11 Convincing Habits of Happy People (According to Psychology)
Routines of Happiness. What distinguishes happy people from unhappy people? It is no accident how we feel and how we look at our lives. Happiness is not a birthright, it is not hereditary, and it does not mean winning the lottery. We all make the decision to be a happy person every day, or not. Happiness is not even linked to wealth or poverty, although a certain degree of financial security and social stability is of course helpful. But even if all the prerequisites were the same for all people: That wouldn’t guarantee all of them would be happy. Happiness is a way of life. The good news in this context is that we all have it in our own hands every day to decide whether we want to be happy or not. In this article, we'll show you eleven amazing, simple habits that distinguish happy people from the less happy.
1. Starting the day with coffee.
And here comes the good news for all caffeine lovers: studies have now been able to prove that moderate daily coffee consumption effectively counteracts the risk of depression. Expressed in figures: coffee drinkers have a 20 percent lower risk of becoming depressed and a 53 percent lower risk of committing suicide one day. The main reason for this is that caffeine stimulates our bodies to increase dopamine levels in the brain, and more dopamine means more feelings of happiness.
2. Harnessing the power of nature.
It's been no secret for a long time: sunlight, oxygen and the calming effects of lush green meadows, mystical forests and bodies of water have an extremely positive effect on our mental and physical well-being. If brisk exercise is added to this, happiness hormones are also released. The cortisol level, on the other hand, which is responsible for stress, decreases. It’s especially an excursion into the forest that has extremely positive effects on our body and our soul. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the type of forest bathing that’s in style right now. A round of walking every day is enough to boost happiness enormously.
3. Thinking positive!
It's no coincidence that this statement has been a popular motto on T-shirts, caps and the like for decades. A positive mindset basically controls every minute of our day. If you manage to push negative thoughts aside and replace them with positive or at least neutral ones, you can give your life a completely new direction. There are numerous instructions and tricks on how to escape the negative spiral of your dark thought processes with confidence.
4. Feeling gratitude write large.
Words can hardly describe the value of gratitude for a happy life. It is the key to the promised land, the basis for everything good and beautiful, and it is completely free. If you want to attract more happiness or prosperity into your life, you simply have to be grateful for everything that already belongs to you. Happy people keep a gratitude diary more often than average. Every day, they note down at least three things for which they are grateful. These can be truly great things, such as health, security and family, but there is also nothing to be said against being grateful for having managed to get a seat on the bus or the last piece of apple pie at the bakery. The power of gratitude rests in itself. It is not a question of size or dimension. A quick prayer to heaven, to whomever it may be, doesn't hurt either, if you've had a stroke of luck or escaped a mishap by a hair's breadth.
5. Putting realistic goals on paper.
While New Year's resolutions formulated in a champagne mood half-heartedly and usually without commitment, make us rather unhappy, there is a variant that makes for the exact opposite. A study by the University of California was able to prove that people who write down their goals achieve more than those who did not do so or communicated them only in verbal form. When we hand write our goals on paper, the success rate is high and the resulting sense of accomplishment is a powerful boost in terms of happiness. If there are goals you desperately want to achieve in your life, take a piece of paper or a beautiful postcard and write down your own personal milestones. They can be big or small accomplishments. Again, size does not matter for success. However, it pays to focus on specific and realistic steps rather than earth-shattering ones.
6. Meditation as a daily ritual.
The power of meditation has been known to mankind for a very long time. We still associate it with orange-robed monks in Tibet. However, praying the rosary, singing Gregorian chants, sitting around a campfire, and walking in silence also fall under meditation. Those who don't want to think at all can stare out the window in silence for ten minutes. Even in this demonstrative doing of nothing there is enormous potential for drawing new energy and strength for the day. Happy people almost always practice some form of meditation, even if they don't recognize it as such.
7. Using blues to lift spirits.
It sounds like a total contradiction in terms, but listening to sad music lifts our mood. Again, a hormone has a hand in this. Studies have been able to prove that listening to sad music can significantly increase our prolactin levels. As a result, the melancholic sounds have a comforting effect on our soul.
8. Expressing feelings in writing.
Diary writing is, unfortunately, an art form that has been completely forgotten and gone out of fashion over the years. Yet it can not only have an excellent therapeutic effect on us, but it even triggers feelings of happiness. Writing down our thoughts and feelings by hand every day helps to relieve stress and bring order to our head. Strong emotions are calmed this way, half processed by the simple act of putting them on paper.
9. Marveling and admiring.
We should all allow ourselves one wow experience a day. We probably can't enjoy the spectacular view from the top of a mountain all the time, but seeing the wonderful in the mundane, perhaps just by looking at the clouds or stars, is a happiness factor that is often underestimated.
10. Spending money, but on others.
Spending money on ourselves only gives us an emotional kick for a brief moment. However, donating to a good cause, giving a few coins to a street musician or giving a cup of coffee to a homeless person lifts our spirits, at least for the rest of the day. Doing good for others is a habit that clearly adds value to our own happiness balance.
11. Studying unusual life stories.
Adventures are allowed to take place in our minds, and they make us happy even if we don't experience them ourselves. Reading the biographies of discoverers and pioneers, researchers or other extraordinary personalities actually makes us happy.
Today’s Conclusion:
Daily effort determines happiness. These eleven simple habits show how easy it can be to make your own good luck. Combining everyday routines with happiness routines is neither costly nor time-consuming, and as with all winning new habits, the power is in the repetition.