Senior Living

9 Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier

We have all heard the old adage, “it is almost impossible to make others happy if you are not happy yourself.” With that in mind, here are nine small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you are like most people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life. Give a few of them a try!

1. Start each day with expectations. If there’s any big truth about life, it’s that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations.

Therefore, when you rise from bed in the morning, make your first thought: “Something wonderful is going to happen today.” And guess what? You are probably right.

2. Take time to plan and prioritize. The most common source of stress is the perception that you have too much to do. Rather than obsess about it, pick one thing that will move you closer to getting your ‘to do’ list done if you get it done today.

3. Give a gift to everyone you meet. Not a formal present, but a smile, a word of thanks or encouragement, even a friendly nod. minds, you don’t really know the “why” behind the “what” that people do. Imputing motives into other people’s behaviors just adds extra misery to life.

5. Eat high-quality food slowly. Sometimes, we can’t avoid eating something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, try to eat something delicious at least once a day, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

6. Let go of results. The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing n events that are outside of our control.

Once you have taken action, focus on that rather than what might happen.

7. Turn off “background” TV. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life, and so you will buy more stuff.

8. End each day with gratitude. Before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. Whether it is large or small, be grateful because that day will never come again.