Today is International Day of Happiness! Although the world is filled with stress, anxiety, conflicts, a pandemic, poverty and wars, like the one raging in the Ukraine, we can pause today to think about how we can increase our happiness, as well as spread happiness to others.
When we feel happy, it seems that everything around us becomes more joyful and beautiful. When we feel happy, we feel like we are able to do whatever we want, achieve any goal and live our best lives. Although happiness is an emotional state of mind and differs for everyone, it can be achieved by anyone regardless of his or her circumstances. In many cases, happiness is a choice and begins with our decision to replace negative self-talk with more positive ones that help us see the bright side of things.
We can choose to focus on the good in our lives and be grateful for what we have. Most of us are not living in a war zone like Ukraine, and have access to food, shelter and the necessities of life. Although gas prices and other goods have increased in price, we can be grateful that we still have access to them and are not faced with bombs falling all around us every hour. We can increase our happiness by being grateful that our families are safe and do our part to spread kindness in the world through prayer and donating our time and money to efforts that help the people in Ukraine or people in our communities whose circumstances are less favorable than ours.
Our happiness is also impacted by the degree to which we:
Appropriately release negative emotions;
Express our gratitude to others in our lives and extend that gratitude and happiness by building positive connections with others;
Work on building positive family, work, and personal relationships and steering clear of negative people, situations and influences;
Build a support system and connect with like minded people in our community who are focused on doing good, like GSSA;
Do at least one thing you enjoy daily like a hobby, take a hot bath or enjoy our favorite glass of wine;
Work on pursuing our goals and improving our weaknesses;
Take good care of our mind, body, and spirit; and
Learn how to take life one moment at a time and find peace and contentment in the simple things of life.
We encourage you to celebrate this very special date by doing a "happy deed" either for yourself or for someone who needs to feel the power of happiness and all that it represents for our balance and well-being. Live and celebrate International Day of Happiness everyday by positively living your best life and helping others to do the same.
Sources:
https://www.dayofhappiness.net/
https://nationaltoday.com/international-day-happiness/
https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Happy
