Three No Brainer Tricks To Get Happier.

5960724577_8124ba8874_b(Tony Hisgett – flickr)

Happy Monday, guys. I hope you had a lovely weekend and that the upcoming workweek doesn’t fill you with too much dread.

The article of today is actually exactly what it says: Three tricks to get happier. Super simple, written about before by a million people (myself included.) Total no-brainers. But some messages are worth repeating. Some messages need to be out in the world phrased in as many different ways as possible.

Three tricks to get happier after the jump.

HYPER-FOCUS ON YOUR OWN LIFE. One thing I believe is incredibly healthy? Just do you.

Be completely and totally focused on yourself. Focus on your life, not someone else’s. Pay less attention to what other people are doing. Unless it concerns friends and family, it’s totally irrelevant and not detrimental to your well-being. In most cases, I even dare to say it’s a total waste of time. The time you spent having an opinion about what someone else is doing is much better spent having an opinion about what you are doing.

This can be harder than it sounds: Psychologically and evolutionary humans are wired to pay a lot of attention to how the people around us are doing. This social diligence used to provide crucial information that helped the survival of our tribes and ourselves.

But it is so liberating to just look at yourself. At your own well-being, your own relationship, your own job, your own preferred fitness regime and your long-term goals. You.

When you do that, you pay way better attention to all of those things. You’re more in tune with yourself and your life and you are able to see all the details that make your life so wonderful, as well as the small parts that could use some work.

If it helps, get off social media: Studies have shown it’s not very good for our self esteem and general well-being.

BUT LET OTHER PEOPLE INSPIRE YOU. But when you find yourself on the Internet or just out in the world (I’ve been told it has people in it), how about keeping this in mind: Not everything other people do has to do with you.

People are not talking about their great accomplishments to make you feel less. They are (usually) just really happy and proud of themselves and want to share their story with the world.

People aren’t making themselves seem awesome and amazing to piss you off. They’re actually that person and that’s what they’re sharing OR it’s their way to make themselves feel good. You shouldn’t take it so personal.

I had a period where I was just eye rolling at healthy food pictures and blogs. Maybe even felt a slight pang of jealousy at green juices, buddha bowls, and smoothies. And I realized that this was because I was feeling kind of bad about how I was eating, and wanted to eat healthier. So now whenever something evokes a response in me, I take it as a signal that I need or want something that I’m not currently satisfying or pursuing. I mentally thank the source for the inspiration, and then do something with it.

Don’t look at other people as the enemy, out to get you down. Let  the world and the people in it inspire you. And if people genuinely piss you off, just make sure you stay out of their way. Or make sure they stay out of yours. Trust me, also works.

DO THINGS JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKE THEM Like Susan Cain said: “Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.”

We make ourselves do all these things. Because you know they’re good for you. Things you know you should do. You write for your blog, you read for school, you go to that networking event for your career, that kind of thing.

I highly encourage you keep doing these things: Doing those things (can) also make you happy.

But also do some stuff just because it feels good, just because you want to. Purely for your own entertainment, for your own eyes only.

You wanna hear something dorky? I have a private journal. In that journal I just do whatever. Sometimes I will stream-of-consciousness-write about love, sometimes I end up scribbling nonsense about my style and wardrobe, other times I’ll make a plan on how to be excellent at my job: It can be as shallow or as deep as I want. I enjoy writing just for me. Plus, writing for my own eyes only is healthy. Keeps me honest.

I have the same with being on Tumblr. There is no pattern to my Tumblr reblogs or likes. I just enjoy scrolling through my feed. I click whatever makes me laugh, catches my eye or inspires me. It has no purpose, nothing: I just like doing it.

3776219172_de4b10e973_b(Tony HisgettFlickr)

And there you have it. Three tricks to get happier, three things to think about if you want to feel more content and joyful. Have an awesome workweek, and I’ll see you later. Bye!

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8 comments

  1. Hehe, I’ll come out of my ‘lurker phase’ for a moment to comment.
    Nice article, but a little note: people do comment on their own life to make you feel bad.
    That is if they’re your little brother, who enjoys making you feel less. Little psycho…

    Also now I’m kinda interested: what’s a buddha bowl?

  2. You’re fabulous, this has exactly given me the inspiration I needed today! And I love the fact you’re blogging in English, just because it means I can comment in English. Which I love. I love writing in English. So. You’re fabulous.