“Happiness and emotional health are not extras, or bonuses, or nice-to-haves – they’re actually at the core of what helps us live well.”

Happiness is not a goal or something to pursue at a later time. Emotional health is a skill to be mastered, not a destination to eventually arrive at.
And being happy is being linked to an active lifestyle, a better diet, better sleep, better weight management, lower stress levels, an improved immune system, and increased life expectancy.

Happy Happy People

Get perspective and clarity on which area of your life you have to focus on. Start by analyzing, examining and identifying the problem areas:
<ul>
<li>Fun and Recreation</li>
<li>Physical Environment</li>
<li>Career</li>
<li>Finances</li>
<li>Personal Growth</li>
<li>Romance</li>
<li>Family and Friends</li>
<li>Health</li>
</ul>

Analyze and Identify

Being meaningfully kind to others, using small gestures like helping someone get a chair, or asking about their health, releases oxytocin to both the kind person and the receiving person.
This, in turn, helps in job satisfaction and an overall sense of happiness.

Meaningful Kindness

Being intentionally happy in your relationships, and in your family raises our happiness levels in untold ways.
One feels more connected, joyful, peaceful and blissful when exchanging love with family members and our circle of close friends.

Family Love

Most people are stuck in negativity out of sheer habit and think happiness is just available in small doses, occasionally. To get out of the negative thinking:
<ul>
<li>Start a Gratitude practice, using a journal or a notepad, and note down the things you like about a certain aspect of your life (like your job, for instance).</li>
<li>A daily morning routine of noting three specific things that you are grateful for, no matter how small, also helps you push yourself into a positive mindset.</li>
</ul>

Being Thankful

Go to sleep early. Having a sense of discipline in our life patterns and routines provides us with a sense of happiness, even if it means depriving ourselves of certain pleasures in the short-term.

Routines and Discipline

The last time I felt joy was at an event that would be many people's vision of hell: a drunken Taylor Swift club-night singalong in the early hours of the morning a few weekends ago. I certainly experience joy, either as peaks of euphoria or in quiet, unexpected bursts.

NATALY KOGAN

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