3 Lifestyle Changes to Boost Your Happiness



There are all sorts of ideas out there about just what goes into making a meaningful and worthwhile life – but, when all is said and done, happiness is one thing that we’re all searching for, day after day. There are many potential reasons why someone could be unhappy, and many potential fixes for any underlying problems. One might be that you have a particular physical feature that’s really negatively impacting your self-esteem. In this case a procedure like liposuction or a breast enlargement could be the solution. Often, though, happiness is more of an “aura” that you cultivate in your life by doing the right thing, moment by moment, and listening to the signals given out by your body and mind. Here are a few lifestyle changes you can make starting now, that have a high likelihood of boosting your overall happiness.

Start thinking more about “being a certain type of person”
Have you ever sat and listened to the way people talk about things like “getting in shape,” and felt as though there was some fundamental issue or confusion at the heart of the whole idea? Every January, thousands of New Year’s resolutionists flood into gyms far and wide, usually with some resolution in mind like “I will lose 30lbs by next December.” But what happens after hitting this milestone? Would it just be “back to business as usual,” and the same routines and lifestyle as before? Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams thinks that being goal-focused is not really a good thing. One of the reasons he gives for this is that when we are goal-focused, we are always in a state of stress and discontentment, more or less indefinitely.You’re not satisfied until you reach your goal (and you may never reach it), but if and when you do reach it, you’ve suddenly got no guiding force to give you motivation. In fact, it’s even worse than that – if you’ve been assuming that achieving a particular goal would make you truly happy and content, you’re likely to become extremely despondent and jaded when you do achieve that goal and find that it hasn’t completely transformed your life from top to bottom like you originally hoped it would. An alternative way of handling yourself, is to think more about “being a certain type of person,” than “achieving certain goals.” What this means is that you focus on carrying out the right daily routines, rituals, and habits, for their own sake, because that’s what “the person you want to be” would do. This is a much lower-stress way to go about things, it allows you to feel good about yourself right now, and it still helps you to progress in positive directions in your life.

Be less hard on yourself – some self-compassion can go a long way
It’s difficult to be happy if you’re prone to constantly berating yourself, and driving yourself to the verge of exhaustion in everything you do. People don’t respond very well to being talked down to, or to being worked the point of extreme exhaustion – and it certainly doesn’t make them happy to be in that situation. You are no different, and the fact that it’s you, yourself, acting as your own taskmaster doesn’t change things. Be less hard on yourself, and if you’re not performing up to the standard you want, ask “why?” Maybe you’re not well-rested, or maybe you’re working towards the wrong target. It’s better to try and understand and work with yourself, than to try and bully yourself.

Remove yourself from environments designed to mess with your psychology
Okay, so it may not actually be possible to completely detach yourself from environments designed to mess with your psychology – as, to some extent, virtually every environment is structured to tap into your desires, motivations, and fears on some level. Certain environments, however, are far more exploitative than others, and are far more likely to be harmful to your sense of happiness and well-being. Social media, for example, is well known to actively manipulate the human psychology of reward in all sorts of different ways, to keep people hooked on their services, and always searching for the next “like” or sign of social approval. But this is basically a mirage. You never get “enough” positive feedback with social media, and research shows that people who spend more time on social media are more likely to be depressed and anxious.

To improve your sense of happiness and well-being, strive to remove yourself from environments that are designed to mess with your mind and keep you discontented.