As I was lying in bed last night cuddling with my pup, I looked down at my sweatshirt and realized that "Create Happiness" was written in rainbow letters down the arm of one sleeve. This is exactly why I'd purchased the sweatshirt -- I loved the rainbow letters mostly -- but I'd forgotten all about it. In fact, I wasn't really sure I'd taken all that much time to think about it in the first place. Now that I'm writing about positivity, a phrase like "create happiness" grabs me more than it used to, and reading it last night really got me thinking. How do we create happiness? It's hard -- much harder than creating unhappiness, that's for sure. Happiness is different for everyone, but I'm pretty sure I've pinpointed a few tactics that almost everyone can use to create happiness...
Make other people happy. Whether it's a simple smile directed at a stranger or really going out of your way for someone you love, doing something for someone else almost always makes us happy. There's only one catch -- if you do something to make someone else happy, but it makes you unhappy, it's not likely to make you feel very good. Do nice things for others, but don't forget yourself in the process.
Be with others. As the type of person who generally gravitates towards alone time, this one is tricky for me to remember. I have a lot of fun by myself, which I personally think is a great quality to have, but I often miss out on spending time with others when I choose to be alone. Sometimes I have to force myself to go out or schedule lunch with a friend, but I almost always find that human interaction -- even for a short period of time -- brings me joy.
Smile. So simple, yet so easily forgotten. I once read somewhere that when you're feeling down, one easy way to pick yourself up is to look in the mirror and smile. Grumpily, I grumbled about how ridiculous that sounded, but when I tried it, it worked. Smiling at yourself--and at others--can really boost your happiness.
Do what you love. This sounds obvious, but I think a lot of people forget about it. They love painting or writing or taking long drives, but they never spend time doing those things. It's so easy to get caught in work and other "important" things and we often forget about making time for doing what makes us really happy. This is likely to be pretty different for everyone, but it's equally important for us all.
These are a few ideas, but there are so many ways that we can create happiness for ourselves and for those around us. It's just a matter of asking, "What can I do to create happiness?" We can find ideas and inspiration for creating happiness everywhere. For example, I certainly never thought that a sweatshirt I'd had for years could be inspiring, but it was! I was so surprised to look down and realize that happiness is something that can be created. We don't have to wait for it or find it or even just be it. We can create it.
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