10 ways to be happy

We all want to be happy. But what is happiness?

Here's one definition…

Happiness is simply the ability to not want more; to find gratitude and satisfaction in the moment that you have right now.

In other words, your happiness hinges on living in the moment instead of yearning for some future indicator of success.

Here’s the best way I know to live in the moment…

Express gratefulness.

Appreciating what you have right now automatically brings you into the present. It allows you to get past the dissatisfaction of wanting a bigger house or a better relationship or a better job and experience what you have right now.

1. Before dinner each night, say one thing you are grateful for. (If you pray, then this can become part of your prayer as well.)

2. Write a Thank You note to someone this week. If you can’t find anything else to thank someone for, then just write them a note to thank them for being in your life. Any time they spend with you is a gift because they could choose to spend it with someone else.

3. Take 30 seconds to breathe. There is no easier way to make time for yourself and be grateful for your own existence than to breathe. Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose for a count of three and out through your mouth for a count of five. Do this 5 times.

4. Do nothing for 2 minutes. Guess what happens? Nothing! You didn’t lose your job. Your family didn’t leave you. You’re not a failure. Nobody judged you. In fact, the only thing that really happened was that you realized that you can make time for yourself and enjoy your own presence without consuming something (eating, watching TV, etc).

5. Call a friend that you haven’t talked to in a while. We live for close connection. Having Facebook friends and Twitter followers and a large network is great, but it lacks the meaning of close connection. Reach out to someone who is important to you. Talk about whatever the hell you want. You don’t have to say anything cheesy or uncomfortable. Just enjoy the conversation and be grateful for that person.

6.  Create balance and overcome burnout.

How are you supposed to have the energy to be happier if you're exhausted and miserable from work? It will be really hard. Building new skills, skills that will help you be happier, will take time and energy. So it's helpful first to create better work-life balance.

7. Find those silver linings.

Everything we experience can be a bummer if we choose to see it that way. But when you search for the benefits or silver linings in your life, you may be surprised to discover a lot of good. Keep practicing to increase the positive and decrease the negative to cultivate happiness. Also, this skill has been linked to a better ability to cope with stressand be more resilient.

8. Take breaks from social media.

Facebook tends to have a negative effect on our happiness. By choosing to take breaks from Facebook — or changing the way we use social media — we can boost our happiness.

  9. Speak up and be yourself.

When we let people walk all over us, we're unhappy. But when we advocate for our own needs assertively and express ourselves, we feel more in control of our lives. Learning how to express yourself can help you overcome interpersonal challenges, which can make you unhappy.

10. Find your purpose.

We all want to feel like we made some sort of positive impact in this world, but sometimes we are uncertain of the type of impact we want to make. Explore exactly what gives you a sense of purpose and how you want to pursue this purpose to give your life a greater sense of meaning.