I’m pretty happy to review the article I read about happiness a few weeks ago. You know I enjoy discussing mental health topics.
But before I review the article, I’ll let me tell you a little secret.
In the past, I practised a lot of ‘habits’ that only made me mask my pain and develop false approaches to happiness.
Yes, various articles online show a unique road to happiness, but I believe multiple approaches bring about genuine happiness; however, you have to know what works for you.
Indeed happiness improves one’s lifestyle, but we shouldn’t ignore the ugly truth- We may find ourselves in difficult situations that the best way to find true happiness again will be to experience the pain of that situation rather than ignoring it.
Pushing the pain away and denying the apparent situation may only cause more harm than good in future.
Here’s an example for you.
If I told you I want to make you happy without knowing your current happiness level, a few tips might cause you to be more content if you were already at an optimum happiness level. In contrast, it will take more tips, perhaps a counselling session, to get you to an optimum level of happiness if you were depressed when I asked the question.
Now we understand that not all approaches to happiness work for everyone; I’ll share my honest opinion on the article about happiness I read on healthline.com and which tips work for me.
25 Happiness Habits to Add to Your Routine according to Healthline.com
- Smile: There is no denying that smiling adds a little spice to a sad mood but a blant smile doesnt do the work for me. I’d rather have a genuine smile than fake it.
- Exercise: To some extent, working out provides temporary happiness especially when there is a reason for my unhappy state. So yes, exercising makes me forget about my stressors and focus on doing something positive.
- Get plenty of sleep. This is actually one of the ways I derive happiness after a stressful day. A good sleep puts me back on the positive track.
- Eat with mood in mind. I dont know about you but as a “non-foodie”, I can assure you that eating doesnt help my mood. In fact, I lose my appetite when I am unhappy.
- Be grateful. Yes!!! This is one of the things I practise (gratitude) when the situation is beyond my control.
- Give a compliment. Well, I don’t wait for a bad situation before telling people how awesome they are or how gorgeous they look but I totally understand what the article means. Doing something to put a smile on someone’s face can in turn make you happy.
- Breathe deeply. The only time taking deep breaths works for me is when I am about to do something scary but necessary e.g getting a flu shot or something similar.
- Acknowledge the unhappy moments. You might think “how does this tip make someone happy?”. Personally, it makes me grateful especially when I am over the situation. So as for happiness, well to some extent yes.
- Keep a journal. I don’t always write about the days I feel unhappy, rather, I write about happy moments and read it when I don’t feel happy.
- Face stress head-on. It depends on the kind of stress. I do this when I have no choice especially when I was a student and when I was working but there are some other kind of stress you just need to let go of.
I won’t write about the 25 tips to happiness in the article, but you can check it out HERE.
Finally, I’d like to know your thoughts on these tips 🙂
If you love this blog, kindly share the posts with your friends and loved ones. It will mean a lot to me to know your thoughts in the comments. Love, Grace
