12 Things You Can Do To Be Happy…For A Long Time

What would make you happy? A pay raise? A new romantic relationship? Recovery from an illness? Well you would be right …kind of. Positive events that happen in our lives do enable us to be happy but only for a short time.

Take the case of getting a pay raise. Harvard Professor and author of Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert explains it this way, “We think money will bring lots of happiness for a long time, and actually it brings a little happiness for a short time." A multi-year study by Heady and Wearing in 1989 showed that the effects of life events kept wearing off by the next year. What’s important is to realize is when we spend our effort pursuing material goods in the belief that they will bring more happiness, we are ignoring other, more effective routes to happiness.

So if positive life events that happen to us don’t bring us lasting happiness then what does? Are there things we could do that would help us be happy for a long time? In her book, The How of Happiness, Sonya Lyubomirsky puts forward twelve strategies that have shown to help increase our happiness level and enable us to be happy for a sustained period of time:

13. Expressing Gratitude
14. Cultivating Optimism
15. Avoiding Overthinking and Social Comparisons
16. Practicing acts of kindness
17. Nurturing Relationships
18. Developing strategies for coping
19. Learning to forgive
20. Doing more activities that truly engage you
21. Savoring Life’s joys
22. Committing to your goals
23. Practicing Religion and Spirituality
24. Taking care of your body

The challenge for most people is sticking to any one or more of these strategies. Before you embark on your pursuit of happiness, Lyubomirsky notes you should pick a strategy that has a good fit with your sources of unhappiness, your strengths and your lifestyle. An achievement oriented-person may get better results pursuing their life goal of completing a marathon (#10) than looking for the best sushi in town (#9).

Why do these strategies work? If practiced diligently, each of these strategies has the potential of generating a stream of positive experiences. People who actively practice either gratitude or optimism over an eight-week period came to regard their routine experiences in positive ways and to find every day events such as commuting to work or cooking dinner more satisfying. These positive interpretations in turn resulted in improvements in well-being.

While working your strategy, it helps to vary the frequency and duration of your activities. As human beings we have a tremendous ability to adapt to any recurring event. The goal is to thwart this natural tendency so we can derive maximum benefit from each activity every time over a long period. Consider getting friends, family involved in your mission to be happy. If you are alone in your quest, Cheergiver.com is a good place to get encouragement, feel better and to connect with others with similar goals.

In time, your strategies and activities will turn into habits. What might be awkward steps to take at the beginning will turn into effortless strides later on. So why wait to be happy. You don’t have to wait for your circumstances to change. You have everything you need to be happy within you right now. So make a decision to be happy and start today!

Quote is from an article by Goldberg, C. (2006, February 6). Too much of a good thing. Boston Globe

Ivan Ho is the founder of Cheergiver.com, an inspirational/motivational website dedicated to lifting the spirits of people who are feeling down or discouraged. He has served as a consultant to the Walt Disney Company and online games publisher K2 Network. Ivan holds a B. Arch from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of Chicago. "Be happy" is Ivan's favorite affirmation. When he's not making funny faces and making children laugh, he can be found on Cheergiver.com giving encouragement and helping members cheer up and feel better about their circumstances.