The Recipe for Happiness

What is the one thing in life that would make you happier? What is the one thing that will improve the quality of your life?  Most people answer this questions by linking them to making or having more money. And although, generally speaking, having a larger yearly income makes life easier, research shows that earning above 70000.00 per year does not significantly increase your levels of happiness or life satisfaction.  Research shows that even lottery winners level out their happiness at 6 months after having won the lottery.

In other words, even though we believe that making or having more money would make us happier and increase the quality of our lives, it actually doesn’t have as much of an impact as we may think it does.

So…if money is not the answer to happiness, what is it?

So the field of Positive Psychology has come out with some beautiful and powerful research about happiness. In fact, they have actually created an equation that is scientifically proven to improve the quality of your life and increase your overall levels of happiness!  Curious?!

Recipe

1-Spend less time alone. Spend more time with loved ones (whose company you enjoy).

2- Spend some time helping others (just for the sake of it)

3- Make time for gratitude and express it. Write a letter of gratitude to someone who has helped you. Research shows this act can bump up your well-being for up to a month

4- Do 20 minutes of cardio exercise 3 times a week. Cardio in the morning will bump up your mood for 24 hours.

5- Sleep more than 5 hours a night. Sleep helps your immune system and improves your mood.

6- Take time to be in the present moment. (Practice mindfulness through the day)

7- Practice time affluence

Give yourself the challenge of trying out some of the ingredients in this recipe and see what kind of results you get from it.

Cheers!