Early New Year’s resolution= practice happiness

I came across this great blog post, 12 Things Happy People Do Differently. I wrote up a summary for myself below.

1. Express gratitude: “that’s without having to go out and buy anything.” You already have what makes you happy.
2. Cultivate optimism: “People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.”
3. Avoid over thinking and social comparison: these are actually too different things!
   - I am the queen of over thinkers, sadly. So I spend countless hours, wasting my time, thinking about something that might not be right or might never happen.
   - You don’t want to be Kanya West and indeed you are noting less that anyone around you. No one’s life is prefect even if it seems prefect. “Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.”
4. Practice acts of kindness: I say practice acts of kindness as long as you are kind to yourself . If in order to say YES to someone, you have to say NO to yourself.... DO NOT DO IT! If Kindness is Serotonin, you do not want to rude its affect by cortisol or norepinephrine.
5. Nurture social relationships: Have “an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.”
6. Develop strategies for coping: “ crap happens – it’s inevitable.”
7. Learn to forgive: “your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.” Avoid negative emotions which can be brought up by hating others.
8. Increase flow experience: focus
9. Savour life’s joys: if you cannot enjoy it now, you cannot enjoy it ever. So why bother try reaching happiness in life. “smell the roses while you can.”
10. Commit to your goals: it makes you happy when you reach them
11. Practice spirituality: “When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us.”
12. Take care of your body: it is all you got and you only have one of it. Also, it helps with other elements.

All things mentioned above is to help us improve our:

• Physical energy
• Mental energy (our focus)
• Emotional energy (our feelings)
• Spiritual energy (our purpose)