An Exercise in Happiness – guest post by BREANNA HARWOOD

At the end of the day, happiness is an exercise. We’re trained to be discontent with everything we have. We need ‘the next best thing’ to be happy. We’re ugly unless we have the latest makeup pallets, incomplete until we’re in a relationship, and subpar until we have a large house and fancy car. We’re taught fear instead of love, and negativity sells.

However, I’ve spent a lot of time dedicated to learning how to foster happiness inside of myself. Instead of expecting life to treat me better, or waiting for something to happen, I decided to take my joy into my own hands.  These are some strategies and practices I’ve incorporated into my day-to-day, and I’m hoping they help you create your own happiness too.

Counting Happinesses

Whether you make a physical list or not, come up with a bunch of things that make you happy. Sometimes having an actual reference to look at helps. Whenever you’re feeling a little down, you can focus on the small, good things that make up life.

For Example, the smell after it rains or the first taste of food when you’re extra hungry. The sound of a cat purring. What little things in life make living worth it? What things do you often overlook that bring you a bit of joy and happiness?

Focusing on these things can help you get through the worst of days. Doing this exercise can also help teach you about yourself and what you value. Once you know what brings you joy, you can actively seek these things out in your life to make your days just that much better.

Creating Happinesses

When you start your day, plan happinesses for yourself. This might sound complicated, but it’s not.

For example, I love tea and taking baths. I also enjoy playing video games. On particularly bad days – and on even the mediocre ones – I make a point of forcing myself to do things I enjoy. And let me tell you – sometimes I literally have to force myself to do them. Drinking a cup of tea or having a bath won’t take my misery away. They certainly won’t make me feel better. However, scattering little happinesses throughout my day can increase my mood in the long run. I’m also taking care of myself and maintaining a semblance of a routine – even if that routine’s just having five cups of tea a day.

These things make me feel like me again. They allow me to have timeouts from life when I need them.

Imagining Happinesses

My last favorite exercise is this – imagining future joys I’m going to be able to have. Sometimes life looks so impossibly bleak that the idea of being happy in the future seems impossible. That’s why I focus on all the things I will get to do. They can be as realistic or unrealistic as you would like.

For example, one day, I’ll have a cute library. I’ll sit on the window seat I have under a warm, knitted blanket. I’ll be blowing on tea while I read a fantasy novel by a favorite author of mine. It’ll be warm and cozy. I’ll be surrounded by people who love me. My husband will come in, interrupting me only to bring me a tray of snacks he prepared for me for lunch.

I don’t know if this is ever going to happen. I might never have a moment in my life that looks like that. But taking time to imagine the joy of that moment and how much potential there is to create it motivates me to move forward and keep trying.

Inspire Happinesses in Others

There is no joy in the world quite like knowing that you’ve made someone’s day. I used to work in customer service, and my favorite part of it was always when I could improve someone’s mood. It’s a smile, a laugh, and suddenly you’re spreading happiness around your world. It’s contagious, and the more you give it away to the people around you, the more you’ll find it within yourself.

Negativity breeds negativity, just as happiness breeds happiness. By going out of your way to make someone’s day – even doing something as simple as listening to someone vent or telling a dumb joke – you’re giving yourself something as well as them. You’re creating a better, more positive environment for yourself as well as all those around you. You’ll be surprised how much joy comes back your way when you’re constantly giving it away.

It’s up to us to take our joy back into our own hands, to unlearn all the training of discontent and misery we’ve been taught. Putting these exercises into practice on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis teaches us how to take joy in the little things again. We can learn more about ourselves, therefore dedicating time for little bouts of self-love. Happiness is an attitude that needs to be fostered through actions – through how we choose to treat the people around us, and how we see the world we’re partaking in. It’s in learning how to find happinesses in the things we usually take for granted.

How do you practice happiness? What sort of habits or exercises do you have that inspire joy in your life?

Breanna Harwood has been writing stories ever since she could pick up a pen and form letters. While she specializes in fiction, she also enjoys personal essay and media analysis. She currently runs a blog, scripturients.com, where she aims to give writers the resources and tools they need to achieve their goals.

Thank you Breanna for this amazing contribution and life lesson that each of us needs to remember and apply to every day of our lives.