A Guide to Happiness

ALOHA HAPPINESS WARRIORS, 

this blog post will be all about the one thing we're all (desperately?) trying to achieve: happiness. Happiness is defined as an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment, and while we all have a pretty common understanding about what happiness actually is, it can look entirely different for everyone of us.

What's your definition of happiness? For me, it's being in the exact moment I'm in, enjoying every second of it without dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. It's strongly connected to nature – or the simple fact of being outside – and I also just recently discovered that it's very much linked to my physical health and my basic human needs such as good food, some ice cold lemonade as well as making sure I'm getting enough sleep or finding the time to rest. The older I get and the better I get to know myself, I realize I can get very happy quickly when I'm alone, taking care of myself. Realizing what's good for you and capturing these moments you are experiencing joy is key to understanding how happiness can grow. Writing this down, observing myself and my habits alone was very rewarding: I discovered that achieving happiness is easier than I thought it was and that I can find it more easily than I had imagined. 

Scroll down to read about my tips for achieving happiness: 

DECIDE TO BE HAPPY

When sharing my tips on how to be happy, I want you to know that I am neither an expert on this, nor happy all day every day. Finding happiness can be very challenging, but so rewarding when you make it your goal. Within the next paragraphs, I will share my personal tips, my very own mini guide to happiness, with you and hope it will inspire you to try maybe a few things yourself. It's easier said than done as things are so often in life, but what helped me might help you and so it's worth sharing I guess! 

Decide to be happy. I never really liked the phrase "happiness is a choice" because I always thought it included accepting uncomfortable things, or worse ignoring it, by just convincing yourself that you're happy. Well, obviously, that's not how it works. But what we can do is to decide that we want to be happy, to understand what makes us happy, and to be grateful for what we have. Decide to write down what makes you happy. Decide to actually do this, decide to take care of yourself. Decide to focus on the things you're grateful for. 

Observe your own thoughts. This is actually a pretty cool feature our brain has, isn't it?! It is something so fundamental, but it can have a great impact on how you will approach difficult, or unhappy, situations. Buddha said it best: Control your thoughts, or your thoughts control you. Taming negative thoughts is one of the most efficient things you can do, really. 

Choose a personal mantra. A mantra is a motivational chant you repeat over and over to yourself, and has its origin in meditation practice. It can be literally any short phrase, and there's no right or wrong mantra. It can be as simple as "live Aloha" (I had to mention this didn't I), or "I got this". Whatever motivation you need to find in this life, you can find it in yourself. There are many very interesting blog posts on how to discover your personal mantra, just google whatever you need to know about it and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Smile. Smile as often as you can. Smiling, actually, is very powerful thing and almost a rebellious act when fighting unhappiness. When smiling, your brain releases tiny molecules that affect our body in numerous positive ways, such as lowering blood pressure and fighting off stress. And then, of course, there's plenty of social benefits we get from smiling, appearing more approachable and kind to others. Did you know that there's such a thing like laughter yoga, practicing smiling and smiling together, tricking your head into thinking you're actually happy? Well, whatever works, works! Try it for yourself now – see, I promised I would make you smile! 

Help others. Helping others is so rewarding – and makes you and the other human being feel so good about yourself/themselves! It's an easy one, and it doesn't cost anything. Being kind is the new cool.  

Treat yourself. You deserve it, and self-love is so vital for your happiness. Make yourself a cup of tea (did you ever offer someone you didn't like a cup of tea – see, exactly). Want to know how you can treat yourself on a budget? Check out our jewelry subscription, the Mahina Club, for a monthly dose of Aloha! I've linked it below. 

Those are my tips for being happy, and to me, again, simply thinking about it brought me much more closer to achieving personal happiness. What are your tips for being happy? Tell me about it in the comment section. I can't wait to hear about it. 

Love Lauri