A lot of people are unhappy and a number of them are even depressed. In the past two years, an estimated of 121 million people around the world suffer from some form of depression and overall, women has higher depression rate than men.
If you are unhappy, you need to kick your old habits and learn new habits to uplift your spirit. Start with these five simple changes and after 22 days of practice, these changes will soon become your daily habits.
Take care of your body
Imagine being tired every other day - lack of sleep, lack of energy and always out of focus. It's almost impossible to keep your physical and mental condition in sync when you do not take care of your body. Your physical body needs to be taken care of because it's going to be here much longer than that new luxury handbag or that piece of new gaming equipment. Adding to that, those who exercise regularly and practice a balance diet tend to continue the good habits because they feel more accomplished.
Learn to be grateful
Practice gratitude. I like this simple quote by Alice Morse Earle — 'Every day may not be good...but there's something good in every day'. Hang onto that because every morning when you wake up, it is your second chance to build a better day. And, when you start appreciating what you have, you'll get more than you can imagine. We're gonna have a difficult time being happy if we can't even express gratitude for what we already have.
Set your goals and commit to them
Are you focused and determined to achieve your goals? You can write your plans and set your goals, but you need to act and commit to them as well. Personally, I enjoy doing many things in life and try to learn as much as possible. Unfortunately, due to lack of focus and commitment, everything I know may just be on the surface level. Hence, it is important to set specific goals and commit to them wholeheartedly. This means meticulous planning and go all out to achieve your goal. Even if you fail, you've actually done something worthwhile because you know that you did your best.
Practice forgiveness
It is never easy to forgive and forget. But then again, having to hate someone all the time, doesn't make you feel happy at all. You are basically allowing yourself to carry this heavy burden, when you can actually stop it. Remember this, 'let your past make your better, not bitter'. Choose another path other than hatred because it only makes you feel horrible all the time. If you are punishing yourself by hating who you are, and it is now the time to forgive yourself in order to move forward and cultivate happy habits.
Be spiritual
We are not asking you to commit yourself to become a yogi. We are asking you to realise that there's something else bigger than you in this world. Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California and she said that people with religious belief or are connected to spirituality are happier, healthier and recover faster from trauma compared to non-religious people. At the same time, when you are connected spiritually, you feel more grounded and may even find a greater purpose to life.
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