For most of my life I didn't feel happy and believed that happiness was an outside thing. Occasionally, I would feel it when something really exciting would happen in my life. Or, when I'd attain something I'd been wanting or working really hard for. However, in my day-to-day life, I wouldn't say that I was happy. When somebody would ask me what I wanted most in life, my answer was the same as most everyone else's. I would reply that, 'I wanted to be happy.' And also like most everyone else, I believed that after I had attained enough stuff and achieved my goals, happiness would just somehow come into my life.

Then one day, I had an epiphany.....it came to me.

I realized that happiness isn't this thing, that if I'm really lucky, one day I'll get to have in my life. Feeling happy is something I can have right now.

Happiness is something I can have every minute of every day, if I choose it. It isn't this magical outside thing that I'll be granted once I've done enough with my life. In fact, it doesn't at all matter what my life looks like on the outside. Happiness is on the inside.

I commit to many other practices in my life; I commit to a meditation practice, to the practice of healthy eating, and my daily gratitude practice, to name a few. If I commit to these other practices and intentionally go through my day practicing them, then why couldn't I also commit to happiness? Why couldn't I also intentionally go through my day with this practice as well?

I began contemplating:

What makes me feel good?

What helps raise my vibration or lift me up?

Once I knew the answers to these important questions, I began creating a happiness practice for myself. There are now things that I implement into life every day to help boost my happiness. And guess what? Most of them are free, easy to do, and require very little, or no time at all.

5 Practices that Help Boost my Happiness:

These are 5 small things that I do daily as part of my happiness practice. Try implementing one of more of these practices in your life and notice how you feel when you do.

1) Gratitude

It wasn't until I made a conscious effort to live with happiness, that I realized my daily gratitude practice (that I'd already been doing every day for years) would help me with my happiness practice. My gratitude practice also boosts my happiness practice ~ how fabulous is that?! Being grateful for all that I have in my life on any given day, makes me conscious of just how blessed I am. This definitely helps fill my happiness well!

2) Smile Often

Putting a smile on my face, even if I'm not feeling happy, naturally shifts my vibration. Don't believe me? The next time you're feeling miserable, put a smile on your face and see how long you continue to feel bad for. When you have a smile on your face, you can't help but feel happy. Intentionally going about my day with a smile on my face is the simplest, easiest way to boost my happiness. And, not only do I feel happier smiling, my smile helps others to smile. Research shows that when we see someone else smiling, we can’t help but smile right along with them. Knowing that my smile is contributing to someone else smiling, also makes me feel happier!

3) Music and Dance

Listening to music is another super easy and highly effective way to increase my happiness. Listening to my 'Happy Playlist' filled with music that makes me smile and uplifts me, is another practice that I do daily. Dancing along to my happy tunes also increases my happiness. Dancing helps to release feel good hormones, in particular dopamine, also known as the pleasure hormone.

4) Surround Myself With What I Love

I make sure to surround myself with everything and everyone that I love. I don't keep anything in my home that I don't love. Being surrounded by things that make me feel good helps ensure that I'm going to feel good. This requires regular decluttering. Every few months I purge the things that no longer serve me; either because I no longer love them or because I no longer use them. This constant process of decluttering helps ensure I'm always surrounded by things I love.

This also goes for people in my life as well. Sometimes we outgrow people in our life and need to let them go to continue our growth. If I hold on to friendships or relationships that no longer serve my highest good, it won't lift me up. I'll be left feeling drained and depleted. This will not boost my happiness. If there are those in my life that I can't easily let go of, such as co-workers or even family members, I can most certainly learn healthier ways to be with them.

5) Do What I Love

When I seek out and do the things I love, including my job, I naturally feel happier. When happiness lives within me, it radiates from me. For all those who still believe it's selfish to pursue what you're passionate about it, consider this.....When those around you feel your happiness, it helps boost their happiness. I know that as my happiness emanates from me, everyone around me benefits from it. It's a win-win!

Isn't it awesome to know that you can implement practices every day to boost your happiness? It's true and it works! It really, really does. Implementing these each and every day contributes to my happiness practice. I love that I'm no longer waiting for happiness to come to me, I can create it.

What makes you happy? Please leave a comment below and let me know ~ I'd love to hear from you.

If you love this blog, I'd greatly appreciate you sharing it so that others can benefit from reading it as well. Thank you.

Looking for more tips to help you live well? Check out Your Live Well Journey - The Podcast, every episode offers ways to help you improve your self-care.

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