7 valuable steps to boost your happiness - happy things in life

7 Valuable Steps to Boost YOUR Happiness

Do you know that feeling that you wanted to feel happier but you just didn’t really know how to make that happen?
Search no more because you came to the right place! Here you will read all about Your 7 steps to happiness

Already excited and can’t wait to get started?
Boost your day with the Happiness Checklist.
You’ll add more joy & happiness to your day in just 5 – 10 minutes!

The happiness checklist - Happy Things In life

Step 1: GRATITUDE

What are you grateful for today?

Did you know that gratitude is the ultimate antidote to unhappiness?
This is because experiencing gratitude helps you to see the bright sight of things when life can otherwise feel impossible.
It enables you to appreciate all your circumstances and all that you have, rather than on focusing on what you don’t have.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting gratitude is always easy. We all know life is far from perfect. But…
The more you practice gratitude, the easier it will become and the more benefits you will experience.

Did you know that gratitude is most valuable when we are experiencing challenges, pain, loss? Plus the best thing about gratitude is… IT’S FREE!

TAKE ACTION

What am I grateful for today?

Ask yourself this question when you wake up tomorrow morning.
By becoming more aware of all we have, our fulfillment and happiness will grow!

Step 2: SELF-LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE

Let’s fill your cup with self-love!

Did you know that the way you think about yourself, is more directly connected to your happiness than the circumstances of your life?

Self-love and acceptance are crucial to experience more day-to-day joy.
Without being aware of it, it is possible that you are incredibly self-critical. We are judging ourselves for everything.

All the things we don’t have enough of because we are always pushing ourselves to achieve more. More money, love, success, talent, security, beauty, possessions… We have the idea that the more we push ourselves, the happier we will be.

What if I told you that isn’t true? That it’s not through judgment that we find motivation or happiness.
That it’s through self-love & acceptance and that happiness and self-love go hand in hand!
It is our level of self-acceptance that determents the level of our happiness.

You could say that practicing self-love and acceptance is an invitation to stop judging yourself.
It’s about accepting who you are with an open heart and treating yourself with the same kindness, love, and compassion you would offer a good friend.

TAKE ACTION

Take a moment to think about your strengths and weaknesses and how they turn you into that amazing and unique person that you are!

Step 3: LETTING GO

What are you holding on to?

Did you know that one of the biggest things that hold people back from experiencing true happiness in their life is resentment? Yup, just putting it out there. 😉
That’s why it’s so important to practice the ability to let go.

In life, it is natural for us to want things to go a certain way. If we had it our way, we would probably control everything. Our life, the people in it, work, the weather, and so on. But that’s just not possible.

However, we CAN control how we respond to things when they don’t go our way. And the answer… is in letting go.

TAKE ACTION

Is there someone you would like to forgive? Maybe yourself or someone close to you?

Take a moment to reflect on what pain not forgiving that person is causing in your life.
Because chances are big that the other person has already moved on. Try to think about the lesson you could learn from it and then try to let it go.

Forgiving someone is not about wanting an apology from them or wanting them to do something. It’s about doing it for yourself!

Step 4: BEING IN THE MOMENT

I’ll be happy when…

Often, I hear people say “I’ll be happy when…”

We expect that happiness is somewhere out there in our future. We hope to find it in our next relationship, purchase, or experience. The only thing is… as soon as we satisfy one need, another one pops up… This leaves us unhappy and unfulfilled.

Yes, we might experience happiness for a short time but ultimately, it’s fleeting and we are right back at where we started. Pursuing things that you don’t have in order to make you happy, is a never-ending race.

In order to find real, sustainable happiness, you have to stop looking for it in the future. Because your true happiness can be found in 👏 THIS 👏 VERY 👏 MOMENT.

TAKE ACTION

One way to be more present in the moment is to become more aware of your senses. Take a moment to focus on what you see, feel, smell, hear, taste, and ask yourself the question “What is happening HERE & NOW?”

Step 5: EMBRACING UNCERTAINTY

Become fearless and unstoppable!

Don’t you just feel most comfortable when it feels like you’ve got life under control?

Sorry to be the party pooper here, because unfortunately, we can’t ever be certain of what the future holds. Even when it looks like things are going one way, anything can change in an instance. And let’s be honest… Change, of any type, can be scary!

It challenges our ideas and feelings of safety and security. Plus it might involve risk, failure, or heartbreak.

We have such a fear of the unknown, we’ll do almost anything to prevent it. This might result in staying in an unhealthy relationship or job. Or not taking a risk towards your dreams & goals because you might fail…

By staying in our comfort zone, we are trying to protect ourselves. But change is a constant and is always right around the corner.
That leaves us with a choice: we can either live with fear or learn to embrace uncertainty.

TAKE ACTION

Change itself is not the hard part; resistance to the change is.
Ask yourself these three questions to see what you need to change.

  • What do I need to stop resisting?
  • What do I need to get honest about?
  • What am I avoiding?

Step 6: PRIORITIZING YOUR NEEDS

Let’s start moving

How often does it happen to you that you’re so busy that your health gets sacrificed? Not because you want to, but because you have to prioritize.

→ Preparing healthy food is time consuming so you decide to eat out or to skip a meal…
→ You postpone hitting the gym…
→ Getting enough sleep becomes a rarity…
→ And taking a time out to give your racing mind a break becomes a fantasy.

Life takes over, your health drops, and you wonder why you aren’t happy.

Now you might not want to hear this but exercise is one of the most effective instant happiness boosters of all time.
Study after study has shown that regular physical activity increases happiness and reduces anxiety, stress, and depression.
Not only does exercising strengthen your body, it also enhances your mood and sleep.

TAKE ACTION

Woohoo, let’s start moving. Awesome ways to move AND strengthen your body are yoga, pilates, and kickboxing. But also think of dancing to your favorite song and gardening.
Nowadays there are so many free lessons available on youtube. Pick one and have fun!

Step 7: HAVING FUN

Ready, Set, Go!

Time flies when you’re having fun!

Talking about fun… Let’s make sure to end this last day with a good laugh. And I mean a good laugh. One of those big laughs that bring tears to your eyes. When was the last time you had one of those?

If you’re lucky, it might have been yesterday. But often we are so busy trying to get our to-do list done, that laughter isn’t as familiar anymore as it once was.

Did you know that children laugh on average up to 300 times a day? For adults, about 17 times. Ouch…

Of course, children don’t have the same concerns and responsibilities as we do, but one of the reasons why they laugh more is because playtime is on their calendar.

So why don’t we do the same?

TAKE ACTION

Take a moment to sit down and decide what fun means to YOU.
You can think about the fun things you liked to do as a child to see whether you still like them or not.
Talk about fun things to do with friends and family and of course don’t forget about our best friend Google haha.

Make sure to set a fun minimum for the week and put it in your schedule!

ARE YOU READY TO BOOST YOUR HAPPINESS?

That’s it. These are the 7 fundamentals of happiness.
The 7 valuable steps to boost YOUR happiness!

It’s most definitely not a one-afternoon-fix so make sure to take your time to go through them.

In my FREE 7-day training “Your 7 Days to Happiness” you will dive deeper into each fundamental by receiving an email and workbook every day. These are loaded with valuable questions and exercises!

Also, make sure to join the Facebook community!

An awesome group filled with positive women who are determined to add more happiness into their lives as well
AND where I run a FREE 5-day challenge about the 7 fundamentals of happiness. This means diving even deeper AND you get to ask me questions as well!

Wishing you all a very happy day,

Claudia Degen
Start creating the happy life you want! Happy Things in Life by Claudia Degen

7 thoughts on “7 Valuable Steps to Boost YOUR Happiness”

  1. Very true Claudia, I love these 7!
    Bringing more good for ourselves & to the world!

    In a way, in my mind, all 7 are deeply connected with ‘Patience’.
    As it helps to embrace and live by these wonderful values and good habits. Patience is a main ingredient helping with being in the moment, feeling gratitude, being able to let go, allowing acceptance, having a balanced perspective about our priorities, and remaining confident and optimistic.
    And aware-breathing can tremendously help with improving patience levels.

    Also, LOVE the connection of the senses to help practicing being in the moment, I am a big believer!

    Cheers to creating amazing content!

    1. Thank you so much for your kind words N!
      I agree, feeling happy and fulfilled isn’t an overnight thing, and implementing the 7 steps will take some time and deep work. Handing the right tools is just the start of a beautiful journey!

      Thank you for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment!!

  2. Pingback: 8 Ways to Practice Self-Compassion and to Increase Your Happiness - Happy Things in Life

  3. Great post! I really need to work on being in the moment and embracing uncertainty. Such helpful reminders that I will be referring back to. Thanks

Comments are closed.