24 Jun 6 simple and effective ways to control your happiness!
We can't control everything in life.
And we can't always control our happiness.
It's also worth noting that we can't be happy all the time but…
…there are definitely things in our own lives we CAN control and that if utilised effectively will boost our happiness and improve our lives.
This great article via ThoughtCatalog lists 6 simple ways you may not have thought of before to boost your mood…
by Avalon Hendricks
Just recently, I was driving aimlessly with no destination. It was the hottest day of the summer in Delaware for the first time this season. I rolled down all four windows, took my hair down, let the wind hit my face, and I drove down a beautiful back road in the state of Pennsylvania. I found absolute beauty in the trees that hung over the two-way street, the sun hitting both lanes, the vacant, destroyed, stoned homes that once held beautiful families, and the most gorgeous part of that afternoon drive: happiness took over my whole body. It was breathtaking. It was an experience that I will forever cling onto.
However, psychologists have studied this truth for years: up to 40 percent of our happiness is within our very own control. According to other experts, happiness is a choice that any one of us can make. As I think of that afternoon I spent- breathing in the warm, humid air, with the sun beating down on my face, appreciating life in silence while simultaneously having happiness take over my whole physical, mental, and spiritual being, I had soon realized that if I have one choice to make every morning, it is this: to find happiness in the simplest things. Even it accounted for an aimless drive on a back road in a small town in Pennsylvania.
Here are six ways you can control your very own happiness:
1. Let happiness be the first thing you emotionally choose when you wake up
People who are always happy, are happy for one main reason: they make it their daily goal. Happiness can be poorly understood- happiness is not an object that sits on your nightstand. It does not wait for you to wake up, to have you put it on after you brush your teeth and put on your watch. Happiness is not an object- it is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions. Happiness needs you to come to it. It needs to be your goal, each and everyday. Choose it. Own it. At the end of the day, fall asleep knowing that you have accomplished at least one important thing at the day: you chose happiness out of all emotions and you will continue to choose happiness to be one of your life’s top goals.
2. Appreciate those small moments
Happiness doesn’t always stem from grand things. Yes, that overtime that had hit your bank account at midnight last night will be spent on past due bills and extra cash to spend on yourself – that always feels good. However, that moment of happiness is only temporary. When you wake up and see the notification on your phone that your direct deposit had made it to your bank account at 12:00 am, that feeling of happiness will leave you as fast as it came, because as we know, materialistic belongings tend to fade, wear out and our happiness wears and fades too. Cherish small moments. We often take for granted the two minutes here, or the six minutes there. But, if you pay close enough of attention, you will experience a longer linger of happiness when you take a hike and stop to see the rush of the water run down the waterfall. The smell of the water hitting the rocks, and the splashing of the water hitting your face- only happiness you will feel. Show gratitude for small moments. They are experiences that will never wear and tear on us…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE