Did you know you learned everything you need to know about happiness by the age of 9!?!?

Did you know you learned everything you need to know about happiness by the age of 9!?!?

I, and many others, often refer to children (and their playfulness and relative innocence) when referring to what we, adults, can do to enjoy more happiness. 

Well, this Huffington Post article argues that we learned everything we needed to learn about wellbeing and happiness by age 9! 

Interested to read more? Keep going below…

by Lindsay Holmes 

We may be fully-grown adults, taking on the world one corporate meeting and personal triumph at a time, but what if we were smarter as kids than we gave ourselves credit for?

Childhood is classified as the era where we're learning and growing so we can call ourselves knowledgeable by the time we've reached adulthood; however, kids are pretty intelligent in a lot of ways that adults aren't — particularly when it comes to our health. In addition to conquering multiplication tables and strategizing lunch-box snack trades, we were also pretty intuitive when it came to our own well-being.

As we've grown older, somewhere along the way we may have lost these precious childhood ideals. We spend most of our time in front of a screen (a 2013 study found we're spending more than 5 hours per day with our devices) and in overdrive at work (job burnout is continually on the rise) rather than prioritizing our own happiness. The good news is, these wellness values were second nature to us as children — and there's a way to get back to them as adults. In celebration of HuffPost's ninth birthday, below find important well-being lessons we had complete understanding of by the time we were 9 years old.

Prioritize playtime.

We often get nostalgic for the times we spent playing tag outside until the last ray of sun disappeared, but that devotion to outdoor activities is something we should consider revisiting as adults. When we spend time outside our vitamin D levels rise and we get more exercise, plus spending time surrounded by natural light can also help improve our concentration and make us happier. Our work can also benefit from taking a break in the great outdoors: staring at the color green — much like the colors we see in nature — has been linked to increased creativity.

Cultivate resilience.

If little kids had a mantra, it would be "fall seven times, stand up eight." When we were younger, we had this innate ability to jump right back into something, whether it was after a scraped knee or a dispute on the swing set. We didn't hold a grudge or ruminate over a negative experience — and that attitude of resilience is something that can benefit our well-being as adults. According to psychologist Peter Kramer, joy isn't the opposite of depression — instead, it's our ability to bounce back that counteracts the condition. When we face challenges with positive emotions, and learn to adapt to them, we're more likely to experience better psychological and physical well-being…

…keep reading the full & original article HERE