Come On, Get Happy
Helpful Happiness Tips
“Active gratitude—counting your blessings and actually taking time during the day to do so—is probably the single most important habit,” says David Leonhardt, known as “The Happy Guy” and author of Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: The 9 Habits of Maximum Happiness. “From the paperclip to our cars to our health to our freedoms—if we don’t actively appreciate it, then we’re not going to get all the happiness out of any other habit or any other change we make.”
Being grateful helped Katsuaki Tsukamoto be happier. The 35-year-old carpenter had always felt a bit of emptiness in his life. “I thought I needed to have something or own something to make me happy,” he says.
He had an epiphany while on a bike ride one beautiful day. “I suddenly realized that my bicycle was a gift, but more than that, I started feeling that everything was a gift in some sense,” he says. “I really felt appreciation for the miracle of the moment and was grateful that I could experience it.”
For many, this epiphany doesn’t come naturally in the first 30 days. A gratitude journal documenting everything you’re grateful for can often help remind you of all the good things in your life. Every day, simply write three to five things that you appreciated about that day.
Happier Living
Your success in the first 30 days and beyond will be dependent on how well you make time for the things that make you happy. Whether it’s completing a Sudoku puzzle, catching up with a friend or painting, you should always strive for a balance between the things you have to do and the things you want to do.
Your success won’t be measured in this month, but over your lifetime. For Scott, his charity work is so connected to his overall happiness that he no longer views them as mutually exclusive.
“I don’t really think about the word ‘happiness,’ but I guess I am,” he says. “It’s just what I do now. I love it and can’t imagine ever doing anything else.”
* name(s) changed.
I'm happy that I found a positive site where I can learn and grow reading other's life experiences and become a happier person.
Yes, I agree that acknowledging and being grateful for every little blessing in our lives helps us to be happy. Reaching out to others and helping them also adds to our happiness.
What I have experienced when helping people is that they want money to solve their problems not new ideas from you .
Counting our blessings truly is the road to becoming happier...
Thanks for the reminder to count our blessings and strive to help others. It's amazing what a little perspective change can do for your life!
I am happiest when Im there for someone and I know I have helped someone.
Thank you...I work with some people who are anti-happy! I have been accused of being addicted to happiness! To them if your happy you don't take the "tragedy that is life" serious enough and are foolish. I have been letting them steal my sunshine! I just found your site yesterday and feel better all ready. I'm smiling at the note I taped to my computer, the title of Michael Anthony's book!! It's getting alittle attention already!
I can't believe I didn't find this on the site 'til now! Well, now is probably when I needed to read it ... starting a gratitude journal tonight =)
Sometimes I don't feel like laughing, and make myself to read some of the jokes that, for sure, one of my friends have e-mailed. Maybe it sound silly, but it helps to make my energy higher. And then continue to be gratefull for all of them who think it's worthy to spend a minute to brighten other people lives.
What a lovely website! Thank you for making it available. I am starting my gratitude journal right now and guess what item number 1 will be?
THANK YOU THANK YOU..... I am only on day two with the 30 steps but I feel so confident that these stories and tips are going to pull me up from the shadowy deep I have sunk to and been living in for sometime now.... this is so simple to digest and embrace and I love that it requires action not just encouraging words to read. So to Ariane and everyone who contributes to this website my greatest thank you for perhaps saving my life!!!
i don't know where to start! it seems so easy but it is hard to be happy all day long.
I liked it alot.
I have started to swim and this has helped kick some endorphines into my system.This supports my positive frame of mind and helps me change my attitude as well. I also attend support groups. I need to lose weight, again and know that lighter is better.
As for me, to change your mindset is not always possible without changing smth in your body. You may not realize the reason which prevent you from improving the consciousness.
all this is so true, its so easy to read but practicing is another matter
It is so true! Without being thankful for our gifts, be they a bike, job, ability to move, take in the beauty of nature, a talent or learned skill, it would be an empty life. Isn't this where happiness begins -- within our own being?
How great, grand & glorious are we!
I've enjoyed this little site so much...a bunch of flowers goes your way from me! I'm starting art classes again just for fun. From sunnyday
It makes complete sense. In order to be grateful, you have to have good things to be grateful for. Remembering those things are likely to lead to increased happiness. Things can ALWAYS be worse...it's just a matter of remembering that.
i'm thinking about this,but is it so?
Focusing on the positive, and the beautiful little things that God has put in this world for us to enjoy helps me daily. I thank God for the flowers, the deer on the side of the road, those close to me and being alive after too many close calls. I need to start journaling again, I know.