{"id":3558,"date":"2011-07-15T00:28:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T04:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=3558"},"modified":"2011-12-16T22:18:12","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T03:18:12","slug":"positivity-blog-10-practical-ways-to-live-a-happier-life-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=3558","title":{"rendered":"Positivity Blog &#8211; 10 Practical Ways to Live a Happier Life Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><strong>10 Pra<\/strong><\/span><strong>ctical Ways to Live a Happier Life Today<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Henrik Edberg.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMost people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Abraham Lincoln<\/strong><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhen one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Helen Keller<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cLet us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Marcel Proust<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metrolic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/happiness-hands.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" \/>Living a happier life often seems to be about living your big dreams and putting in a lot of work over a long time.<\/p>\n<p>I agree that it is one part. But another part of happiness is here in small ways today.<\/p>\n<p>So in this article I\u2019ll share ten small tweaks I like making to find more happiness in my daily life. I hope you\u2019ll find something here that you can use today to make your life better too.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Be kind in small ways.<\/strong> Let someone      in into your lane while driving your car. Hold up the door or hold the      elevator for a stranger. Not just because that you tend to get back what      you give in some form. But for yourself too, these little things add up      and make you feel better about yourself.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be appreciative of other people. <\/strong>Replace      the habit of spotting the things that annoy you about people with one      where you make small or big positive observations about them. It could be      their great sense of style when it comes to shoes, how they always make      you laugh when you need it or simply that they are always on time. Be sure      to tell them that.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cut back on the time you spend with most      negative person in your life. <\/strong>And spend more time with the most      positive person(s).<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cut out or cut down on the most negative      media influence in your life.<\/strong> It could be the news on TV, the      newspaper, some magazine or type of music, type of books or blogs or      websites. Replace that time and find new energy and inspiration from one      or more positive sources like inspiring movies and books. Or uplifting      music and people.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be 5 or 10 minutes early.<\/strong> This will      make travel time a time of relaxation and renewal rather than a time of      stress and negativity added to your day. Plus, you\u2019ll be on time.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Do what is not \u201cyou\u201d. <\/strong>Try a new dish      for lunch. Read a book or watch a movie that is not in your usual genre.      Learn a little about a topic that is not something you are usually into.      This is a great and fun way to find new perspectives in life, to grow and      to expand your comfort zone just a little on a daily or weekly basis.      Cultivating this habit also makes it easier to get out of your comfort      zone when larger and \u201cscarier\u201d opportunities present themselves.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Let go of one thing from your past. <\/strong>Clinging      on to an old conflict, argument or that you were wronged by someone can      consume a lot of time, energy and space in your life. It can also be oddly      comforting since you are so used to it. But life happens right now, day by      day. And as Jan Glidewell once said:<br \/>\n<em><strong>\u201cYou can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves      your arms too full to embrace the present.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong>So to stop hurting yourself you have to accept that what is in      your mind is in the past now. By accepting that it is in the past but also      in there inside of you as a memory you can start to decrease the hold this      memory has over you. By accepting that is there and that you need to let      go to live your life fully now that memory will lose much of its power.      And you can let go.<strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Take the smarter and higher road.<\/strong> Don\u2019t be someone the people can walk all over, set boundaries and say no      when needed. But recognize that unnecessary conflicts just waste your time      and energy. And that some people are so addicted to the drama and      conflicts that you will never win or reach an understanding between the      two of you. There are more fun and good things to spend time on in your      life. So try to reach an understanding. But if it doesn\u2019t work then remove      yourself from getting drawn into their conflicts and make the day better      for both you and possibly them.<strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Be kind to yourself.<\/strong> The next time      you make a mistake or fail don\u2019t treat yourself like a jerk of a boss      would. Instead, be kind, see what you can learn from what happened, gently      nudge yourself in the right direction again and keep going.<strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Appreciate yourself.<\/strong> It\u2019s OK and      something that a lot of people don\u2019t do enough. Spend 5 minutes tonight      with thinking about or writing down in journal the things you can      appreciate about yourself and how far you have come. Do this enough times      \u2013 try 30 days \u2013 to\u00a0change\u00a0 how you view yourself on a more      permanent level.<strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.positivityblog.com\/_images\/henke_about.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"149\" height=\"172\" \/>[<strong>Henrik Edberg<\/strong> is the author of the <a href=\"http:\/\/premium.positivityblog.com\/simplicity\/\">Simplicity<\/a> course, <a href=\"http:\/\/premium.positivityblog.com\/artofrelaxedproductivity\/\">The Art of Relaxed Productivity<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/premium.positivityblog.com\/powerofpositivity\/\">The Power of Positivity<\/a>. He writes regularly on Positivity Blog, an internet blog with over 40,000 readers, talking about improving your social life, health, happiness, productivity and general awesomeness. For more information about Henrik and his blog, please go to: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.positivityblog.com\/\">http:\/\/www.positivityblog.com<\/a> . ]<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><div style=\"padding-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:10pt;font-family:arial;font-weight:bold;\">Do you like this? 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Henrik Edberg. \u201cMost people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.\u201d Abraham Lincoln \u201cWhen one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/?p=3558\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[765],"tags":[356,525,434],"class_list":["post-3558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-positivity-2","tag-happiness","tag-list","tag-positivity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yang-sheng.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}