Most of us have heard the song. The good news is that we are in control of our own happiness and if you want to be happier than you currently are, and are prepared to work at it, you can experience more happiness in your life.
This is an empowering thought and it’s a relief to know that your happiness is not dependant on your partner, your family and friends, your bank account, your position or your golf handicap.
Here are 10 simple strategies for creating more happiness in your life. Reading them is a good start, but to make it happen, you have to actually do them
Step 1. Make a conscious decision to be happy and start to believe that real happiness is a real possibility.
Step 2. Determine what happiness means to you. Decide what’s important in your life & what you need to do to get more of it into your life.
Step 3. Think optimistically about achieving the life that you want to achieve. While being realistic, be positive and stay focussed on doing what you want and need to do to achieve happiness.
Step 4. Don’t go alone. Be with people who are important to you.
Step 5. Get organised and make plans. Success and happiness require a certain degree of good management. Learn to control what you can control, accept what you can’t control and be wise enough to know the difference.
Step 6. Live a healthy life. Happiness and success are more likely to be yours if you eat well, keep active and get enough sleep and rest.
Step 7. Have fun! Engage in more activities you find pleasurable and enjoyable. Be grateful for what you have in life, rather than focusing on what you don’t have.
Step 8. Find a sense of spirituality that works for you. Try to find a sense of purpose and meaning either through organised religion or another option.
Step 9. Go with your strengths rather than worrying about your weaknesses. Find what you’re good at & find ways to apply these strengths wherever possible.
Step 10. Persevere. Stick at it. Be prepared to work at attaining happiness and recognise that it might take some time to implement some of these steps.
These steps were designed by Prof.Timothy Sharp, founder of The Happiness Institute, and are covered in a lot more detail in our book “A Holistic Guide to a Happy Retirement” which you can order on the Home Page of this web site