How to Be Happy

Happiness — it's what we all strive to find and keep, even when it's as elusive as ever. Nobody is happy all the time, but some people are definitely more fulfilled than others. Studies reveal that happiness has little to do with material goods or high achievement; it boils down to your outlook on life, the quality of your relationships, and basic amenities like good governance and community resources. Read on for more tips and tricks on how to unlock the happier you.Do something that you love to do. Hiking, playing an instrument, hanging out with your friends, gardening, reading, volunteering; whatever makes you happy. Find some time for it every week. You will find inner peace.

Adjust your attitude. One third of your life will be fabulous, with no thanks to you. It's just fate. Be grateful for it. One third of life is not good, losses and deaths, also with no thanks to you. Suck it up. The other third is neutral. Kind of usual, life being life. Here's your chance. 

Be optimistic. In the 70s, researchers followed people who'd won the lottery and found that a year afterward, they were no happier than people who didn't. This hedonic adaptation  suggests that we each have a baseline level of happiness. No matter what happens, good or bad, the effect on our happiness is temporary, and we tend to revert to our baseline level. Some people have a higher baseline happiness level than others, and that is due in part to genetics, but it's also largely influenced by how you think.

• Add up all the little happy things that happen to you during the day. For example, there was no traffic on the road, you had a nice breakfast, your friend said something funny that made you laugh, you took your dog for a walk in the park and played with it. All of these added together account to one big happiness.
• Look at the glass half-full instead of half-empty. Your girlfriend break up with you? Now you have a chance to meet someone else! You lose your job? Now you have the opportunity to find a better one! Adjust your mentality so that, in everything that happens to you, there's some kernel of good.
• Put yourself in situations where good things are likely to happen to you. It's easier to stay optimistic if you set yourself up for success. Cheating on a partner, or stealing a bike — while temporarily thrilling — rarely end well for any party involved. Ask yourself before you act: Am I setting myself up for success or for failure?
• Think of your current situation (however hard it may be) and then think of how much harder some other people have it. Just be happy that you are not in that worse situation. Learn to enjoy your life!

Make enough money to meet basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing. In the US, that magic number is $60,000 a year. Any money beyond that will not necessarily make you happier. Remember the lottery winners mentioned earlier? Oodles of money didn't make them happier. Once you make enough to support basic needs, your happiness is not significantly affected by how much money you make, but by your level of optimism.

Treat your body like it deserves to be happy. It may sound cheesy to say, but your brain isn't the only organ in your body that deserves to be happy. Researchers have found that exercise, healthy diets, and regular sleep are key factors in growing more happy and staying that way.

Stay close to friends and family: Or move to where they are, so you can see them more. We live in a mobile society, where people follow jobs around the country and sometimes around the world. We do this because we think salary increases make us happier, but in fact our relationships with friends and family have a far greater impact on happiness. So next time you think about relocating, consider that you'd need a salary increase of over $100,000 USD to compensate for the loss of happiness you'd have from moving away from friends and family.