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If you are the kind of person who likes a list to work on self-improvement, then this top-10 breakdown is for you. Even if you feel pretty good about life, here are some tips to enrich it and embrace it further.
After all, who doesn’t want to have more smiles, family time, and restorative peace?
Remember the joy of running around outside as a kid? When do we lose that and begin to see exercise as a chore? Having a functional and active body is a great gift for which you should be grateful. Ideally, you should move for at least 30 minutes per day, five days per week. If that’s a challenge, do three 10-minute segments and enjoy the breaks in your routine.
Exercise pumps you full of great hormones and gives you a sense of accomplishment when you end your sweat session. It lowers stress and eases depression. It can also make you look slimmer, which should brighten your day as well.
Not only does sleep restore your energy and lead to more even moods, but it also sharpens your mind, so you get more done and have better memory retention. That frees up your brain and your schedule.
Overnight, your hippocampus sifts through your good or neutral memories while your amygdala works on the negative ones. When you toss and turn, your hippocampus doesn’t function as well, so you wake up with the dark moments at the forefront of your mind. That sets you up each morning primed to perceive and react to more negative stimuli than positive ones. You can do a quick reset with a nap, but it’s better to have a full night of restful sleep. Then, you can face the morning with a fresh, sunny outlook.
Reveling in the company of beloved friends and family members is one of the great joys in life. Don’t let time slip away without phone calls, visits, and video chats with the key people in your life, no matter how busy you get. The comfort level of being in the presence of trusted confidantes is a powerful antidote for the toxins in the world.
The more friends you have in middle age, the more you will thrive in later life as long as you stay in close contact with siblings and other long-time buddies. A healthy marriage or romantic partnership is also key to this equation. Those bonds make us feel safe and loved, plus it helps to have a ‘shorthand’ of cultural references and experiences with our peers.
Exposure to nature – its skies, sounds, and scents – makes us feel alive and connected to the world around us. That is why forest bathing is so good for our souls. A mere 20 minutes outdoors fires up your brain and your mood.
If you go from bed to a car to a cubicle and back again, you are depriving yourself of one of the greatest free gifts in life. Go for a walk on your lunch hour or break. Stop at a park on the way home. Listen to the birds. Feel the sunlight on your face or the grass between your toes. Give yourself a longer outing on weekends for an extra shot of joy.
Whether it’s raking leaves, shoveling snow for a neighbor, or making a donation to a children’s breakfast program, giving to others should make you smile. Sharing your wealth – with an action or a gift – spreads a warm glow through your heart and connects you to your community. Once you start giving back, it’s a habit that is wonderfully addictive.
Volunteering as a coach, tutor, or another role allows you to share your expertise and talents, enhancing your self-esteem. You also get a chance to make new friends, which ties back to number 3 on our list!
Smiling with your whole face makes you feel attuned to other people and sends cheery vibes to your brain, stimulating more feel-good sensations. That means connecting with eye contact to the person in front of you to reflect sincerity. Some people find that by making themselves smile they can feel some afterglow. If you need inspiration, think of a beach vacation or a cute puppy to get you started.
When you feel more optimistic, you think more creatively and handle setbacks better. That sets you up for more success, which should make you happier as well.
Simply having something to look forward to can boost your mood. If you’ve ever become excited about your impending vacation, you know what that is like. The anticipation of arriving, coupled with the fun of planning the experience, can give you a high before you even hit the beach.
Taking any break from your routine can have the same effect. If you want to spend a week reading at home, that’s a delight as well. Perhaps you would prefer to have time to tackle all those DIY projects at home over several days. Whatever is fun for you, enjoy it.
If you cannot get away, schedule something enjoyable for an evening or weekend so you look ahead to a special treat. Watch a favorite movie or go explore a trail you’ve been dying to visit. Make the most of it.
By stopping and deeply reflecting on your thoughts, you become calmer and more focused. That leads to self-awareness and compassion, making it easier for you to cope with stress. You literally clear your mind of all the junk that bungs up your brain and focus on the simple things that make you grateful and happy.
Soon, your brain will create new circuitry that focuses more on contentment and well-being. It equips you to be better able to filter out negative thoughts from others and assess how you react to outside stimuli.
Do you really need to live in a suburb far from your office or a tiny apartment that feels like a cage? As a result of our not-so-long-ago experience with the pandemic, more people are reassessing where they live and how it affects their happiness. Long drives in your car rob you of several hours of the day; large mortgages can feel like lead weights that commit you to work long shifts in high-stress situations.
Previous generations prized home ownership and a ‘work hard’ mentality. However, if you feel hemmed in, stop and look hard at your quality of life. You can switch it up and still have a decent place to reside. Don’t worry about impressing anyone except yourself.
It is surprising how little time we spend just appreciating the people and things around us as we chase new dreams. Pausing to acknowledge what we’ve done and who is by our side is very restorative. This practice used to be part of evening prayers, so you can return to that tradition by saying ‘thank you’ before bed or writing in a gratitude journal daily.
Like mindfulness, it focuses us on the present and how it feels. Even on bad days, you can enjoy the security of a home, the health of loved ones, and the food you eat to sustain you. Keep it simple. If you want to spread joy, write notes to people who enrich your life and thank them for what they have done for you.
As you get older, you tend to reflect more on your accomplishments and the joys of others, particularly family members. Without the stress of work, you have more time to do what pleases you, and you may become more nostalgic for the fun moments in your past. Seniors are more able to let go of toxic relationships and bad memories as they look at the legacies they will leave behind.
And that makes them happy.
