Table of Contents Show
I know there are many tips regarding quick ways to increase your happiness floating around the internet. Some are “eat yourself happy,” “watch a comedy movie,” or other nonsense stuff.
In this article, I will cover the ten things that make me happy, no matter how bad my mood is. I will focus only on the quick and, most of the time, not permanent ways to increase your happiness.
Practice Mindfulness
I recently discovered an older article in Science Magazine from 2010 that daydreaming can be a downer. Daydreaming keeps you from living here and now, and people tend to think more about the past or the uncertain future.
Practicing mindfulness, as also mentioned in my article about mindfulness meditation, is more about the three following characteristics:
- Cultivation of awareness
- Understanding what is happening in the present moment
- Reaching a state of a non-judgmental, kind, and curious attitude
It’s all about realizing that we are neither our thoughts nor our emotions. We are driven by those as long as we are unaware of them.
Smile more
It is scientifically proven that smiling lifts your mood significantly even if you are not in the mood to smile. By activating your facial muscles on purpose to smile, your brain almost instantly reacts to it, and dopamine is released in your body.
Researchers found out that smiling can be a two-way street. You smile when you are happy, so you can smile to be happy. I tried it several times, and it helped a lot.
So if you feel down, try to smile and wait for your mood to change. In daily practice, you may smile at yourself every morning in the mirror when getting ready for the day.
Experience nature
As mentioned, walking through a forest is a meditation for me. But it’s not only the forest I am drawn to; it’s also shorelines, beaches, and the sea.
While walking can be a meditation by itself, it will significantly increase your positive mood and lower stress when performed in nature.
When I talk about this, I always have to think about Japan. Even in cities like Tokyo, with around 39 million citizens living in the area, the city feels very peaceful and quiet.
I believe that all the big parks, shrines, smaller gardens, and green spots all over the city make it more bearable to deal with the stress. I had one of the best times wandering around in this urban environment for 15 miles a day.
So, take a short break if you are stressed throughout the day. Go to a park, find a quiet spot where it’s green, nearby a tree, on a park bench and take your time to relax.
Working out
A good workout can do wonders. If you are stressed, angry, or in a bad mood, it can help to lift some weights and go for a run. Since COVID, I have worked from home 95% of my time. Soon after the pandemic hit, I built a little home gym next to my office desk.
The activity adds up to 20 – 30 minutes of daily training. That allows me to do some exercise even between meetings, even if it’s just for a few minutes. It is not only beneficial for my physique but also for my stress relief and my resilience.
Meditate
If you have already tried out different types of meditation, you should consider taking a break and spending 5 – 10 minutes with meditation. It eases your mind, gets you in a better mood, and eliminates all negative thoughts.
Meditation does have the side effect that you can analyze your thoughts and let them go afterward. If you have one of those days where a lot of tension has built up, you will get instant relief thanks to meditation.
And as I mentioned before, meditation is not complicated, and you can do it in almost every place. You might also consider doing breathing exercises in one of the following paragraphs.
Socialize
When you are in a bad mood, sometimes it helps to socialize with friends and talk. Talking about something that’s bothering you can instantly change your perspective and make you feel better. Pick someone that you know who has a positive mindset.
Humans are social beings, at least most of them, and if you are no introvert, you may need a good dose of socializing to lift your mood regularly.
Not having many friends at your disposal is not necessarily a bad thing. The older you get, the less likely you will make new friends because everyone seems to be occupied with their jobs, family, and other things.
If you do not have a lot of friends, you might think about getting a pet. From my experience living with up to five cats at a time, I can tell that it is incredible and helps lift your mood significantly.
Breath
You can activate your parasympathetic nervous system by breathing deeply. This automatically relieves your body from stress and leads to more relaxation. So, breathing practice is another quick way to increase your happiness if needed.
The more you train yourself to breathe deeply and slowly, for example, during mindfulness meditation, the easier you will reach the calm you need. Your energy levels will shift, your overall well-being will significantly improve, and your mental clarity will return to normal.
Change your way of thinking
To change your thinking, in the long run, is one of the most challenging things to accomplish. I will cover the essential long-term change required in my article about 11 ways to increase happiness in the long run.
My recommendation on how to change your thinking immediately is quite simple. First, write down what you are thinking in your own words. Second, classify your thinking into different categories that define your cognitive distortion. Those can be:
- All-or-nothing thinking
- Emotional / mental filter
- Overgeneralization
- Conclusions
- Magnification
- Labeling
The last step is to write down a rational response to your thinking.
Let me give you an example here. You might think, “I will never get a better position.” This thought of yours belongs to overgeneralization, magnification, and all-or-nothing thinking. The rational response could be: “I can get into a better position if I did A or talked to B.”
By doing this exercise, you will learn that most of your thoughts are not reasonable. After a few days or weeks, you suddenly realize that those thoughts no longer come up.
Find distraction
Another quick way to increase your happiness is to distract yourself. This is a good idea, even if only for a few minutes. But why is that a solution to negative thinking? The human brain is not capable of thinking two thoughts at the same time. Try to think about something positive for 5 minutes.
What works for me very well is when I start thinking about the next vacation, an upcoming event, or something positive I experienced. Your negative thought will stop immediately. This will allow you to gain a different point of view.
Stop comparing yourself to others
Last but not least, one of the stupidest things humans tend to do. We are all constantly comparing ourselves with other people around us. May I tell you something? Nobody does care about what you think or how you look because everybody is occupied with their thoughts.
Imagine having a day where you don’t feel comfortable with your appearance. How would you feel, and more importantly, what would you think someone else might think when they saw you walking through the grocery store?
Even if somebody noticed you, they would have forgotten about you a few seconds or minutes later. So why make such a fuss about it? And why worry that much about it?
It would be best if you stopped comparing yourself to others regarding achievements. Does someone earn more than you do? Was one of your coworkers promoted before you?
Just let me ask you one question: Does all that have anything to do with you as a person? Does the success of other people define your achievement? The answer is no!
Conclusion
I hope I was able to explain some ways to increase your happiness to you. It’s crucial to practice some of those techniques to be able to perform them whenever you feel blue.
