Steps 16-29 to Becoming a Happier You!

16. Get Your Sweat On

Exercise, exercise, exercise! When you exercise, your brain releases chemicals that literally mean you cannot be depressed as long as they are around.

17. Leave Blame Behind

Stop blaming other people for the things that go wrong in your life. Take responsibility and change the things that you can change yourself.

18. Zzzzzzzzzz

Get the sleep you need. Well-rested people are happier.

19. Talk It Up

Tell people when they do something that you appreciate. Verbalizing your gratefulness not only improves your happiness but theirs as well.

20. Engage in Aid

Spend two hours a week serving at a homeless shelter or otherwise helping those less fortunate than you. One hundred hours a year seems to be the magic number, at which time helping others in these ways improves your happiness.

21. Reach Out

Find a community of other people, and invest yourself in it. Actively caring for people will make you happier.

22. Don’t Fear Failure

Learn new things, even if you do them badly. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.

23. See Yourself Different

Visualize who you want to be. Visualization leads to success, so if you visualize yourself happy, you are more likely to become so.

24. Pay Attention

Stop, look, and listen to the everyday moments of your life. In today’s hustle-bustle culture, we miss happiness if we don’t focus on the present.

25. Find a New Mantra

Repeating a mantra is a way of meditation, and this positive meditation will make you happier and more resilient. Basically, if you repeat positive thoughts over and over, you will be happier.

26. Don’t Eat Alone

Eat your meals with other people. Eating alone brings you down.

27. Get Creative

Express your creativity. Art, music, dance, woodworking, singing, etc., are all great options for a creative outlet.

28. Make Your Choice

Choose happiness. It's easy to believe that our happiness level is a sort of built-in set point, but choosing happiness actually makes us feel happier.

29. Dream About Getting Away

Plan a vacation, even if you can’t take it. Sometimes, visualizing yourself having fun, without going through the stress involved in actually making it happen, can make you happier.

Winfrey, Sarah. "29 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Happier This Year." Wise Bread, 23 Jan. 2014, wisebread.com/29-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-happier-this-year. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.