How to Increase Your Happiness to Change Your Life

How can you increase your happiness?

In my opinion, happiness is a choice and a deep spiritual awareness that we all have access to. However, there are many things that can prevent any one of us from our happiness - the most important thing is life circumstances. Of course, improving the circumstances surrounding your life can improve your happiness to a great extent but that's always easier said than done.

What else can you do?

Luckily there are a few options available to you and a few 'hacks' that can actually greatly boost your mood and your health. Bear in mind that health and happiness are very closely linked.

Sad (Mood)

One of the biggest regulators of our mood is the weather and even if you don't have 'seasonal affective disorder' you're likely to have much more energy and to be much happier when it's sunny.

If you live somewhere that's dark in winter though, you can "hack' the effect that the sun has on your brain. One way to do this is with a 'daylight lamp' which creates light in your home that has the same wavelength of the sun. If you get one with a built-in alarm, you can get it to wake you up with a pleasing effect similar to a sunrise. You will start every day feeling healthier and more energetic.

Sleep

We all know that good sleep is often hard to come by but, improving your sleep is crucial for your mental health and happiness. Being well rested is essential to your mood, stress management, and cognitive function. In order to make sure that you are getting lots of healthy sleep it's important for you to take the time to wind down in the evening - there are many things you can do, but let's take a look at my favorites:

1. Avoid caffeine and sugar 6 hours before going to sleep.

2. Eat dinner at least 3 hours before bed.

3. Stay hydrated and keep a glass of water near the bed.

4. Take a relaxing bath with Lavendar or chamomile oil or, a hot shower with a Lavendar shower balm.

5. Purchase an aromatherapy diffuser for your bedroom.

6. Journaling - when you journal you clear your mind of stress and anxiety.

7. Meditation / Calming Music

8. Making sure your room is perfectly dark when going to sleep. Don't underestimate the importance of this aspect - it is critical for your mood and performance the next day.

Exercise

Exercise is also very important for your mood and performance. Not only will this improve your health, thereby getting more energy to your brain and thus keeping you happy, but it will also stimulate the production of endorphins that make you feel much happier and much luckier.

Generally, it can also help to streamline your lifestyle and to remove as many stressors as you can - whether that means having less clutter in your rooms (this makes a huge difference) or it means using systems to automate some of your jobs.

Gratitude Attitude

One of the most powerful ways to transform your happiness is to change what you focus on. You can have the best life in the world, but if you only focus on what is missing, you will never be happy.

Instead, learn to focus on the good by spending time every day writing down things you are grateful for, things you have done well, and things you are excited about. This last one is truly game-changing.

Remember: Self-care is the best care and it's important and essential to your overall wellbeing.

XOXO,

Stacey