Happiness is a tricky concept to get a grip on. Psychologists and researchers often split it into two categories: hedonia and eudaimonia.
Hedonia includes feelings like pleasure and positivity, while eudaimonia relates to deeper feelings of contentment and satisfaction. People from different cultures also define happiness differently. Americans, for example, may associate it with peppy emotions and achievements while many East Asian cultures emphasize interdependence and social harmony.
1. Invest in yourself
The most important investment that anyone can make is in themselves. This includes focusing on their personal development and ensuring they are in good mental health.
This could include spending time working with a therapist or taking a mindfulness class to reduce stress levels. It may also involve a fitness regime, making healthy food choices and finding creative outlets through hobbies like cooking or art classes.
Investing in yourself can help to prevent entrepreneurial burnout, which is a common cause of low self-esteem and poor health, and it can also help to keep you focused on your goals and ambitions. Whether it is a business course or learning new skills to help with your work, investing in yourself will see positive returns for years to come.
Learning something new will also stimulate your brain and this is a great way to combat work stress, according to research from Michigan Ross. It is a good idea to try and learn something new every month.
2. Look for the good in everything
Noticing the good is a simple practice that doesn’t cost anything and can be done anywhere at any time. And, over time and through the magic of neuroplasticity, it actually changes the way you see things. It is a practice that has the power to turn your negative thoughts into positive ones and your pessimistic mindset into an optimistic one.
Look for the good in your current setting, recent events, ongoing conditions, personal qualities, and the lives of others. There are always little moments of goodness if you take the time to notice them. And, if you are lucky, you might even find the proverbial silver lining in life’s challenging situations. You might discover that your dishwasher overflowing last night was an opportunity to get a deep clean or that the mole on your Dad’s ear turned out to be benign. Gratitude is another great fuel for happiness.