Did you know that you can create happiness yourself regardless of your circumstances?

As long as your very basic needs in life are met (food and shelter), happiness becomes something that you get to determine for yourself.

Of course, your life circumstances, where you live, your background, cultural and societal implications, and freedom of day-to-day choice will all contribute in some way to your state of mind.

Still, happiness really is something that you can learn to cultivate.

Everyone wants to be happy, but not everyone is prepared to do the hard work of creating daily habits to ensure that happiness sticks around and becomes a default emotional state.

I say hard work because it does take some effort to make happiness part of your daily life.

As humans, we tend to grab onto negativity as a survival strategy, registering negative events more readily than positive ones.

It’s called negative bias, and it means that we feel the pain of a rebuke much more than we feel the delight of praise.

It’s a psychological phenomenon that explains why we tend to focus more on negative things than positive things, why we remember insults more often than praise, recall traumatic events more readily than positive ones, and generally have a bias towards the negative which can overwhelm the truth of a situation.

For example, a rude comment from a passerby can shadow your entire day, which otherwise may have been pretty perfect.

The best way to turn this negative bias around is to cultivate positive habits that consciously create happiness.

I’m going to list some examples of ways that I have found very helpful in cultivating happiness in my life.

Daily Gratitude

Listing what you are grateful for every single morning is a sure way to boost your happiness.

When we feel more gratitude, we find it easier to cope with stress and uncertainty.

It’s important to actually make gratitude a habitual state by checking in with what makes you grateful every day.

The more you notice what you appreciate, the more of those things you will attract. Try it and see!

Meditation

When I meditate, I quiet my mind and I create stillness.

I focus on my breath and I let go of whatever is bothering me for just those few minutes that I am in meditation.

If you do this every day, or as often as possible, you learn to take things less seriously and live in the present over a short period.

You appreciate that there is a state of mind which you can connect with whenever you need to, and it’s always within your control.

This creates an important foundation from which happiness can spring.

Letting Things Go

This can refer to physical things and clutter or emotional memories and events from the past.

Simplifying my house by removing physical clutter never fails to bring me happiness!

I always feel better after a good clear-out and can feel how the energy shifts.

It’s always important to let go of old habits, behavioral patterns, and ways of coping that just don’t serve you.

Forgiving and letting go of the past is also vital if you want to create a new future story for yourself.

Training yourself to focus instead on the present moment and the future you are creating from your now is crucial for your overall happiness.

Forgiveness is a big topic, and it never means condemning bad behavior but rather freeing yourself from the negative vibration attached to the emotions of shame, guilt, bitterness, or anger.

Completing Tasks and Celebrating Small Wins

This is a very simple and, in my opinion, underestimated way of boosting your overall happiness.

Creating lists of tasks and checking them off as you complete them boosts your dopamine levels.

Dopamine is a happiness chemical usually created by acts of short-term pleasure, such as receiving a text message or a ‘like’ on social media.

Why not take control of your own dopamine levels by creating those moments for yourself without relying on the actions or approval of other people.

Celebrate all your wins no matter how small.

Make sure that you integrate this into your everyday routines and watch how easy it is to create a feeling of joy simply by completing tasks for yourself.

Physical Exercise

It is so simple to turn a bad mood around with physical movement.

Go outside for a walk or a run, jump up and down on the spot or find some quick 5 minute workouts on youtube.

Anything you do to get your energy moving differently works to shake off your blues and get your endorphins pumping.

It’s the medicine we all need; make sure you get some daily.

Social Connections

You don’t have to throw a huge party to connect socially, just make sure you have supportive friends and people with who you can share things, it is so fundamental to your happiness to create lasting and genuine connections with people.

It’s also important to remember we are all part of a larger network, a community of human beings on this planet.

If you work from home or find yourself to be isolated frequently, take time to create connections with as many people as you can, whether it’s the store clerk or the mailman.

I am someone who loves solitude to work and create, however, I also need that human connection and when I don’t get enough of it I certainly feel my happiness dwindling.

Even virtual connections are important, so if you cannot get out and about, try to connect with real people in a sincere way through messages or phone calls as often as possible.

Learn to Manage Your Time Effectively

This is a big one for me.

Nothing creates more stress than feeling permanently busy and overwhelmed by life.

All of that negativity can be erased when you learn to manage your time effectively.

Understanding how long things take and factoring that time into your routine is vital.

Get very good at the way you structure your days and be realistic about what you can actually fit in.

Make sure you carve out time for the things that make you happy and peaceful!

Lastly, I recommend that you affirm to yourself each morning that you intend to be happy. You can use the following mantra or create your own.

I deserve happiness. Happiness is always available to me. My life is filled with joy and love. I am grateful for all that I have.