There are universal, powerful, time tested truths that bring happiness and spiritual success. Some were described by the Ancient Greeks and then echoed by famous writers, thinkers and philosophers through time.
Everyone wants to be happy or happier. Exactly what are the secrets to happiness?
Happiness Habit interviewed and studied habitually happy people from all walks of life and life situations. We found habitually happy people exhibit a very distinctive set of qualities and characteristics we call Happiness Habits.
Happiness Habits can be taught, learned, practiced and perfected like other personal, professional, music or sports skills.
If you adopt Happiness Habits and the values, beliefs, ideals, habits and boundaries characteristic of habitually happy people, you will become happy or happier yourself.
If you don’t consciously decide what sort of person you want to be and become, your environment and your experience tend to determine your identity, your destiny and your perspectives for you.
Happiness Habits provide helpful guidance for goodness, they offer freedom from unnecessary emotional pain and provide protection from stress and distress.
What are some key Happiness Habits?
Choose Your Mood and Your Attitude - Decide how you want to feel. Don't hand control of your thoughts, actions or feelings over to people or situations that hurt, harass or harm you.
Make Goodness Your Guiding Goal - When we focus on doing good things, we feel good. This is an application of the First Law of Happiness: Our Focus Determines Our Feelings.
Fuel Your Life And Your Work With Fun - Decide what you're going to do and then find ways to enjoy it. Great plans are worthless without the enthusiasm to achieve them.
Drive Discipline With Desire - The secret to successful discipline is to desire something good and positive more than what tempts you.
Avoid The Fault Finding Feel Goods - All those terribly tempting tendencies to judge, criticize and blame. By finding fault we're elevating ourselves, but we're still focusing on negatives.
Beating Yourself Up Reinforces Errors You Want To Avoid - Focus your time and attention on building successful skills and strategies for the future. Reliving, restating and remembering wrongs reinforces them!
Touch People With A Positive Spirit - If you summon up a genuine sense of fun and sparkle and honestly project it, you can't help but take on a more positive mood yourself. You might just brighten someone else's day as well.
Misery Is Meant To Make Us Move - Misery signals that something is changing or needs to change. Listen to what misery is trying to tell you and make changes to strengthen your happiness and spiritual success.
Creatively Reinvent Dull, Dreary or Difficult Tasks To Make Them Fun & Rewarding - Turn them into games, involve others, take pride in doing simple things extraordinarily well.
"Success" Does NOT Equal Happiness - People who chase after material "Success" thinking it will bring them happiness are often disappointed. There are lots of successful people who are not very happy.
Avoid All Unnecessary, Non-Productive Negativity - Amazing improvements in happiness come from simply eliminating all negativity that's not necessary or productive.
Love Propels Happiness - Love is the basis for ALL happiness. The happiest people are the most loving people. Love expansively and extensively to be happy.
How do you bring greater happiness into your life? Check out our new Make Happiness YOUR Habit! program contact us for details.
Copyright © 1999- Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Our materials may NOT be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission from the authors. Explore HappinessHabit.com for more insights on happiness and spiritual success. Comment on this posting below.
What a wonderful and inspiring article, and so true.
Having empathy and compassion (which could be part of "Love Propels Happiness") plus forgiving ourselves and others are also vital key happiness habits.
Posted by: Nyomi | June 08, 2009 at 03:54 AM
Thank you! This is a great, great list of suggestions that I plan to hang on to. It is so important to keep a balanced life and not get into a habit in which we sometimes bury ourselves.If we do you said,I think it is good for us,thanks again.
Posted by: Retro Jordan | October 19, 2010 at 08:11 PM
This is a great, great list of suggestions that I plan to hang on to.
Posted by: ClubPenguinCheats | July 11, 2011 at 09:42 PM