of the events that are happening around us. If we have the will to be happy every moment, we will find a way to get there regardless of our circumstances.

Be grateful

Last year, I conducted leadership campaigns for several children of an orphanage in my hometown in Tamil Nadu. I was surprised to see how happy the children were, though they had never known their parents and more than 40 of them shared a single room for living space. Their optimism and immense will to keep hoping and dreaming taught me that the obstacles in our life, however daunting they seem, are irrelevant if we have the courage to be grateful for everything we already have. The fact that we are living to breathe this moment and that we have senses to read this article is a proof of how tremendously privileged we are and all the things we should be thankful for. Thankfulness inevitably brings happiness.

Cycle on the Seashore image via Shutterstock