#8 Think positive

A famous quote of the Dailai Lama is: “See the positive side, the potential, and make an effort.” 

I have to admit that it is quite easy to fall prey to negative thinking. Having negative thoughts can only bring you pain, something that everyone has experienced many times throughout their life. 

Negative thoughts drain you of energy and keep you from being and enjoying the present moment. The more you give in to your negative thoughts, the stronger they become. A small negative thought can become a huge and ugly problem. Similarly, a small positive thought can have the same effect blossoming into a beautiful outcome.

When we start to have negative thoughts, it’s difficult to stop them. And it’s much easier said than done to shift your focus to positive thoughts. But it’s the only way to avoid going down a painful and unnecessary path.

The most important thing is to change the tone of your thoughts from negative to positive, it's not as hard as we think. For example, instead of seeing things as issues to solve it would be positive to see it as challenges to overcome.

A little thing that surprisingly works is to place some post-it with positive quotes or sentences on the fridge, mirror, computer, where you can see them everyday, to keep in mind to stay positive.

#7 Travel

Travel is good for lots of things, but it can also increase your well-being - and sometimes in the long-term. Whether you are traveling for business or with your family, traveling can make you a happier person by building self-confidence, providing new experiences and memories, breaking routine and allowing you to meet people from very different places.

You can become more self-confident as traveling can make you deal with unexpected situations.

Even if you're the kind of person to plan things to the letter and by advance, things can take a surprise turn. Whatever happens, there is a way around the problem and knowing that you can deal with these situations is a big boost to self-confidence and your happiness.

Also, being away from things we often take for granted -family, close friends, home- makes us appreciate them more. Calling home becomes something to look forward to: your parents would be more than happy to hear about your travel stories.

Making new friends become easier as people are more open to talk to strangers on a bus or strike up conversation in a bar for example. When people are away from home, there seem to be less boundaries to cross, strangers can become your friends whether it’s a local curious to know where you’ve come from or travellers keen to have someone with whom to share a taxi. Social interactions make us happier and increasing our social circle allow us to learn more.

#6 Spend some time with your family

We don’t chose our familly. In any case, not where she comes from. But the family we are part of is our number 1 source of happiness.

Some researchs conducted on happiness have shown that regardless of age, gender, culture, socio-economic background, it is indeed love, friendship and parenting that are the first ingredients of happiness.

The meaning we give to our life depends on three things:interpersonal relationships (the heart), beliefs and values (the head) and action, what we like to do (the hand).

For many, family is seen as a consulting space, support and solidarity. More globally, it is seen as the first

space of trust for individuals far ahead of the public and governing bodies. A safe space to share ideas, 

moments and memories.

I think we all know we love our family, but in our busy life we sometimes forgot how good it feels to spend

some time as a family and share some family moments. We all should realise that making room for our family

is essential and that it can make us really happier.

#5 Surround yourself with nature

Nature is an effective anti-stress agent, whether we are talking about sun, trees or flowers.

I am sure that you noticed that you feel a lot better and you spend a nicer day when the weather is sunny. The link between a beautiful weather and morale was discovered by Norman Rosenthal a South African psychiatrist, in the 1980's. After emigrating from Johannesburg to New York, he felt depressed and sad over the winter. The winter blues was named for the first time "Saisonal Affective Disorder". Since then, many studies confirmed this link between sun and morale. Several studies show that the sun's rays affect the human morale via an hormone: the melatonin. When the latter is secreted too much, we have a malfunction of our chronobiological rythms and therefore we can be more tired, cranky and have the blues.

Plants also have an effect on our morale. Several studies confirmed that proximity with plants, trees and flowers have a soothing and benefactor power. Obviously we don't all have the opportunity to be surrounded by trees and flowers, but for those who live in town there is a solution! It was proven that artificial nature could have the same positive effect. So when you don't have time to have a walk in a park, don't hesitate to put nature inside your home! It's pretty and good for your serenity. ;)

#4 Give to help yourself

The general idea is that you should give until you succeed.  An author, Adam Grant, explaining in his forthcoming book Give and Take, how generosity helps you thrive, not fail - even in the most difficult situations. 

 

A simple thing that can really work: buy a cute top for your mother. Some researchers from the Harvard Business School, the Universityof British Columbia and Liège University have thus established that buying something for someone else - as long as it does not exceed a reasonable range of 2-10 pounds - makes you happier than buying the same thing for yourself . 

So don't hesitate to use your credit card for someone you love!

It will be beneficial for both of you!! :)

 

#3 Enjoy yourself

Take some time to do something you like! At least once a day. Some really simple things can make you happier.

For some it will be getting some exercise, going for a run, going to the gym... For some others it will be going out with some friends and just have fun. And for others it will be taking some time to relax by taking a very hot bath, reading a book or watching a series.

I personally think that all of them are really important for morale, as exercising make your body produce more endorphin (which makes you feel good) than usual and as going out and relaxing are needed to take out all the stress collected. 

What really works is to switch during the week: one day you get some exercise, another day you watch a movie and another one you go out to meet some friends.

What you need to do is find what little things make you happy! 

It doesn't necessary take a lot of time, for example I literally LOVE relaxing, so my little moment to enjoy myself is to have a cup of tea! How simple is it?

What about you? What is your little moment for yourself?

#2 Take care of yourself

Obviousness? Not in the facts.

It is proven that a lot of anxious people do the contrary. The more they feel bad, the more they mistreat themselves; and it becomes a vicious circle.

Wake up in the morning and try to take care of yourself, as an individual before anything else is more important than you think. Put on the clothes you like, doing up hair, put some makeup on for girls is an incredible help for those who lack self-confidence. Think of the difference you can make when you feel confortable and more confident! Your family, colleagues or classmates can see and feel the difference, and believe me it feels so good to see the difference in the way they look at you and talk to you.

I know that many people recommend not to pay attention to what others can think of yourself. But, in reality the way people look at you and can to judge you can affect you a lot. So for once, let’s use the power they have on you to make you feel better! ;)

Once again, what you need to do is just to make this 5-30 minutes effort, once a day, to feel more confident for the rest of the day! Try tomorrow and believe me you won't make the mistake of going to work or university feeling one level lower than everyone else.

Please feel free to share your version of this experient by using the comment button below!