Cultivate Happiness

“Happiness is a habit. Cultivate it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

Last week I shared with you that happiness is a choice and I challenged you to be the sunshine for yourself and others. This week I want to share a few simple ideas with you on how to cultivate more happiness in your life on a regular basis so you can in fact choose happiness and be the sunshine! Let’s go…

Guard Your Energy – Being around negative people who are unhappy with their current circumstances and unwilling to empower themselves with hope and hard work to create a better future, can be a real energy suck and emotional drain. Guarding yourself from that negative energy will help you keep your soul fire burning. Ever heard someone called a “wet blanket” it’s a term used to describe someone who spoils other people’s fun. So, you can see how they’d easily put out your fire. And how can you be the light that shines for others if you’re around people who are always putting out your fire?

Generate Joy – Just as negative energy is contagious, so too is positive energy. And that positive energy comes from the joy that is generated from within. See happiness and joy are actually two different things. Happiness is an emotion that is primarily based on external factors. While joy is internal. It’s a state of being that we embody. You can generate joy regardless of your current circumstances. When you do, it amplifies your happiness and projects that positive energy out to others around you like rays of sunshine; spreading across the world for all to bask in the warmth and light.  

Gift Goodness – Gifting someone your goodness can be done in the smallest of ways and still have an incredible impact. From random acts of kindness to intentional gifts of love, gifting goodness to those we encounter can have a ripple effect that goes farther than we may ever know. Think of gifting your goodness as a lovely way to plant seeds that when nurtured and bathed in your sunshine, will grow and blossom into something beautiful.

Give Gratitude – As I mentioned above, happiness is an emotion that is primarily based on external factors. We can choose happiness because we can choose to be happy with our current circumstances and grateful for what we have in our lives right now. Just like your body needs a consistent exercise practice to stay healthy, so does your mental well-being and happiness. Happiness is in fact, fleeting unless we make it a common practice. And one of the most powerful ways to do that is with the practice of gratitude. Research proves over and over, that people who practice gratitude regularly are happier. (More on that in another blog post.) For now…

Choose to cultivate more happiness in your life and the lives of those around you by utilizing the simple ideas I’ve shared with you here and keep being the sunshine in a world that often seems so dark.

I'd be super grateful if you'd gift the goodness that I hope you receive from being a part of my community, by sharing this post (or one of your other favorites) with others.