How to be happy: 27 habits to add to your routine

No matter what kind of true happiness you are considering for yourself but living a very happy and satisfied life is found to be within reach. You just have to do some tricks with your everyday work and habits to achieve this and live the best and the happiest life that you have ever experienced for yourself. 

Yes, you have heard correctly that being happy in your life is possible and you know what all your habits matter and you will be aware of the fact that how difficult it is for anyone to get past any kind of bad habit and it is literally a very tough job to achieve. 

You are suggested to make all the good and positive habits of yours a part of your everyday routine and you should know that all your good and positive habits are also deeply sited in you. You can try to keep yourself happy by kickstarting your life by following some daily, monthly and yearly habits. 

You should be knowing that everyone has a different perspective and opinions about this condition of happiness and so you should be expecting different approaches as well in achieving this happiness in your life. When any of the habits you are going to introduce in your life starts to create stress or do not fit you then, you should immediately drop them and you will be able to find the perfect habits and what fits for you in a very short period of time just following and practicing them in your everyday life. 

Some of the most effective and affordable habits that you can opt for yourself to make yourself happy in your life are listed below and they are to be done on a daily, monthly and yearly basis: 

Daily habits: 

The habits that fall under this category are to be followed on a regular basis and will surely make you happy in your life.

• Smile: You usually laugh when you are happy and it is considered to be a two way street. We are generally used to smiling when we are happy and when we smile our brain is known to release a chemical called dopamine which makes us even happier. 
• Exercise: You should know that exercise does not only affect your body, it will help you reduce the amount of stress, various symptoms of depression and feelings of anxiety as well. This will also help you to boost your self esteem and your will to be happy as well.

When you exercise or do a physical activity even for a small period of time you can notice a difference. For the starters, you can consider doing the following exercises: 

• You try stretching for 5 minutes before you do any other work
• You can go for a walk every night after you have taken you dinner
• You can also start doing yoga or Tai chi
• Get adequate amount of sleep: Majority of the adults should be getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night. When you notice that you are fighting the urge for getting a nap in the daytime or you feel that you are still in the fog, you should understand that your body wants you to rest a little bit more. You can follow the tips given below to improve your sleep: 
• You should go to bed and arise at the same time everyday even on the weekends
• When you want to take a nap, limit the time of the nap to 20 minutes
• You should keep your bedroom dark, cool and quiet
• You should be investing into good bedding
• You should eat food that is in your mood: You are well aware of the fact that the food that you eat will be affecting your overall health and some food items will affect your state of mind as well. For example carbohydrates are known to contain serotonin which is said to be a feel good hormone, protein rich food are known to contain to release dopamine and norepinephrine which is known to boost your energy and concentration, etc. If you ever feel like that you should be eating according to your mood on a daily basis then it is suggested for you to set a food for your mood for each day of the week.
• You should practice gratitude: When you are being grateful you can give your mood a very big boost and various other benefits will accompany it for sure. It is a proven fact that when you are practicing gratitude you tend to get better feelings of hope and happiness in your life. When you practice this on a regular basis, you can begin to notice the better and more positive things that are going around you.
• Always try to give a compliment: It is observed that when you are performing acts of kindness you are actually promoting your overall well being. When you are trying to compliment anyone regarding their physical appearance you are suggested to do it in a very respectful manner. 
• You should try to breathe deeply: When you are having a feeling of stress or tension you might notice that your shoulders have become tight and you are getting a feeling that you might be going to lose it all. In such conditions, you are suggested to take a very long and deep breath and believe you will feel very calm. 

You can follow the steps that are listed below to get you away from the stress: 

• You need to close your eyes and then you try to think and envision about a very happy and beautiful memory or place. 
• Then, you should start taking a slow and deep breath through your nose 
• Then, start to breathe out the air through your nose or your mouth.
• You should be repeating this process several times until you start to feel better or you think that you are calm now.
• You should acknowledge the unhappy or bad moments: You should always keep a positive attitude which is said to be a very good thing and just say that bad things are going to happen to everyone and this is what life is. You should let the moment pass and start to take care of yourself then, just remember that no one is going to stay happy all the time.
• Keep a journal: When you start maintaining a journal, you will start to organize your thoughts in an orderly manner and then you can analyze them properly and make your plans accordingly. You need not be a very grammatical genius to maintain this or write various versions of it to make it profitable for you. 
• You should face the stress head on: Life is full of stress causing elements and it is near to impossible to avoid all of them at all times of your life. You are suggested to never try to avoid the stress factors and you should know that stress is not always harmful for you but it can sometimes help you to change yourself and your attitude which might make you a better version of yourself. So try to face the stress without any kind of fear as it can help you to get to know a better version of yourself.
• You should stop or avoid doing comparison of yourself to other people: No matter where this things of comparison happens at work, at playing ground, on the social media or any other place, at one time you are surely going to compare yourself to other people and then, when you do it you should be experiencing a little bit of more discontent, anxiety, depression, reduced self esteem and other things. When you start practicing to not compare yourself to anyone else you will start to notice that you are getting inner peace and happiness that you have been longing for all your life.

Weekly habits: 

The habits that are going to be mentioned now are to be followed on a weekly basis and they are listed below: 

• Declutter: You may think and yes it sounds as a very big assignment for you to attain but when you start to set aside 20 minutes in a week for yourself you can get to notice a drastic impact of it on your life. You are suggested to practice this one time in a week, or one time in a day or whenever you feel like doing it or that you are getting out of control of your space.
• See your friends: As humans are said to be social beings you should know that the happiness of a person is greatly impacted by this act of socialization and you become happy when you create various social relationships. When you are missing someone just give them a call and finalize a date to get together or you can have a long and comforting conversation on the phone itself. You can also consider making some new friends by going to fests or volunteering at various events. 
• You should plan your week: You should make it a regular habit for yourself of sitting down at the end of a week and making plans for yourself about what you should be doing in the following week. You can try working this out on a planner or other mobile application or you can just try to do this by using a sticky note on your computer. 
• Get rid of your phone: You should really unplug yourself from your phone. This has become a known fact that the excessive use of mobile phones have led people to face change in behavior and their mood. If you are unable to do it for a long time, try doing it for shorter time periods, several times a week.
• You should try to explore nature: You can get your blood pressure level down and you can also see that your chances of developing any kind of depression has gone just by spending a minimum of 30 minutes in the greenery. If you want to maximize the benefits of the time you are spending there you can add various physical activities to it and believe me once you start doing it you will begin to do it on a more frequent basis, that too for longer periods of time.
• You should practice meditation: There are so many ways or approaches that a person can meditate and they can combine this activity of meditation along with spirituality, focus, movement or a combination of all the three. This activity does not have to be complicated for you, you just need to sit quietly beside your thoughts for 5 minutes or so and just take deep breaths along with it.
• You should consider getting therapy: When we get the knowledge about fighting the obstacles that come in our way we get happier in our life and you should think of the way how you got rid of a problem in the past. Apart from this, you can even try getting into a few sessions which will help you to add some new things to your emotional stability and collection.
• You should start doing a self care ritual: It is very easy for us to neglect this option of self care in this fast moving world, but you are suggested to find some way and time to nurture and grow yourself as much as possible and this will help you to support your body's responsibility of carrying the different thoughts, spirit and passion that is going on in this world. Whatever you are doing, you should try to make some time for yourself or just put it in your planner if you are in the habit of forgetting things but just try to make time for yourself and make this thing a priority.

• Monthly habits: 

These habits you have to be repeating every month without any kind of exception to keep yourself happy and the habits are listed below: 

• Give back: If you start to notice that the regular compliments have started to become beneficial for you, you should consider doing something on a bigger scale for the people every month. This will help you to get more satisfaction and happiness.
• Take yourself out somewhere: If you are having no one to go out with, you can just go out with yourself all alone and there is no rule set that you cannot go alone. You should consider spending some time with yourself, alone, even if you are very active socially, as this will help you to reconnect with yourself and you get to explore the activities that you really enjoy doing.
• You should create a list of your thoughts: Whenever you find a very short or brief window of time you should spend that time taking control of the thoughts that are going through your mind like you can make a list of the things that make you happy or the things that you are looking forward to do in this upcoming months. 

Yearly habits: 

These healthy habits have to be followed on an yearly basis and you need to follow them to keep yourself in the loop of happiness and the habits are listed below: 

• Take some time to reflect: You should stop and take some time to see what is happening in your life, although you are going to enjoy the start of the new year. You should try to catch up with yourself like you would be catching up with an old friend and ask the following questions to yourself: 
• How have you been?
• Are you feeling happier right now, than you were a year ago?
• What have you been doing all year long?
• Take care of your physical health and your body: You should have heard this so many times and on a frequent basis that your physical and mental health are interconnected. As far as your mental health is considered to be important you should be very punctual and regular in taking care of your physical health as well.
• Reevaluate your aims and goals for the coming future: You should consider the fact that people are very volatile and they change a lot and what you are considering for yourself in the coming year and where you are heading with this thought and proposition. You should never feel bad or guilty in changing your plans and you should be letting go of all the plans that are not fruitful or good for you even though they sound brilliant on paper.
• Let go of all the grudges: It is suggested that you should never hold grudges against anyone and if you are holding some you are getting yourself stressed. These things are very tough to do but, you should know that when you forgive someone it is a weight off of your chest and mind and you begin to feel light and happy. 
• Plan a trip or go somewhere: You will be going through a very hectic and tiring schedule throughout the year, which will be making you unavailable for taking some time out for yourself on a daily, weekly or monthly basis but you should be planning a trip to a place of your choice where you can feel free and relaxed and away from all the chaotic thoughts.