10 Things You Can Do Each Day to Enhance Your Happiness Enhance Your Happiness

Everyone wants to be happy. Even animals are instinctively driven toward comfort and away from discomfort. Of course, you want to be happy, but what if being happy is simpler than you think? Enhance Your Happiness

There are many simple and easy things you can do each day that will increase the odds of feeling happy. You’ll enjoy doing them! They’re self-rewarding behaviors.

Take control of your happiness with these ideas: Enhance Your Happiness

1. Listen to music that you love. There aren’t many things that can influence your emotions faster than hearing a song that you love. You can find just about any song you please online for free these days. Set aside a few minutes each day to listen to a song or two that boosts your mood.

2. Be grateful. It only takes a moment to think of the good things in your life. You probably have food to eat, a friend or two, or a place to sleep that’s out of the rain. In fact, you probably have more than that. Remind yourself of the good things you have instead of focusing on the things you lack.

3. Spend some time outdoors. Sit in the sun, take a walk, or work in the garden. Your mind, body, and spirit need a little sun and fresh air each day. It can do wonders for your outlook on life. Enhance Your Happiness

4. Think happy thoughts. Your thoughts lead your emotions. If you think about something stressful, you’ll feel stressed. Think about something that makes you happy and you’ll feel happier. What are your happiest memories? There’s no harm in spending a few minutes thinking some happy thoughts!

5. Make progress. Studies have shown that one of the most powerful ways to increase happiness is to make progress toward a goal. It could be doing one extra push up, learning a new word in Italian, losing a pound, or learning a new scale on the piano. It doesn’t take a lot of progress to feel good.

6. Spend time with others. Back in the day, it was hard to find time to spend by yourself, but we’re more isolated these days. We chat with people online, text, and spend a lot of time alone. It’s important to have a meaningful face-to-face conversation once in a while.

7. Forgive quickly. It’s very challenging to be happy when you’re holding a grudge. Forgive quickly and easily if you want to be happier. That doesn’t mean you have to give the other person another chance. Forgiving someone doesn’t have to include the possibility of a repeat performance. Enhance Your Happiness

8. Be optimistic. An optimistic perspective produces a happier mood than a pessimistic perspective. It’s important to be realistic, too. Foolish optimism might feel good in the moment, but the pain is on its way. Have a hopeful, but reasonable, outlook on life.

9. Exercise. If you’ve been sitting all day, going for a long walk or a bike ride changes how you feel for the better. Being sedentary is hard on your mood. A little exercise can definitely boost your happiness.

10. Relax. Relax at least once each day. You could close your eyes and sit in the sun. Meditate. Take a nap. Do a little yoga. It’s up to you. Stress is an obstacle to happiness.

You don’t need a million dollars, a yacht, or a full-time housekeeper to be happy. A few simple behaviors done on a daily basis can move you closer to feeling happy each day.

What are you prepared to do today to enhance your happiness? Make a plan and add to your positive emotions.

11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

Your comfort zone is, well, comfortable. However, it’s a trap. Nothing new or spectacular happens in that comfortable place. Nothing changes.

If you want to grow and experience new things, it’s necessary to move beyond your comfort zone. This is easier said than done. 11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

Your brain makes your comfort zone feel good, because it believes that’s where you’re safe. The only way to go outside your comfort zone is to endure some discomfort. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the discomfort.

With time, you can teach yourself to enjoy this uncomfortable feeling, because you understand the potential it holds.

Try these techniques to break out of your comfort zone: 11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

1. Put your awareness on your surroundings. What ultimately makes you feel emotionally uncomfortable are your thoughts. You imagine the worst. You ruminate. You create stress and then proceed to magnify it.

> One way to short-circuit this process is turn your attention outward and focus on your environment. When you feel uncomfortable, focus on what you can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch.

2. Mentally rehearse. Mental rehearsal can be just as real to your brain as the real thing. Before acting outside of your comfort zone, mentally rehearse your actions and success in that situation. The more you practice (in your mind), the easier it will be for you when the time comes to physically do it.

> This can easily be done in bed just before falling asleep and immediately after awakening. 11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

> These are two powerful moments everyone should avoid wasting!

3. Change your wardrobe. You’re accustomed to dressing a certain way. Dressing in your usual manner doesn’t evoke any anxiety. An effective way to turn up the heat a bit is to change your style. You’ll feel slightly out of place, and at least a few people are bound to draw attention to the change.

4. Take a new route home. Shake things up a bit by taking a completely different route home. You never know what you’ll see that you’ve never seen before.

5. Give someone a compliment. Giving compliments can be a little nerve-racking. After all, you don’t know how they’ll take it. You also know that you’re putting them on the spot, because they’re forced to provide a reply. 11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

> However, it’s ultimately a positive experience for everyone involved and an effective way to stretch your comfort zone safely.

6. Spend time with risk-takers. The people you spend time with matters. Spend time with risk-takers, and you’re bound to feel a little bolder.

7. Compare the best and the worst outcomes. Many of the most rewarding opportunities in life have few downsides and huge upsides. 11 Ways to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

> Approaching an attractive person and applying for a job over your head are two simple examples.

> There are plenty of options in life with great upside and minimal downside. Realizing this can reduce your anxiety.

8. Take tiny steps. Take the smallest step you can that would feel like progress. Continue this process and eventually you’ll reach the end point and achieve what you set out to do!

9. Involve a friend. Take a friend along with you. Do you want to become comfortable talking to strangers? Would you like to take salsa lessons? Drag a friend along with you to any activity you’d like to try. You’ll have support and you won’t feel alone.

10. Pretend you’re a brave person. Imagine you’re an actor. How would you think, stand, and behave if you had to pretend you were brave? Become that person and take action.

11. Try something new. Take up a new activity that isn’t very threatening. It could be trying a new restaurant, going to see a play, dusting off your bike and going for a ride, learning to ride a motorcycle, or taking tennis lessons.

Have the courage to leave your comfort zone behind if only for a little time each week. You and your life will grow in new and interesting ways.

Remember: There’s nothing for you in your comfort zone besides comfort. Your life can be about much more than that!

Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

Since when did life get so complicated? What happened to the days of running wild and not having to worry about anything? Even as we’ve gotten older, it’s still fun to remember the good old days and the simplicity of life.

But truth be told, you can still have that feeling. With some daily effort, your life can be balanced between joy and simplicity.

What most people don’t realize is that their daily stressful lives are stressful because of themselves. They’ve booked themselves solid, ran themselves ragged, and planned too many “to-dos” to keep up.

Even though this might be you, you don’t have to accept it as your fate.

You can easily change your daily path and get back to the basic simplicities of life with just a few small changes.

Why spend your days catering to others when you can find your own joy first? Stop the madness of running yourself ragged and do yourself a favor.

Slow down and savor every single moment with these strategies:

1. Stop putting yourself on the backburner. Do you spend your time doing things for others and not doing anything for yourself?

> For just a few moments per day, do what you need to do for you. Smile at yourself in the mirror, tell yourself that you matter, and start off your day with your thoughts and feelings in mind. Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

2. Slow down and smell the roses. This means physically and mentally. It’s important to avoid rushing through your day and missing out on all the little moments in life.

> The moment that you stop rushing and start appreciating, you’ll begin to notice all the things that you’ve missed throughout the day. There are so many great things that you’re missing out on. Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

3. Read a book just for fun. Sometimes being an adult means that you have to read books and articles that you just don’t want to read.

> Instead, head to the local library and pick out a stack of books or magazines that you actually want to read. When you have a book in hand that you’re crazy about, reading becomes a whole new world. Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

4. Expand your family with a puppy. Having a puppy is a great way to have a loving animal greet you daily and make you feel as though everything you do is perfect. Plus, puppies give some of the best snuggles and kisses, too.

> If dogs are not your favorite, having a different pet can also bring many moments of simple joy to your life. Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

5. Allow yourself to say no. When you spend all day saying yes to others, it leaves nothing in your reserves left over for you. The time is now to start saying no and supporting your own needs.

> Your family and friends will get over this change and will actually more than likely understand. Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

Finding joy doesn’t have to take a ton of effort or time. You can easily make your life a better place with just a few simple changes.

Start by understanding what you’re missing in your life and then start factoring in the things that you need and want from there. Once you get a good grasp on it, you’re going to find self-love and happiness easily.

Allow yourself to fall in love with the idea that life is simple and wonderful. Your life holds so much joy if you let yourself see it.

Finding Joy in the Simplicity of Life

Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

Anxiety can happen quickly and seems to settle in for the long haul. If you’re worried that your anxiety is taking over, you can transform your current path and, instead, opt for ways you can take charge and restore function.

Stop anxiety in its path. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

Consider these tips on how you can use simple exercises to reduce your anxiety. Getting away from whatever you’re doing and moving your body is always a great way to calm the mind and help alleviate stress. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

Who knew that exercising could have such a positive effect?

Try these activities:

1. Go for a walk. Walking is not only a super simple exercise, but you can also do this anywhere that you are. Stepping outside your front door and taking a stroll around the neighborhood or in a nearby park can do wonders to calm your mind.

> If you’re in an office, taking a walk around the block on your lunch break can really help to break up the day and calm mental chaos. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

2. Ride a bike. Going for a bicycle ride isn’t just for kids. Biking is a really great exercise that moves your body and strengthens your leg muscles as well.

> Plus, when you’re on a bike, you get to bypass a lot of the traffic jams by riding around or up on the sidewalk to get by. It’s a great way to relieve stress.

3. Practice yoga. The calming effect of yoga is one reason that millions of people do yoga on a daily basis. Some refer to it more as a meditation time, but the stretching also brings you numerous benefits.

> Yoga can be done daily and in practically any location. It can allow you to have some control over daily anxiety and meet other mental and physical needs as well. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

4. Try jumping rope. As a child, you may have enjoyed jumping rope on the playground. This activity is also a simple way to relieve stress easily at home – even if you are an adult!

> The great part about jumping rope is that your mind is at ease while you’re focusing on how many times you can jump. It’s a simple way to stop the anxiety if even for a moment of time. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

5. Run. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a runner, get outside and hit the pavement. Or run on a treadmill indoors. The moment that your feet start moving, the stress will start to melt away.

> When you’re feeling extra stressed or anxious, just change up your run a bit. Run in bursts or sprint out some of that stress. You might be able to run anxious thoughts and feelings out of your system completely. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

When you’re feeling like the world is coming down on your shoulders, it’s time to take charge and do something about it. Put on your workout gear and let your body movement transport your mind to a better place.

The great thing about using exercise to relieve anxiety is that you’re also strengthening your physical health as well.

Exercise brings you so many benefits. Use it as a simple way to relieve stress and anxiety and calm your mind. Simple Exercises to Reduce Anxiety