Do you want to be happy?

BY: COLLEEN LINDBERG

Such a question posed these days all over the place. What is happiness really?

In my opinion, it’s that time in your life where you smile and look around and go “Wow this is my life”. Does it happen every day and all day long, most likely not? That’s ok though. I really think we should aim at getting to 51% of our day there and then we can build on that.

How to do it though is the real question… Here are four tips that help me get happy every day.

1. Wake up and think about three things (or more) that you are grateful for. This really sets the tone for me and the day. It allows us to think about good things that put smiles on our faces before anything else happens. I suggest you do this before you touch your phone before you get out of bed and before you do anything else. If you have a partner, maybe you can do this together in bed before getting up. It really helps to frame the day.
2. When you feel yourself or your energy draining put on some uplifting music or an inspirational video to uplift you. Changing your state in real time is so important. It’s part of a way you can bring forth focus and motivation but also brings you happiness. Try being in a bad mood while you are dancing around to your favorite song. It’s hard to not be happy. So, find a playlist that you love and that can bring you into that kind of state.
3. Phone a friend or a family member that makes you laugh or puts a smile on your face. It might be your spouse, your kids, your BFF, whomever has a network to rely on so when you hit the slump of your day (if you do) you can reach out to people that make you laugh or happy.
4. Do things you love on a daily basis. Something that fuels your soul. It might be reading, walking, singing, working out, painting, athletics, anything really that fuels your soul.

Have this somewhere or a piece of it somewhere in your day and if not daily then definitely weekly. This will keep you in the flow of things that you want and help you to keep shifting in happy places doing them. This reminds me of the movie “Happy Gilmore” where Adam Sandler goes into his happy place to make the shots. The same analog for life, find your happy places and go to them as often as you can.

     Happiness really is a state of mind. It’s a choice that we have to keep making daily,

     hourly and sometimes by the minute. Some days it comes easy to us and other days

     it’s really hard. Setting yourself up with tools will help you shift faster. The goal is to be

     in a life that makes us happy and then we have people that get to come along on our

     happiness journey. Happiness though really does start with you. Right in your heart

     and at the core of you, find it for yourself….