Do you hear that often?

Just be happy.  Oh, how come you are not happy? Wait, you are not happy? What’s wrong with you? I don’t understand why you are not happy.

This might be something you hear often, or it could be that you don’t hear it at all.  It seems to be something as well that everyone just thinks everyone should be happy. We might even put this fake smile on so people don’t keep asking if we are happy.

It becomes at times too much to handle and we just want to hide. What do we do, we stay inside, we don’t get out in the sun, we don’t talk to others as much, we silently suffer because we are so afraid of disappointing someone or letting someone down that we just are not happy.

It is estimated that 16.2 million adults in the US, or 6.8% of the population, have had at least one major depressive episode in a given year. What does that tell us about what is going on with adults all around us?

What can we do to help our self be happier? Here are six ways.

Smile More

Smiling can make us feel better.  If you back it up with positive thoughts, it is more effective.

Sleep More

We know that sleep is essential for our health and for our body to recover from the day and have the time to repair itself.

Exercise 

Exercise is such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it is an effective strategy for overcoming depression.  Think of the times that you have exercised. How did you feel during it? After it?  Maybe during our exercise routine, we felt like we wanted to give up. We didn’t think we could keep going. Then, we finish and it’s like, oh my gosh, I DID IT! I can conquer this.  It gives us this boost that is hard to explain unless you did it.  You want to shout to the universe that you didn’t quit, you did it.  Maybe that is just me that does this??  Come on and help me out. You do it too right???

Spend Time With Friends and Family

Not staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top 5 regrets of dying. Social time is highly valuable when it comes to improving our happiness, even for introverts.  Several studies have found that time spent with friends and family makes a huge difference in how happy we feel.

Expert Daniel Gilbert, it explains it as: “We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have a friend and almost all the other things, we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.”

Go Outside More Often

Going outside and feeling the sun hit our faces can do so much for our souls.  Going out in that perfect temperature and just enjoying the outdoors does more for us than we realize.  Feeling the ground and grounding ourselves is something else that can help us and our happiness.  Try it and just see how you feel

Helping Others 

You know the Golden rule is, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” is truer than some think. When you do for other people it just overall makes your heart feel good.  Taking someone’s dinner, writing a note, paying it forward, taking their garbage cans out, the list can go on and on. In today’s world, we are running 100 different directions and we don’t think we have time for service, but what if you didn’t watch TV just for a bit to go help someone, or while you are in the drive-thru of your favorite place that you are buying your food or drink, you pay for the car behind you. Have you ever done that before?  Try it, oh my gosh the feeling is amazing.  It makes you almost feel giddy because you can imagine the person behind you feeling so grateful and yet shocked.  Maybe they are having a hard day and you just brought a smile to them.

Oh, just thinking of these things brings a smile to my face, I would love to hear what you do to help with your happiness.

No matter what you have going on, it is my hope that you have a little more happiness today than yesterday.

 

XoXo Dee