Finding what makes me happy

Some tips from the self-help, de-cluttering movement: Fold things neatly. Keep only items that make you truly happy. Throw away papers — all of them. Put all your clothes in one pile on the bed, then start discarding, keeping only those you wear and love. Organize your closet by color. Pick one thing to preserve a memory. Sentimentality breeds clutter.

If your grandmother had 10 collections, choose one item from each — or pick the one collection that triggers the best memories. Stop buying tchotchkes on vacation. Take a picture. Spend money on experiences, not things. Keep a few items from the year, and keep culling year after year.

The 1-Minute Rule One of my favorite bits of happiness advice comes from Ms. Here it is: Do any task that can be finished in one minute. Read a letter and toss it. Fill in a form. Answer an email. Jot down a citation. Pick up phone messages. File a paper. Put a dish in the dishwasher. Put away the magazines. Good Things Happen in the Bedroom A lot of potential for happiness happens in the bedroom.

Turn your bedroom into a luxury hotel suite. Think of the feeling you get when you escape to a nice hotel on vacation. Capture that in your home every day. Invest in comfort. Buy comfortable sheets, pillows and bedding and a quality mattress. Blocking out light will help you sleep better. Remove the television. Bedrooms are havens for sleep, sex and contemplation, not screen time.

Make the bed. Making the bed starts your day off with a small accomplishment, and you can end your day returning to a neat, tidy welcoming retreat. Good Stuff August 18, Relationships We tend to be happier when we connect with other people.

Spend Time With Happy People Studies consistently show that our own happiness is linked with the happiness of others. I felt hopeful about the future. I was happy. I enjoyed life. I felt that I was just as good as other people. Social networks have clusters of happy and unhappy people. People who are surrounded by many happy people are more likely to become happy in the future. Each additional happy friend increases your chance of happiness by about 9 percent.

Geography matters. Our happiness increases when we live close to happy friends and family members. Cats and Dogs Make Us Happy Psychologists conducted a series of experiments to determine the role that pets play in our happiness. Happier people are more likely to get married. Marriage triggers a short bump in happiness, but after two years, everyone settles back to pretty much the same level of happy they were before getting married.

The more isolated you are now, the bigger the happiness benefit you will get from getting married. Happiness Is Other People October 27, Get the Well Newsletter Get the best of Well, with the latest on health, fitness and nutrition, delivered to your inbox every week. Your email address Sign Up. Find Purpose at Work We like to complain about work, but it plays an important role in our happiness. Renewal: Employees who take a break every 90 minutes report a 30 percent higher level of focus than those who take no breaks or just one during the day.

They also report a nearly 50 percent greater capacity to think creatively and a 46 percent higher level of health and well-being. The more hours people work beyond 40 — and the more continuously they work — the worse they feel, and the less engaged they become.

Employees who say they have more supportive supervisors are 1. Focus: Only 20 percent of respondents said they were able to focus on one task at a time at work, but those who could were 50 percent more engaged. Similarly, only one-third of respondents said they were able to effectively prioritize their tasks, but those who did were 1. Purpose: Employees who derive meaning and significance from their work were more than three times as likely to stay with their organizations — the highest single impact of any variable in our survey.

These employees also reported 1. Buying Time Promotes Happiness When you are deciding how to spend your money, consider buying some more time. The Meaning of Fulfillment October 25, Rethinking Work August 28, Happy Life Being kind to others is a proven path toward happiness.

Be Generous Generosity makes people happier. Volunteer Volunteering is linked to health benefits like lower blood pressure and decreased mortality rates.

Give Yourself a Break Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family? We joyfully do everything that needs to be done, just because the idea, the process, or the final result are something we adore and are proud of. So to find out what makes your brain produce a ton of endorphins you know, the happiness hormones! Most people can talk about the things they are passionate about without getting tired or bored… Just like with activities you find enjoyable, anything that makes you talk non-stop may be your calling in life.

For example, if you can endlessly talk about french movies, new makeup palettes, or car models — you might find that these things are exactly what makes you happy in life.

Try to remember yourself in the early years of your childhood or teenage years: what was your favorite thing then? Was it playing ball? Traveling with your parents?

Playing in the sand? Write these things down to reveal a beautiful matrix of all the things that made you happy. Chances are, most of them can also be the answer you need. When searching for your true calling, it may be a good idea to follow people who have already found it! If you want to know how to find out what makes you happy — you have come to the right place. This article will help you determine what you truly want from life and what will ultimately make you happy.

A mental health profession will be able to help you get to the root of your discontent so you can attain the happiness you deserve! If you want to find out what makes you happy, you will need to first think long and hard about what happiness is to you Epstein, For instance, you may be happy at home, but miserable at work. If that is the case then your focus should be on finding happiness at work. Another way to find out what makes you happy is to self-reflect.

In other words, go somewhere quiet and distraction-free and think about your life — past, present and future. Ponder on mistakes you made in the past and think about how you would do things differently if you could go back in time. Think about your present life and make a list of the areas of your life that need improvement. Also, look at the areas of your life that are happy and good. Write down what makes those areas so happy. Specifically, what you doing to contribute to those happy areas?

Do not focus solely on those situations, but also reflect on who you were in the past, who you are now and who you would like to be in the future. Do not base your concept of happiness on what others believe is happiness. Look at what you loved in the past. If you're looking for a new hobby, consider what you enjoyed doing in the past, even in childhood.

For instance, if you loved coloring, you could find a pastime that puts similar skills into play, such as drawing with colored pencils. Browse hobbies.

Another way to try picking up a new hobby is to browse places that are focused on hobbies. For instance, you could visit the craft store or sporting goods store. You could also go to the library and browse through the books on different kinds of hobbies.

When you find something that interests you, try to find more information on that hobby. Join a class or club. Once you figure out something you want to try, find a place in your local community to engage. Many communities have hobby clubs through the library or parks and recreation department.

You can also take a class, either through a community college, a local museum, or your parks and recreation department. Not only will you explore your hobby, you'll meet other like-minded people who have similar interests.

Work on it a bit every day. If you've decided you like a particular hobby, spend some time doing it regularly. Try a half an hour every day or a couple hours one or two nights a week. Make sure you are making time to do the hobbies you enjoy, so that it can increase your overall happiness.

Part 4. Volunteer in your community. Volunteering leads to happiness for many people, partially because it puts the focus outside of yourself. Studies have shown that helping others out often leads to an increase in well-being and happiness, even if you are regularly feeling stressed out or burned out.

Pick something you're passionate about or that fits your skill set. For instance, maybe you are passionate about helping the homeless, so you decide to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Alternatively, maybe you are a skilled marketer , so you decide to help out a local nonprofit with its marketing.

Focus on optimism, particularly realistic optimism. Optimistic people tend to be happier than pessimistic people. Being an optimist means looking at life differently. You may need to relearn how you think about problems, approaching them with a new frame of mind. In other words, if you have a setback, you may need to take a different approach, not quit altogether.

However, optimists do need a sense of realism, too. That is, while you hope for the best, it's fine to take some precautions to ward off certain outcomes.

Increase your sense of control. When you feel like you have control over your life, you tend to be happier. Therefore, increasing your sense of control can lead to greater happiness, especially if you feel like you don't have much control over your life at the moment. When you complete a task, you feel more in control because you've laid out something for you to do, and you've done it. Go out with friends. Most people benefit from socializing with other people on a regular basis.

You may find socializing difficult if you're an introvert. However, you don't need to go out with scores of people to socialize. You can socialize with just a couple of friends at a time, for instance, or even just hang out with your family. That way, you meet people with similar interests, and you have something to talk about. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Related wikiHows How to.