1. Be grateful. Slow down, look around you, and pay attention to the little
details in your life – the delicate purple flower on the sidewalk, the
beautiful sunset, the hot shower that washes away your long day, and the smile
in your partner’s eyes…
When you have a grateful heart that
is appreciative of life’s beautify, wonder and blessings, you’re automatically
filled with happiness.
2. Choose your friends
wisely. According to Harvard, the most
important external factors affecting individual happiness are human
relationships. So if you want to be happy, choose to be around people who are
optimistic, who appreciate you as you are, and who can make your life richer,
bigger, more fun, and more meaningful.
3. Cultivate
compassion. When we try to step into other
people’s shoes and understand a situation from another’s perspective, we’re
more likely to handle the situation with compassion, objectivity and
effectiveness. There will be less conflicts and more happiness.
4. Keep learning. Learning keeps us young and dreams
keep us alive. When we engage our brains and put them toward productive uses,
we’re less likely to dwell on unhappy thoughts and much more likely to feel
happy and fulfilled.
5. Become a problem
solver. Happy people are problem solvers.
When they encounter a challenge in life, they don’t beat themselves up and fall
into a depressive state. Instead, they face up to the challenge and channel
their energies toward finding creative a solution. By becoming a problem
solver, you’ll build up your self-confidence and your ability to accomplish
whatever it is you set your mind to – and whatever challenges life throws your
way. The result? You’ll have more happiness in your life.
6. Do what you love. Since we spend over one-third of our adult life working,
loving what we do has a huge impact on our overall happiness. It’s one of
life’s greatest blessings to find a line of work that we’re deeply passionate
about and that utilizes our greatest gifts. If this is not possible at the
moment, then try to find enjoyment and meaning in your current work, or
cultivate a hobby that involves doing something you love.
7. Live in the
present. When you feel depressed, you’re
living in the past. When you feel worried or anxious, you’re living in the
future. But when you feel content, happy and peaceful, you’re living in the
present.
8. Laugh often. Laughter is the most powerful anecdote to anger or
depression. Research has shown that the simple act of curving the corners of
your mouth can increase your feeling of happiness. So don’t take life too
seriously. Try to find humor and laughter in life’s everyday struggles.
9. Practice forgiveness. Resentment and anger are forms of self-punishment. When you
forgive, you’re actually practicing kindness to yourself. So learn to forgive
those who have hurt you in the past. And most importantly, learn to forgive
yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s through our mistakes that we learn and
grow to become a bigger and better person.
10. Say thanks often. Always be appreciative of the blessings in your life. And
it’s equally important to express your appreciation to those who’ve made your
life better in some way, big or small.
11. Create deeper
connections. Our happiness multiplies when we
connect and bond with another human being on a deeper level. And being fully
present and listening are two of the most important skills to strengthening
that bond and bringing happiness to ourselves, and to others.
12. Keep your
agreement. Our
self-esteem is built on the agreements we’ve made with ourselves. And high
self-esteem has a direct correlation to happiness. So keep your agreements with
others and with yourself. Do what you say you’re going to do.
13. Meditate. According to Harvard, people who take 8 sessions of
mindfulness meditation training are, on average, 20% happier than a control
group. Such training can lead to structural brain changes including increased
grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and
memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and
introspection.
14. Focus on what
you’re doing. When you put your mind, heart and
soul into what you’re doing, you’re creating a happiness state – called the
“flow.” When you’re living in the flow, you’re less likely to care about what
others may think of you, and less bothered by things that are not that
important. The result? More happiness, of course!
15. Be optimistic. For happy people, the glass is always half-full. If your
tendency is to imagine the very worst-case scenario every time you face a
challenge, then train yourself to reverse that tendency. Ask yourself what good
can come out of the situation or what you can learn from it. Optimism surely
fuels success and happiness.
16. Love unconditionally. No one is perfect. Accept yourself for all of your
imperfections. And do so for others. Loving someone unconditionally does not
mean that you need to spend all your time with them or help them figure out
their problems. Unconditional love means accepting people as they are, and
allowing them to find their own ways, at their own pace.
17. Don’t give up. Unfinished projects and repeated
defeats inevitably dampen one’s self-esteem. If you’ve made up your mind to do
something, see it through. Don’t give up until you succeed. Remember, failure is
temporary but defeat is permanent. And defeat only occurs when you give up.
18. Do your best and
then let go. Everyone has limitations, and things
don’t always turn out to be what we’d like them to be – despite our efforts. So
always give your best, and then let go. Let events run their course. When
you’ve done your best, you’ll have no regrets.
19. Take care of
yourself. A healthy body is the key to
happiness. If you have poor health, it’s very difficult to be happy no matter
how hard you try. So make sure you eat well, exercise and find time to rest.
Take good care of your body, your mind and your spirit.
20. Give back. Doing good is one of the surest ways to feel good. According
to Harvard, when people do good, their brains becomes active in the very same
reward center that is stimulated when they experience other rewards. So it’s
not a surprise that people who care more about others are happier than those
who care less about others.
為止」的意思，例如：(1)He never gives a cent to the poor. So much for all his talk about charity（他從來不施捨一毛錢濟貧，還空談甚麼仁愛）。(2) So much for this issue. Let's go on to the next item on the agenda（這個問題就談到這
