Be Kind
Performing regular and spontaneous acts of kindness lifts your mood instantly and has long-term positive effects.
What doesn’t work: Money! It can’t buy you happiness, because our emotional states are rarely tied to things we own.
Still, there’s one instance where cash does equal contentement: when we spend it on others.
Meditate
Meditation has proven to be effective in reducing stress, anxiety and depression.
What doesn’t work: Just thinking positive. Recent studies demonstrate equal merit in our ability to see the glass half empty – the more we embrace uncertainty and the possibility of failure, the more at peace we are with fate.
(Photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock)
Have Clear Goals
Working towards your goals (not just achieving them) triggers positive feelings while suppressing negative ones.
Happiness myth debunked: You’re either born happy or you’re not. Only 50 per cent of our happiness is genetic. The other half is learned, which means we can take steps towards becoming happier – even later in life.
(Photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock)