What are the keys to happier living?
- Keep a Healthy Mind and Healthy Body
- Take the Right Vitamins and Supplements
- Feel Good About Yourself
- Practice Gratitude and Acceptance
- Find Resilience
- Decide on your Direction
- Connect with Others
- Keep Learning
Keep a Healthy Mind and Healthy Body
The foundation to building a more fulfilling life for yourself is giving yourself the TLC you need. Your health and wellness should be one of your top priorities! Without a sound mind and body, you will find it difficult to find happiness in other sources. To preserve a healthy mind, find effective ways to reduce stress. The best strategies for you need some trial and error. These techniques can be anything from stretching to exercise to playing your favorite video games. Taking the time to reduce mental tension will bring more balance into your life, enabling you to see more moments of enjoyment and positivity. A healthy body will provide you with enough energy to do the things you enjoy while avoiding problems like sickness and physical disorders. Make sure to take plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains to create a well-balanced diet.Take the Right Vitamins and Supplements
Our brains use chemicals to regulate our bodily functions — which includes our mood and emotions. While having a good diet can help us get enough of these chemicals, we can still experience nutritional imbalances that can put us in low moods. This happens when our body isn’t able to absorb enough nutrients, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids — which is where vitamins and supplements come in.
There are a few key substances that can promote our mental health. Vitamin D is essential for our mood as it can boost serotonin production. Calcium works with neurotransmitters like serotonin to reduce stress and symptoms of PMS. Omega-3 fatty acids are integral in maintaining brain function and can reduce symptoms of depression. B vitamins can help relieve stress, support brain function, and stabilize your mood as it increases dopamine levels in your brain.
Feel Good About Yourself
It can be hard for us to always feel great about the way we look or the things we can do. Often, this comes from a negative view of ourselves, as well as unrealistic pressures from others. However, the happiness we can receive from outside sources isn’t sustainable when we can’t feel good about ourselves. So, keep in mind that every person has positive traits and achievements to be proud of. Developing impartial self-awareness can help us to accept the way we are today, rather than waiting for a future, idealized version of ourselves. Be kind to yourself — you’re constantly changing and developing for the better! This can enable us to have more moments of pure appreciation and happiness within ourselves.Practice Gratitude and Acceptance
It’s possible to feel unsatisfied despite current accomplishments, possessions, and opportunities. It happens when we forget to practice gratitude and acceptance — we lose sight of the good things in our life.
So, it's important to hold realistic expectations of ourselves and accept our situation as it develops. Sometimes you’ll experience highs, and sometimes there’ll be some really difficult times — what's important is we don’t lose sight of all the things you currently have that make you happy. This can be your loved ones, your job, your hobbies, and more.
Find Resilience
Sometimes, these difficult situations can overwhelm us — we feel helpless and scared to move. However, resilience is something that we can all build up within ourselves. This quality helps us teach our brains how to bounce back and renew our efforts to overcome whatever trials we are facing. Everyone will experience roadblocks at some point in their life. It's perfectly normal! But when we move past them, the feeling of achievement is amazing.Decide on your Direction
Aside from giving ourselves the tools we need to live well in the present, setting our course for the future is also important in creating happiness. Feeling optimistic about the path you’re taking will keep you motivated through the challenges you may face. To do so, set meaningful but realistic goals for yourself. Think about the things that bring you joy, and what goals you can set that incorporate that into your future. It can be as small as starting a new hobby, or as big as immigrating to your dream home!
