“3 Ways You Can Increase Your Happiness Today”

Throughout my life I have always been a pretty positively minded person, but just because I have been positive doesn’t mean that I have always been happy. In reality, no one can be happy all the time, its just not the way we are wired as people, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive to be happy as much as possible.

And who doesn’t want to spend more of their time being happy?

Today I want to share with you three things that I have found through experimentation have greatly increased my daily happiness, and that you can implement and see results from starting today.

Without any further delay, let’s get into this.

1: When you are frustrated, upset, or tired get up and do something active

It is incredible how all of the troubles of the world can melt away when you get in a good workout or even go for a walk to clear your head.

Too often people get frustrated and continue to try and push through whatever it is, but because of frustration they aren’t thinking clearly, they can’t figure out what to do, and then get even more frustrated.

When you are in a fit of rage how often do you think to go and exercise? My bet is hardly ever. The normal response is to give up, go an relax by watching TV, or looking at your phone, which allows you to continue to stew in your frustration.

On the other hand, physical activity can actually release mental frustration and help you deal with it in a healthy way. I have always enjoyed lifting and exercise, and I can vividly remember some of my best workouts came when I was furious about something, and the best part was that by the end of the workout I felt about 99% better because I allowed myself to work off some of that energy.

It gave me something else to focus on long enough to realize that in the end, that little thing that was frustrating me didn’t really matter, and I could make the choice to allow it not to bother me.

This thought process isn’t something you have to consciously do while you are being active, it will naturally happen, and even if you can only do something for a couple of minutes it will still greatly help.

On the flip side, if you are just tired, getting up and going for a walk, or doing some light calisthenics like jumping jacks, air squats, or push ups will get your blood flowing and will wake you up far faster and far more effectively than sitting or lying down will.

By reducing the amount of time you spend frustrated, stressed, and tired you will automatically be happier.

2: Spend less time on social media and in front of screens in general

People like to think that looking at their phones or watching TV is a good way to rest and relax, but in reality it is surprisingly taxing on your brain.

If you are tired from work or studying and you take out your phone for a quick break, your brain doesn’t actually get a break because it is still reading and focusing on things.

On top of that, everything you look at on social media or on the TV is people’s best side and best version of themselves. Over time we will automatically begin comparing ourselves, and you can’t stop this from happening.

Eventually this comparison game begins to eat away at us and makes us think that our life isn’t as good as everyone else’s, ultimately decreasing our happiness. Even if you know this you can’t fully correct for it, the only way you can effectively address it is by decreasing your time on social media as much as possible.

About 2 years ago I deleted all social media except for Instagram and found that not only was I happier from not looking at all that stuff nearly as much, I had so much more time to do things that actually made me happy, like visiting with friends and family, playing football, and lifting.

The benefit from decreased screen time isn’t just from the decreased consumption of things that will make you less happy, but also in the increased time you will have to do things that actually make you happy.

3: Each and every day write down 3 things that you are grateful for

We live in the most prosperous time in the most prosperous country in the world and our lives are pretty incredible when compared to how most people live.

Yet it is still easy for us to see everything other people have and forget to be grateful for everything we have. Too many people have trained their minds to see the bad in their lives and not the good.

If you are habitually negative it may be surprisingly difficult for you to find 3 things you are grateful for each day (and they have to be different things each day). If that is the case for you then you are the person that will benefit most from this exercise, because it will help retrain your brain to be positive.

By training your brain to look for the good things in your life you will begin to see them everywhere. As you see more and more good in your life, you will naturally become happier because you will be focusing on the good things over the bad.

Now it is time to implement these strategies. No matter how happy you are right now you can always strive for some improvement. If you implement these strategies you will see results. Now go out, take action, become happier, and as a result make the world a better place.

Good luck Crusader.