Happiness and success are often seen as caught in a symbiotic relationship: it is taken as fact that professional success, wealth, and fame will lead to a sense of happiness and fulfillment. Less often do we hear it said that happiness can bring an individual into the path of success, yet this is undoubtedly true.
Happiness is closely tied to a sense of accomplishment, and for any ambitious person carving their path to acclaim and success, this can be enjoyed by the bucketful.
A lot of people get it wrong by thinking that they need to or have to achieve their goals and be successful before they can enjoy happiness.
This is a wrong perception because you don’t have to be successful to enjoy happiness. Plus, when you are happy, it is easier for you to be successful.
The reason is simple, happiness allows you to perform better. And when you are able to deliver better results, you become more successful.
The relationship between happiness and our sense of self
Happiness is one of the most powerful feelings a human can experience and is an enormous asset for anyone chasing success. The reasons for this are innumerable.
First, happiness makes you more positive and outgoing. This can help propel you into new and exciting situations where you get to meet potentially important people.
By not dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings, you are able to channel the positivity that happiness endows you with and project it onto other people and situations.
Happiness promotes positive feelings. And when you are feeling positive, you are open to the world of unlimited possibilities.
Imagine you are taking a stroll in by the river, the weather is good and you are in good mood.
You are feeling positive and you are appreciating your surrounding and enjoy the grass, the trees, the river water, and also the flowers.
What if an alligator appears and you freak out?
Out of a sudden, your mood changes from positive to the negative in an instant. You stop enjoying the scene or the beautiful surrounding anymore, instead, you closed your mind and only focuses on the threat, which is the alligator.
Your mind then goes into the fight-or-flight mode and you are ready to run away from the danger.
Can you see how negative thinking can affect your mood and mentality right now?
When you are feeling positive, you are more open to possibilities. On the other hand, when you are feeling negative, your mind tends to focus on the negatives and close all the possibilities around you.
The best part is that you can develop positive feelings and think through happiness.
Just make yourself feel happy and you will feel positive.
Here are a couple of ways how you can improve your sense of happiness and feel more positive in your daily life.
Exercise
It has been proven time and again that there is a direct correlation between peoples’ experience of happiness and the amount of aerobic exercise they participate in every week.
Releasing endorphins and reducing stress, exercise is the first step in any person’s journey towards finding a new path of enjoyment.
Choosing your preferred form of sport is the fun part; whether it’s brisk walking, yoga, badminton or something more extreme like rock climbing, the most important factor is that it is motivating and fulfilling.
Thus, commit to at least a few exercise sessions each week. You can also do some simple stretching and practice some easy workout sessions at your home according to your own time.
Eat well
The food you eat is instrumental to the way you enjoy and understand your daily emotions and interactions.
Not only does your diet inform the kind of essential nutrients and energy you are feeding your body, but consequently, opens an insight into the impact this is having on you.
Improve your diet and you will improve your mood.
Hence, keep an eye on what you put into your mouth. What you consume will eventually affect your energy level.
Eat more nutritious food, greens, and fruits whenever possible.
Read more
Reading is known for its amazing number of benefits.
Books have the ability to let us broaden our mind, not only stimulating our imagination but teaching us something about life, too.
No matter whether you enjoy fiction or non-fiction, fantasy or romance, the simple act of choosing to read a book above switching on the TV is an act of defiance against laziness.
Reading requires time, energy and discipline, and once you have got into the habit of making this choice every day, you will quickly see the benefits expand into other areas of your life.
[ctt template=”9″ link=”4e_7c” via=”no” ]“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”[/ctt]
Get enough sleep
Sleep is vital to our sense of wellbeing. Too many sleepless nights can start to cloud our judgment and have an impairing effect on our ability to approach situations rationally and with our full abilities.
Overtiredness slows reactions while equally making us more self-centered. None of this sets us up in good stead to enjoy a day and live it to the fullest; appreciating all the good that can happen as well as the bad.
Keep in mind that taking less sleep doesn’t mean that you are more productive. It is the quality hours that counts, not quantity.
The key is to get enough hours of sleep that your body requires. Hence, sleep early.
Try using a sleep mask to black out all light from your room and to help improve the quality of the sleep you are getting.
When you have enough sleep and rest, you can perform at an optimal level, which ensures your productivity and allows you to perform at your best.
Keep a journal
Using a journal to reflect upon your day can be an excellent means of staying conscious of all the things that happen and that you feel.
This is especially true whenever you make progress and experience some victories in life. Whenever you achieved your goals, be it big or small, write them down.
Every time when you put your wins into words, you are reinforcing your mind to focus on these wins. And thus, your mind will look for more ways to create more of the wins.
Just like what Oprah Winfrey said:
[ctt template=”9″ link=”434VI” via=”no” ]“The more you celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”[/ctt]
Try to write just a few short lines every morning or night – or whenever is most convenient for you – in order to make it a part of your routine.
Before long, there’s a chance you might find a new found appreciation for all of the positive things that happen in your life which you previously overlooked.
Take up a hobby
Having a hobby that you can pursue in your own time outside of work is incredibly important on a number of levels.
Firstly, it helps you to learn new skills and build confidence in yourself as you develop your abilities.
Secondly, it can bring you into close contact with other people who you might not normally meet, broadening your social sphere.
Finally, it helps to enhance your interests, making you a better conversationalist and more open-minded to new activities and ideas.
Doing something that you are passionate about and whenever you spend time for your hobby, you feel good.
This will boost your level of happiness and make your life worth living.
Remember, life is not all about work. So you don’t have to be too serious sometimes. Relax, enjoy your life, do what you love, and make yourself feel happy.
Improve your self-image
The way we see ourselves is intrinsically linked to our broader worldview.
Taking the time every morning to enjoy a bit of personal grooming can help to hold your head higher when you walk out of the door.
Getting a different haircut, buying new clothes or even splashing out on a status symbol watch (brands like Longines, Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, etc.) are all ways that we can remind ourselves of our personal value, and enjoy the attention of others.
When you have a better self-image, you will automatically feel happier.
Plus, you don’t have to compare yourself with others. Just live your own life according to your own terms.
You don’t need others to show you how you should live. Your destiny is in your hand. And so choose to incorporate happiness into your every day life.
Meditate
Meditation is known for its ability to strengthen our mental control over negative thoughts and natural inclination to ruminate on distressing topics.
By detaching from these emotions, we can be less driven by irrationality and instead think more logically.
And by taking other perspectives into consideration alongside our own, meditation lets you achieve a point of serenity that allows you to create deeper relationships with those around you and thereby strengthen your sense of happiness.
Plenty of studies about meditation have discovered that meditation can improve the quality of our lives, especially making one feels calm and inner joy.
You don’t have to spend hours to meditate. Just take 5, 10, or 15 minutes a day to do this.
“The thing about meditation is: You become more and more you.”
– David Lynch