7 Simple Tips on How to Be Happier
How to stop complaining and make your life more meaningful.
I always like to explore both sides of anything. I guess that’s how I’m hard-wired.
Thus, before I give you the tips on how to be happier, I am going to explore why we suffer and struggle unnecessarily.
Let’s define suffering first. Suffering is a disruptive and at times necessary mental, emotional, psychological, and also a spiritual experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. On the positive side, suffering can contribute to how you organize meaning in your emotional world and much more. One should never assume that all suffering is negative. The key is to understand which suffering is essential and which is a self-created illusion.
Some suffering is an expression of natural law — an essential tool for survival. For the unaware individual, it is often a negative experience, especially if this individual has made poor choices in the past.
Compassion, one of the most worthy, and admired human qualities; often comes from recognizing the suffering of others. Their suffering may present great meaning and direction to your own life, motivating, and also inspire you to serve others in need. This service, in turn, creates a larger sense of community.
What determines how intense your suffering is or will be? The origin and cause of suffering; its processes, the meaning it presents to the individual who seems to be suffering; it's related social, personal, and cultural behaviors; the knowledge of how to manage, reduce, or eliminate the suffering; and the benefits one might accrue for having suffered will all influence the intensity of that suffering. Add to this the frequency of each occurrence, plus the concurrence of mental, emotional, psychological, and also spiritual factors involved. Now by combining these with the duration of the suffering, and you have a wide range of experiences related to suffering.
Now let’s discuss why we struggle unnecessarily.
According to Frank William Abagnale Jr. an American security consultant known for his career as a con man, check forger, and impostor who was the subject of the movie Catch Me If You Can;
“There are 2 basic reasons for why and how we struggle.”
1. We did something we should not have done.
2. We didn’t do something we should not have done.
Once we learn how to think and act more effectively in these two ways, most of our struggles will simply fade away.
Here are 7 Simple Tips on How to Be Happier
1. Practice 15–20 minutes of Tai Chi or Yoga
2. Meditate as soon as you wake and also before you go to sleep. Even 5 minutes will do.
3. Laugh for no reason or watch or read comedy online.
4. Call 2 or 3 friends daily, just to see how they are doing.
5. Figure what you want versus what you need and focus on doing what needs to be done.
6. Find something you have a passion for and do it! Poetry, watching football, whatever.
7. Do some public service that helps others that are less fortunate than you.
Takeaway
Happiness is not hard to find if we learn how to think speak and act in ways that breed happiness. If we are to understand the meaning of our lives it is essential that we explore not only tips on how to be happy, but also how and why we suffer.
Author: Lewis Harrison is a practical philosopher and seminar leader.
“My website is AskLewis.com and I can be emailed directly at LewisCoaches@gmail.com…”
……………………Lewis
