#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.

#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. ;)