Kate Bratskeir, a happiness researcher, took data from multiple happiness studies from the past 40 years and put together a list of what she called “The Habits of Supremely Happy People,” Ten things that supremely happy people do.
1. Happy people surround themselves with other happy people. Joy is contagious. People are four times more likely to be happy in the future with happy people around them.
2. Happy people try to be happy. When happy people don’t feel happy, they cultivate a happy thought and smile about it.
3. Happy people spend money more on others than they spend on themselves. Givers experience what scientists call the “helper’s high.”
4. Happy people have deep in-person conversations. Sitting down to talk about what makes a person tick is a good practice for feeling good about life.
5. Happy people use laughter as a medicine. A good old-fashioned chuckle releases lots of good neurotransmitters. A study showed that children on average laugh 300 times a day versus adults who laugh 15 times a day.
6. Happy people use the power of music. Researchers found that music can match the anxiety-reducing effects of massage therapy.
7. Happy people exercise and eat a healthful diet. Eating a poor diet can contribute to depression.
8. Happy people take the time to unplug and go outside. Uninterrupted screen time brings on depression and anxiety.
9. Happy people get enough sleep. When people run low on sleep, they are prone to feel a lack of clarity, bad moods, and poor judgment.
10. Happy people are spiritual.This is an awesome list and I'd like to go into each of these items in a little bit more detail, and I'd like to encourage you to pick one, just one, of these habits, and practice it for one day, and see if it makes a difference.
1. Happy people surround themselves with other happy people.
While it's true that misery likes company, that's also true of joy. Smiles and laughter are contagious, and good friends can help cheer you up when you're feeling sad. Spend some time with some good friends and just be happy (or at least not miserable) together.
2. Happy people try to be happy.
This is the one I plan to work on, and I chose the word "work" specifically. It sometimes takes a conscious effort to be happy, or at least pretend to be, and that can take a lot of work. The good news is that if we make a conscious effort to be happy, to force a smile and look for the good in our circumstances, we can trick our brain into releasing some of the chemicals that tell us we're happy. I'd guess that it's literally possible to make ourselves happy, and I intend to try.
3. Happy people spend money more on others than they spend on themselves.
I try this every once in a while, but usually I'm too frugal. Fortunately, or unfortunately for those of us who aren't quite ready yet, Christmas is right around the corner, so we'll all have an opportunity to spend some money, or at least some time and effort, on getting or making or doing something nice for someone else. Maybe the feelings generated by the giving is part of what makes Christmas the "Happiest Season of All."
4. Happy people have deep in-person conversations.
This one's hard for guys like me, but for some reason, it's easier for gals. I guess it's because girls are more social and boys tend to be more reserved. Anyhow, having a heart-to-heart with someone can get a load off your chest, and being the shoulder a friend can cry on is a form of service that can generate the "helper's high" mentioned in Habit 3.
5. Happy people use laughter as a medicine.
Some people (or at least, some Reader's Digest Magazine sections) call laughter the best medicine. While I don't know the exact medicinal properties of laughter, besides a vague idea of releasing chemicals in your brain, I know that laughing at a cute video of a kitten jumping in and out of a box can have wonderful effects on your mental well-being.
6. Happy people use the power of music.
I might add good music. Several genres of music are uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring. I'm particular to celtic music, but you may have your own favorite already. If so, listen to it. Inspired by this suggestion, I just opened Pandora in another tab, and while I wasn't unhappy before, I can say that I'm a little bit happier now.
7. Happy people exercise and eat a healthful diet.
I really struggle with this one. While I'm physically semi-active, I know I don't eat very well. I need to learn how to make myself healthy lunches and breakfasts, but I'm choosing not to stress out about it right now. Stress is bad for your happiness, and it's hard to stress out when you've got celtic music playing anyway.
8. Happy people take the time to unplug and go outside.
This is hard to do when so much of the work we have to do involves computers, but fortunately, Sacramento has many trees and parks that I can enjoy on occasion. I suppose it'd be wise of me to enjoy those things more often, when I can spare the time. I'm sure some of my work can be taken outside, as long as there isn't too much wind, and those of you with laptops can take your work outside even more frequently as long as we can keep our electronics and papers dry.
9. Happy people get enough sleep.
Another challenge of the modern adult. With our many responsibilities, it can be hard to have enough time to get enough sleep. If you can manage it, great. If not, you may need to find ways to give yourself more time. I've been learning about priorities and responsibilities for the past few weeks, and one of the lessons I've picked up is that as long as the most important priorities are being taken care of, the less-important priorities are, well, less-important. I have an object lesson that I could share on that topic, but I'll save that for another blog post.
10. Happy people are spiritual.
The article didn't elaborate on this one, but I will. Doing spiritual things, even something that takes no time at all like singing or humming a hymn while doing something else, can attract the Spirit, and the Spirit gives us feelings of peace and joy. Because God wants us to be happy, and His commandments are designed for our happiness, we can gain more happiness by doing the things He wants us to do.
As it turns out, there are a lot of things we can do to improve our happiness. I present these suggestions not because I think we need more things to do, but because I believe we could all use a little bit more happiness. If you don't have enough time or energy to follow some of these suggestions, find one that won't take as much time or energy, like listening to music. I think you may find it worth your time to make some effort to make yourself happy. God wants you to find happiness, and so do I.
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