CULTIVATE A HABIT OF JOY

Happiness is the key to life. How well do you agree on this matter? In your pursuit to achieving greater things in life, you may somehow forget having to experience genuine happiness is perhaps one of the greatest things one could ever experience in life. Do not make happiness a product of chance – it doesn’t have to be. Your happiness should not be solely dependent on the results of some external circumstances. Rather, happiness should be something that you solely feel in your waking moment of every day. An indescribable feeling of being on cloud 9.

While some find cultivating happiness an easy task to do, others struggle to find ways by which they could achieve a life filled with joy. Do not get all worked up as it is a fact that life is filled with all the ups and downs that somehow take a toll on your emotions, there are certain things in life that have to undergo the process, changes – a metamorphosis, they say.  Consider happiness as a butterfly – to experience the beauty in it, you have to go through varieties of changes. Same with life, you have to have some recalibration to attain happiness that is coming from within. 

Choose happiness where and when you want it. Check on the 5 Methods of Cultivating Happiness as listed below and as validated by the experts.

Cultivate Joy by embracing your fears

Fear is one of the big stoppers of happiness as it leads you to worry and be bothered. Learn how to welcome your fear as they are not your worst enemy. Fear is something that we all experience naturally. Embrace it by taking steps outside your comfort zone.  In conquering your fear, take this quote by Nelson Mandela whereas he said that “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”  Do things that scare you.  How lovely is it to experience when all the butterflies in your stomach go wild?

Cultivate Joy through the power of appreciation

How many of you would agree that a simple thank you from someone has a big impact on your day? The power of appreciation it is. Happiness starts by being grateful and appreciative of what is around you. Grateful for the life, food you eat, shelter to live in. Appreciation of the little things in life contributes a lot to your happiness and adds up to your positive outlook in life. Now then, in getting started to cultivating a habit of joy. Before you go to bed every night, list down all the things that you are grateful for every day.  This habit could change your entire perspective.

Cultivate Joy by smiling

Brighten up the day of the people around you with just a flash of your pearly whites. Experts in the field of Psychology have proven that the act of smiling alone can lead to emotions of happiness. We have long perceived smiling as the product of happiness but are not consciously aware that it also has the capability to cause happiness. So the next time you are feeling a bit bluer than blue? Smile and force your mind to respond to it.

Cultivate Joy by breathing properly

Sit up, pull your shoulders back, and take a deep breath. How relaxing is it for you? What did you feel right after you do it?

A long slow breath is believed to calm down the nervous system and potentially creates a physiological change in your body.

If you ever found yourself in a stressful situation and finding it hard to respond? Take a pause and take a deep breath.

Cultivate Joy by erasing unhappy vocabulary

Take this quote from the author known for his self-help books, Tonny Robbins, whereas, he said that “Simply by changing your habitual vocabulary – the words you consistently use to describe the emotions in your life – you can instantly change how you think, feel and how you live.” You are what you feed your mind. The power of affirmation, they say.

Instead of dwelling too much on the negative adjectives in describing your emotions in your day-to-day lives replace them with a more positive term such as joy, happiness, or delight you will be surprised that you are already making happiness a regular habit.