Ultimately we are all seeking happiness. We are constantly looking for happiness in our jobs, our family, our partner, our children, in our bank balance, in whatever we are involved or whoever we are attached to! We want to be happy but we are searching for it everywhere except within ourselves. Happiness is actually a state of mind. I have seen so many people doing a great job, having the perfect spouse, the most beautiful family and still so dissatisfied, still so unhappy! Again I have also seen people with several setbacks in their lives, even with chronic illnesses, to be happy! In reality, people who are happy are those who had trained their mind to look into the positive things in their life instead of the negative. By shifting the focus from the bad to the good, these people have "created" happiness for themselves!
According to the Law of attraction, like attracts like, so the more you are in the happy, positive state of the mind, the more you attract happiness and positivity in your life! It's actually true that we draw people, situations and experiences according to how we think and feel. So, happy people tend to be more successful in the long run than the unhappy, sadistic people.
I do not claim to be happy 24×7, but I am practising 12 habits to change my thinking pattern and to stay in the happy state of the mind. I had mastered some of these and deliberately working on some! In all, I must say that my life started changing greatly as I adopted these in my life.
The 12 steps to happiness are :
1. Change your mindset - to become happier you have to consciously change your mindset.
Our brain operates in two modes - the default mode and the direct mode. The default mode is the autopilot mode which helps us to go through the day without having to think consciously. It's just running whatever programs were imprinted on our Subconscious in our early childhood. Direct mode is where we are controlling our thoughts. So, for every negative belief that has been programmed in our mind, we have to consciously train ourselves to reverse it into a positive one. We can reset our mindset through continuous practice.
( Read my post on how to change your mindset by reconditioning the Subconscious mind ->
How to become successful in life using the power of our Subconscious mind )
2. Stay mindful - Yes, life is not smooth all the time, there are difficult situations and challenges that we have to face. Often we are scared and want to escape, allowing our mind to wander.
But the more you let your mind wander the more your default mode would start to operate. As a result, you would always use your past conditioning and as a result, get the same result in your life! You would feel stuck in more undesirable situations in life. To change your life, stay in the 'present' moment and deliberately think and make decisions. Think new thoughts, better thoughts. You would feel happier.
3. Find your life purpose - The problem with our education system is that there is so much of History and Geography and Biology and other school subjects that in cramming those subjects for years, we tend to lose our gifted skills, we forget our passions.
Photography, for example, isn't a school subject but it could be a great passionate career for many! The thing is you can have passion outside your textbooks and syllabus, outside the degrees you have gathered! So, don't limit yourself. Spend time to do some serious introspection. Find out what is it that you're really passionate about, what is something that gives you so much of joy that you can offer that service even for free! That is what you are meant to be doing, that is what would make you happy and no, you don't have to do it for free, you can make it a successful way of living!
4. Use your time productively - Time is valuable. Yet we waste our time in useless things. We watch stupid TV shows, scroll through other people's profiles on the social media, forward useless messages and videos and what do we gain out of all of these? Nothing! Except that the time got wasted forever!
Your entire life-span is built with packets of time! The things and people you are giving your time to, you are actually giving a portion of your life to those! So if you want to be happy use your time well. Stay purpose-driven. Prioritise your day. Give your time and attention to things and people that are important to you! In your free time do things that are productive like listening to a podcast or reading a good book or pursuing a hobby!
5. Practice gratitude - Being grateful for things you already have is a great way to stay positive and happy. Maintain a gratitude journal! Each night before going to bed, write 3 - 5 things that you are grateful for!
I have benefited hugely from maintaining such a journal. As per the Law of attraction, the more you're grateful for the things you already have, the more you would attract the things and experiences to be grateful for!
6. Invest in yourself - The best investment done on earth is on yourself! To be honest, the only person who is with you from the start to the end is you! So give time to yourself. Improve yourself. Create yourself.
You don't have to become like anyone else, you just have to be your best version. Practice self-love.
Learn new skills. You need to be open to keep growing. You might have to spend some money to learn and grow, you might have to leave certain people on the way, you have to take some important decisions as you create your new self.
( Read my post about Self love ->
Self-love practices that changed my life )
7. Surround yourself with positivity - If you want to stay happy and positive all the time, you must start to be around such people and things that give you joy.
It's not possible to stay happy if you are stuck among negative minded people. You have to learn to protect your energy. Sometimes it could be that there are no positive people around you. Then you must be the one radiating positivity! Reading personal development books, listening to inspiring podcasts and videos, constantly updating myself has helped me to stay positive and happy. By consciously practising a positive attitude, I had attracted several positive people around me.
8. Stop blaming - " All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. " - Wayne Dyer. You can never become happy as long as you continue to blame someone or something else for the situations in your life.
Jack Canfield in his book, The Success Principles, have given a great formula for life!
It is EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME, which means that for any event or situation in your life if you start responding in a different way, the outcome would be different! You can choose to respond in a way by blaming people or conditions in your life, doing so you would always stay unhappy and unsuccessful. Or you could change your response in a positive manner and choose to stay happy. By stopping the blame game, you would find solutions to your problems rather than staying angry and confused.
9. Practice forgiveness - Forgiving yourself and others would help release the pain and grudge you are holding. This is the most difficult of all the steps as most of us want to skip this step thinking it's too hard to do! We all have some past experiences that we do not want to forget or forgive. But think about it, forgiveness is actually the best gift you can give yourself.
It's not even for the others but by forgiving you release the stored negative energy within you. You might say that it's absolutely impossible to forgive certain people in your life! That you went through hell because of these people. I can totally understand and relate to your feeling. But what I have seen from my own experience is that by forgiving, a lot of anger and negativity goes away making space for happiness and good things. I am not saying that you have to become friendly with your wrong-doers. You don't even have to talk with or meet those people! The best way to do it is mentally or writing it down. Penning down emotions is a great way of self-therapy as well! Also, forgive yourself if you are holding some resentment against yourself. I know forgiveness is hard but then practising it, again and again, makes it possible.
10. Meditate - Meditating even for 10 minutes a day would bring you peace and happiness. Start your day with a simple meditation practice.
You don't have to do complicated postures or anything, just sit relaxed and focus on your breaths. Again, consistency is the key. You would not get the result on the first day, making it a daily routine would bring you the result!
11. Eat healthy - It's something mentioned everywhere and it's true!
It has been scientifically proven that if you eat healthy foods you stay in the positive, happy state of mind. Moreover, you have lesser chances of falling ill, which means you can enjoy your life to the fullest.
12. Be of service - Martin Luther King Jr said, " Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service. " Rather than feeling miserable for yourself get involved with a greater cause in life.
Actively participate in some important cause, be it related to humans or animals or the environment - do contribute to society in some way. You can help with money or through service, or both. Even simple acts of kindness are ways of contribution. Give time to others, be compassionate, uplift and inspire someone who is going through a tough time. In the process of being useful to others, you would be creating happiness for yourself as well as for the world!
Article written by Ishita Ganguly
M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA
Also, read 7 Amazing Benefits of Laughter
According to the Law of attraction, like attracts like, so the more you are in the happy, positive state of the mind, the more you attract happiness and positivity in your life! It's actually true that we draw people, situations and experiences according to how we think and feel. So, happy people tend to be more successful in the long run than the unhappy, sadistic people.
I do not claim to be happy 24×7, but I am practising 12 habits to change my thinking pattern and to stay in the happy state of the mind. I had mastered some of these and deliberately working on some! In all, I must say that my life started changing greatly as I adopted these in my life.
1. Change your mindset - to become happier you have to consciously change your mindset.
Our brain operates in two modes - the default mode and the direct mode. The default mode is the autopilot mode which helps us to go through the day without having to think consciously. It's just running whatever programs were imprinted on our Subconscious in our early childhood. Direct mode is where we are controlling our thoughts. So, for every negative belief that has been programmed in our mind, we have to consciously train ourselves to reverse it into a positive one. We can reset our mindset through continuous practice.
( Read my post on how to change your mindset by reconditioning the Subconscious mind ->
How to become successful in life using the power of our Subconscious mind )
2. Stay mindful - Yes, life is not smooth all the time, there are difficult situations and challenges that we have to face. Often we are scared and want to escape, allowing our mind to wander.
But the more you let your mind wander the more your default mode would start to operate. As a result, you would always use your past conditioning and as a result, get the same result in your life! You would feel stuck in more undesirable situations in life. To change your life, stay in the 'present' moment and deliberately think and make decisions. Think new thoughts, better thoughts. You would feel happier.
3. Find your life purpose - The problem with our education system is that there is so much of History and Geography and Biology and other school subjects that in cramming those subjects for years, we tend to lose our gifted skills, we forget our passions.
4. Use your time productively - Time is valuable. Yet we waste our time in useless things. We watch stupid TV shows, scroll through other people's profiles on the social media, forward useless messages and videos and what do we gain out of all of these? Nothing! Except that the time got wasted forever!
Your entire life-span is built with packets of time! The things and people you are giving your time to, you are actually giving a portion of your life to those! So if you want to be happy use your time well. Stay purpose-driven. Prioritise your day. Give your time and attention to things and people that are important to you! In your free time do things that are productive like listening to a podcast or reading a good book or pursuing a hobby!
5. Practice gratitude - Being grateful for things you already have is a great way to stay positive and happy. Maintain a gratitude journal! Each night before going to bed, write 3 - 5 things that you are grateful for!
I have benefited hugely from maintaining such a journal. As per the Law of attraction, the more you're grateful for the things you already have, the more you would attract the things and experiences to be grateful for!
6. Invest in yourself - The best investment done on earth is on yourself! To be honest, the only person who is with you from the start to the end is you! So give time to yourself. Improve yourself. Create yourself.
You don't have to become like anyone else, you just have to be your best version. Practice self-love.
Learn new skills. You need to be open to keep growing. You might have to spend some money to learn and grow, you might have to leave certain people on the way, you have to take some important decisions as you create your new self.
( Read my post about Self love ->
Self-love practices that changed my life )
7. Surround yourself with positivity - If you want to stay happy and positive all the time, you must start to be around such people and things that give you joy.
It's not possible to stay happy if you are stuck among negative minded people. You have to learn to protect your energy. Sometimes it could be that there are no positive people around you. Then you must be the one radiating positivity! Reading personal development books, listening to inspiring podcasts and videos, constantly updating myself has helped me to stay positive and happy. By consciously practising a positive attitude, I had attracted several positive people around me.
8. Stop blaming - " All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. " - Wayne Dyer. You can never become happy as long as you continue to blame someone or something else for the situations in your life.
Jack Canfield in his book, The Success Principles, have given a great formula for life!
It is EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME, which means that for any event or situation in your life if you start responding in a different way, the outcome would be different! You can choose to respond in a way by blaming people or conditions in your life, doing so you would always stay unhappy and unsuccessful. Or you could change your response in a positive manner and choose to stay happy. By stopping the blame game, you would find solutions to your problems rather than staying angry and confused.
9. Practice forgiveness - Forgiving yourself and others would help release the pain and grudge you are holding. This is the most difficult of all the steps as most of us want to skip this step thinking it's too hard to do! We all have some past experiences that we do not want to forget or forgive. But think about it, forgiveness is actually the best gift you can give yourself.
It's not even for the others but by forgiving you release the stored negative energy within you. You might say that it's absolutely impossible to forgive certain people in your life! That you went through hell because of these people. I can totally understand and relate to your feeling. But what I have seen from my own experience is that by forgiving, a lot of anger and negativity goes away making space for happiness and good things. I am not saying that you have to become friendly with your wrong-doers. You don't even have to talk with or meet those people! The best way to do it is mentally or writing it down. Penning down emotions is a great way of self-therapy as well! Also, forgive yourself if you are holding some resentment against yourself. I know forgiveness is hard but then practising it, again and again, makes it possible.
10. Meditate - Meditating even for 10 minutes a day would bring you peace and happiness. Start your day with a simple meditation practice.
You don't have to do complicated postures or anything, just sit relaxed and focus on your breaths. Again, consistency is the key. You would not get the result on the first day, making it a daily routine would bring you the result!
11. Eat healthy - It's something mentioned everywhere and it's true!
It has been scientifically proven that if you eat healthy foods you stay in the positive, happy state of mind. Moreover, you have lesser chances of falling ill, which means you can enjoy your life to the fullest.
12. Be of service - Martin Luther King Jr said, " Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service. " Rather than feeling miserable for yourself get involved with a greater cause in life.
Actively participate in some important cause, be it related to humans or animals or the environment - do contribute to society in some way. You can help with money or through service, or both. Even simple acts of kindness are ways of contribution. Give time to others, be compassionate, uplift and inspire someone who is going through a tough time. In the process of being useful to others, you would be creating happiness for yourself as well as for the world!
Article written by Ishita Ganguly
M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA
Also, read 7 Amazing Benefits of Laughter
You have been a great motivator,a great teacher and a great human too..You have always helped me out and have always been beside me whenever I needed you.. May god bless u with happiness and fulfills all ur wishes... Deep regards from Priyanka ����
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Priyanka! Follow my blog for more inspiring and informative posts! Love & best wishes! 💖
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ReplyDeleteYour posts are just inspiring.It gives us a positive vibes.May god always shower his blessings on you
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. I am happy to know it's inspiring to you. Keep following my blog for more inspiring and informative posts!
DeleteNo words to explain you and your blogs ����
ReplyDeleteGives hope to ones who are not so happy with their life 😇. Thankyou very much for sharing your thoughts. Very helpful!
ReplyDeleteYour writings are so worthy that by reading your posts, I feel grateful❤❤
ReplyDeleteYour blogs are really very motivating and inspiring ma'am. Your blogs always conveys a very optimistic message. Thank you ma'am for bringing such good thoughts to the readers through your blog.... Thank you
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