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Habits of Happy People

    ·         Decide to be Happy

Happiness depends in the inner conditions and not the outer conditions. If we realize that we hold the power to decide what to feel regardless of what happens in our     environment/surroundings, you instantly gain happiness.

            Let me share a story from my friend’s (Aimee Merluza) post, she calls this “Law of the    Garbage Truck”.

            One day she hopped in a taxi and they took off for the airport. The taxi was driving in      the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of             it. The taxi driver slammed on the brakes, momentarily skidded and missed the black car by just inches! The driver of the black car turned his head around and started yelling.       The taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And the way he did it was really   friendly and not sarcastic. So my friend amazed with what the taxi driver did, asked,        “Why did you just do that? The guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"         That was the time she realized the taxi driver had just taught her a wonderful lesson,          she called it, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.”

            See, many people are like garbage trucks. They roam around full of garbage -      frustrations, anger, disappointments and negative feelings. As their garbage piles up, they eventually need a place to dump them and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't       take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their           garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

                        Happy and positive people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. They      just try to understand where the other person is coming from and move on. They know        that life is a combination of what you make it and how you take it. Because they know           that they have power over their feelings, outside factors rarely affect them, they always         decide to be happy.

• Apply the power of positive thinking

            Somewhat related to the first principle, thinking positive always give you feeling of          happiness. This is because when you think positive thoughts, more positive thoughts are       attracted to you. But on the contrary, when you get caught up in spiraling negative           thoughts like unreasonable fear or anxiety, notice how this thoughts magnify and             eventually blows out of proportion and as a result makes you more worried and restless.

            Happy people worked on controlling their thoughts and mastered how to harness the      power of positive thoughts. They always look on the positive side of things no matter            how bad the situation may seem. For the reason that they recognize how powerful      thoughts are. They are aware of the massive impact of thoughts in their life.

            So when you stumble or being bothered by a negative thought, try to silent your mind     and search for the calmness for a moment, noticed how the negative thought             diminished? Now convert the thought into the positive side and see how you instantly         feel great.

• Maintain emotional wellness

Emotional wellness, how can you keep your emotions well? By simply practicing the first 2 habits, you can maintain emotional wellness. I’m not implying that you would not have negative thoughts or down feelings. Negative thoughts and down feelings are common and often visit us. They are present to keep balance and comparison.

It’s not how much these emotions occur but how fast you can turn away from these emotions. When it comes to emotions, there are no rights or wrongs; they are feelings period. It becomes right or wrong by the way we handle them; how we manifest them in the physical world. Emotions are emotions; they become unhealthy when you mishandle them.

• Have an attitude of gratitude

Always feel thankful. Think of the things you should be thankful of. And for sure you’ll instantly feel better. This way, the focus would be on the good things. Learn to appreciate the little things the world gave you or other people did for you. And in return as a token of gratitude, pay it forward. Don’t expect anything in return for you already received them before hand. Reciprocate the blessings by being a blessing to others. Practice these in your life and eventually develop it to be an attitude and I dare you not feel happy.

• Live in the present

By living in the present, not entirely means that you have to forget the past or not consider the future; far from it. This just means that you have to take time and live one day a time. Leave the emotional baggage of the past. Stop living in the past. You don’t have to totally erase your past; squander the negative feelings but collect the lessons and let them be the guide in living in the present.

Let the future be your inspiration for the present knowing that each day lived would be one step closer to future you dreamed of. Don’t take it the other way around. Don’t worry too much of the future because you have the power in the present to shape that future. “Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its trouble, It empties today of its strength.” Instead, ride the great feeling of achieving the dream and feed from that feeling the energy needed to live the “gift.” (present)

• Love what you do, do what you love

This may sound like a cliché, but works well. What is a better way to feel happy than doing what you love and loving what you do. It’s very normal that people do what they love; they achieve pleasure every time they engage in the activities they love.

But what if you don’t like what you are doing? First ask yourself why? The reason maybe is that you’re not good at what is it that you do. Or you’re not getting the results you expected of what you do. Think of it this way, the first time you engaged in a sport/activity you like, were you good at it the first time? Did you get the result you wanted the first time? There are some rare times. (that’s why you’d hear someone say, “you’re a natural at this) But most often than not, most of us have to struggle the first time. But if you really love the activity, you develop the determination to continue and find ways to improve until you get the results you wanted. So really the secret is to love what you do and the rest will follow.

• Approach life with humor and laughter

This ain’t the first time you ever heard of this, “laughter is the best medicine.” You may not believe this but laughter really does heal the deadliest diseases. So think how much more it can do to improve feelings. When you approach life with humor and laughter, there would be very seldom times you would feel down. Even a simple smile can instantly change the way you feel. (I’m not talking about a smirk but a genuine one) What more if you live life with so much laughter. Have you ever notice the effect on you when you watch comedy films/shows? You instantly feel better and more alive once the crisp laughter is pulled out of you.

• Eat and live healthy

Eat healthy foods and live a healthy life. When the body feels good, it is easier to feel and think positively. We should all take care of our body by eating only the beneficial foods and by living a healthy life. Stray from foods, substances that eventually destroy the physical body; steer clear of habits that don’t benefit the body. When you feel good physically, it is much easier to think and act positively.

• Observe a healthy spiritual life

Probably one of the most important habits of happy people is observing a healthy spiritual life, and I’m not just talking about religious beliefs. True, religions offer feel good teachings based on their respective faith, but what about atheists, are we saying they’re not happy? Let’s not generalize that when we say spiritual that it has to be religious or have to do with religion.

“Some things are true whether we believe or not.” Like gravity for example, it is present and affects all regardless if we believe or not. And one thing that man has is spirit. Some may call it aura, vibration or in the religious aspect – soul. Continue to develop a healthy spiritual life; I’m not going to details because we have different take on the matter.

What I want to imply is that we should continue to develop that “spirit” which in turn affects our way of thinking, speaking, feeling and acting towards the positive.

Try to practice the habits every time you can, it may start as a single thread adding another thread every time until it becomes a strong cable that binds us to happiness. “First we make our habits and then our habits make us.” Won’t you rather make a habit of making happy?

And oh, so may I also share – The strangest secret of success is being happy most of the time.

Decide to be happy!