How to be happy

Philippines
September 2, 2009 11:53am CST
We all want to be happy in life though we can't control other people who will ruined our moods. Nobody is happy all of the time, Studies on what makes people happy reveal that it doesn't have much to do with material goods or high achievement. it seems to be up to your outlook on life, and the quality of your relationships with the people around you.
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5 responses
@krajibg (11923)
• Guwahati, India
2 Sep 09
There are some tips depicted below. Thought would be some help to you and others as well. Be optimistic. In the 1970s, researchers followed people who'd won the lottery and found that a year after they'd hit the jackpot, they were no happier than the people who didn't. They called it hedonic adaptation, which suggests that we each have a baseline level of happiness. No matter what happens, good or bad, the effect on our happiness is only temporary and we tend to rebound to our baseline level. Some people have a higher baseline happiness level than others, and that can be attributed in part to genetics, but it's also largely influenced by how you think.[1] So while the remainder of this article will help boost your happiness, only improving your attitude towards life will increase your happiness permanently. Here are some excellent starting points for doing that: How to Be Optimistic? How to Be Laid Back How to Live in the Moment Follow your gut. In one study, two groups of people were asked to pick out a poster to take home. One group was asked to analyze their decision carefully, weighing the pros and cons, and the other group was told to listen to their gut. Two weeks later, the group that followed their gut was happier with their posters than the group that analyzed their decisions.[2] Now, some of our decisions are more crucial than picking out posters, but by the time you're poring over your choice, the options you're weighing are probably very similar, and the difference will only temporarily affect your happiness. So next time you have a decision to make, and you're down to two or three options, just pick the one that feels right, and go with it. How to Follow Your Intuition? How to Stop Hesitating Make enough money to meet your basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing. In the US, that magic number is $40,000 a year. Any money you make beyond that will have negligible effects on your happiness. Remember the lottery winners mentioned earlier? Oodles of money didn't make them any happier, and it won't make you any happier. Once you make enough money to support your basic needs, your happiness is not significantly affected by how much money you make, but by your level of optimism.[3] Your comfort may increase with your salary, but comfort isn't what makes people happy. It makes people bored. That's why it's important to push beyond your comfort zone to fuel your growth as a person. Don't assume you're the exception, as in "Sure they didn't use their lottery money wisely, but if I won it, I'm spend it differently, and it'd definitely make me happier." Part of the reason many people are unhappy is because they don't think research-based advice about happiness applies to them, and they continue chasing more money and achievement and material goods in vain.[4] Stay close to friends and family. We live in a mobile society, where people follow jobs around the country and sometimes around the world. We do this because we think increases in salary will make us happier, but the fact is that our relationships with our friends and family have a far greater impact on our happiness than our jobs do. So next time you think about relocating, consider that you'd need a salary increase of over $100,000 USD to compensate for the loss of happiness you'd have from moving away from your friends and family.[5] But if your relationships with your family and friends are unhealthy or nonexistent, and you are bent on moving, choose a location where you'll be making about the same amount of money as everyone else; according to research, people feel more financially secure (and happier) when they're on similar financial footing as the people around them, regardless of what that footing is.[6] Stop expecting your job to make you happy. Many people expect the right job or the right career to dramatically change their level of happiness, but happiness research makes it clear that your level of optimism and the quality of your relationships eclipse the satisfaction you gain from your job.[7] If you have a positive outlook, you'll make the best of any job, and if you have good relationships with people, you won't depend on your job to give your life a greater sense of meaning. You'll find it in your interactions with the people you care about. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't aspire towards a job that'll make you happier; it means you should understand that the capacity of your job to make you happy is quite small in comparison to you outlook on life and your relationships with people.
• Philippines
21 Sep 09
thats a very informative post. tnx hehe
@hexeduser22 (7253)
• Philippines
21 Sep 09
The studies were right happiness was never really about material things and achievements. Contentment and a very positive outlook towards life is the key to long term happiness. You can be happy by what you gain in your life but one can never be too happy for that reason alone.
@EliteUser (3964)
• Australia
20 Sep 09
Hey, Yes it is all up to us to be happy, no one will make us happy. If we are not happy ourselves, I don't think we can rely on other people to make us happy. We just need to have the correct mindset, look on the brighter side. Make sure you have a good day, God bless and Happy Lotting!!
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
2 Sep 09
Yes material things and money are not going to bring you happiness. It has to do totally with the relationships in your life. Relationships family or friends are what makes people happy. How you have a wonderful bond with certain people in your life and how you can have fun within these relationships. If people think money will bring them happiness they are so wrong. It doesn't it just brings alot of misery.
• Malaysia
2 Sep 09
I look forward to the state of being happy... sometimes even the tiniest thing bring a significant meaning in our life. People always forget these tiny things that could make life a lot happier. While being happy is part of life, other frustrations and negative moods are also part of life... human beings as we are, these all complete the picture of our life. without such stuff too, life would be incomplete.