5 Things You Can Do To Live A Happier Life

It’s unfortunate, but our brains aren’t wired always to be happy. This is one of the reasons why happiness may be so elusive. Instead, the purpose of the evolution of the human brain has been to ensure our survival, safety, and protection. There are times when we are absolutely overjoyed, when we are completely pleased, and when we are completely happy. 

Behavioral science researchers have devoted a significant amount of work to figure out what makes people happy and what doesn’t. We now know that happiness may be used as a predictor of both health and longevity, and happiness measures can be used to measure both the performance of public policy and the growth of society. But happiness isn’t something that suddenly falls into your lap when you least expect it.

1. Meditate

The practice of meditation is as simple as turning your attention inward and developing the ability to observe all of your thoughts and sensations in your body without passing judgment on them. This has been described as meditating in many different ways by many different people.

Practicing meditation regularly may reprogram your brain to reset its happiness set point. According to scientific research, this is something that can be accomplished by increasing the size of those parts of the brain that are primarily responsible for assisting one in overcoming challenging circumstances while simultaneously decreasing the size of the amygdala, which is the region of the brain that is activated whenever one is confronted with a stressful situation.

Having a regular meditation practice, whether for a short period in the morning (five minutes) or for a lengthier period in the evening (one hour), has incredible effects on the human mind. These effects include the alleviation of built-up anxiety, the quieting of mental chatter, the improvement of focus, and increased self-esteem and feelings of confidence.

2. Choose Gratitude

Gratitude is defined as a positive emotional reaction that serves a biological purpose. It’s the appreciation of the valuable and meaningful things in our lives. 

Being grateful is said to increase one’s level of happiness. It is possible to generate pleasant sensations and feelings of joy and happiness by expressing feelings of appreciation to others and oneself.

According to a body of academic research, those who regularly practice thankfulness are more inclined to freely share with others, provide emotional support and aid, and forgive others more readily. Having an attitude of gratitude is simple and has a positive effect on the people around us. By letting someone know you appreciate them, you are setting a positive domino effect in motion that will eventually benefit everyone involved.

3. Smile Often

The physical act of smiling actually stimulates pathways in your brain that affect your emotional state. A pleasant facial expression can “trick” your mind into entering a state of happiness. Smiles actually engage pathways in your brain that impact your emotional state. This is true regardless of whether or not the smile you are wearing is genuine.

If you want to make friends, smiling can help! 

Smiling changes how other people view you, making you appear more approachable and enjoyable to be around in general. If you want other people to appreciate the time they spend talking to you more, putting on a smile can assist. When you approach other people, smiling might help you appear less intimidating and more approachable by making you appear friendlier. After all, smiling was one of the first ways that humans communicated their feelings to one another. It was a signal to others that we posed no danger and that we were open to interaction.

4. Do What You Love

According to studies, people’s levels of happiness are directly related to the activities they choose to participate in during their free time (i.e., choosing to do what you love)

But finding out what it is you want to do with your life can be a journey that lasts a person their whole life. With this dilemma, we recommend you try making your bucket list. You may find things you love as you try to explore and expand your horizons. 

A “bucket list” encourages one to lead a life filled with goals and objectives. Making a “bucket list” enables us to consider our priorities and aspirations and to single out significant accomplishments and experiences that we would like to have in our lives.

Reminder: It is never too late to create your very own bucket list! If interested, you may try to read our article regarding the retirement bucket list. 

5. Form Meaningful Relationships

People are naturally inclined to form relationships with one another. Therefore, regardless of whether we want to share our joy over some wonderful news or our anguish with someone, we have a sense of support when we believe that someone is there to lend an attentive ear or some sound counsel. Additionally, a social network, more specifically a spouse or a close group of friends, has significantly improved one’s sense of well-being.

Explore and do activities as a group to learn more about each other. If you’re all feeling extra silly, you can try different pranks like the prank owl and share the laughter! 

If you are looking for more prank ideas, kindly visit Ownage Pranks for more details! They cover everything from prank calls to street pranks. 

Happiness is a Choice

Everyone can make subtle adjustments to their behavior, their environment, and the connections they maintain with others, all of which can contribute to a better existence.

People who are happy are not held captive by their circumstances, nor do they search for satisfaction in other people or in material belongings.

They realize that if we stop chasing the meaning of happiness that the world has given us, we can start to see that the decision to feel happiness has been right in front of us the whole time. This idea is further solidified by research carried out on the subject of positive psychology.