If Life Is so Good Why Am I Not That Happy (Part 2)

We are not too far removed from World Happiness week, which occurs each year in mid-March.

As Canadians, there is a lot to feel happy about, yet happiness levels in this country have been decreasing.

And it’s not just because of the pandemic and other world events over the past two years.

In fact, life satisfaction in this country has declined since 2005.
So, it begs the question, why aren’t we as happy, and how do we fix that?

RESOURCES & LINKS:
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A dynamic model of guilt: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17576...

Personality and Major Depression: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...

Guilt Proneness and Moral Character: https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...
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In 2015, Canada ranked 5th in world life satisfaction or happiness rankings.

By 2020, when the last poll was completed, we fell to 15th on the list.
So, why is this happening?

Unfortunately, that’s unclear as this wasn’t addressed in the survey.
Previous research points to factors such as finances, physical health and community support.

But regardless of what the contributing factors are, the ability to manage emotions effectively will be crucial to help change how we think or engage in positive action to make things better.

So, with that in mind, today, I’m going to discuss six more strategies to help improve feelings of happiness.

For my first strategy today, and seventh strategy overall, it’s important not to get too caught up in materialism.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting nice things but there becomes a problem with ‘achieving to be happy’ because the feelings are typically short-lived.

Instead, it’s better to develop a ‘happily-achieving’ approach that encourages feeling grateful for what you have and allows room to enjoy future progress.

For my eighth strategy, I encourage you to take the time to learn new things.

In a recent study, learning new things was listed as one of the top 5 ‘happy habits,’ as learning can be a novel experience that helps to shake off boredom and routine and create a feeling of progress and accomplishment.

Next, it’s important to prioritize positivity in your life.

Simply put, what you focus on helps to determine how you feel.

So, it helps to find small positive activities such as enjoying your morning coffee or talking to someone positive and energetic to weave into the course of your day.

For my tenth strategy, I’d suggest becoming more extroverted or outgoing.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t just need to be born this way to become more outgoing.

Recent research shows that spending as little as 10 minutes a day being more outgoing can lead to an immediate, measurable boost in happiness.

Next, I would encourage you to focus on giving whenever possible.

It has been said that the secret to living is giving.

When people give, they feel good.

Almost as if we were wired to do so.

So, I’d suggest thinking of even small ways that you can give to others during your day.

And for my twelfth and final strategy for improving feelings of happiness, I encourage you to find a sense of purpose.

It can be very difficult to find consistent happiness in life if your attitude towards living leads to the question, “What’s the point?”

If you are uncertain, I encourage you to look at areas in your life that currently provide meaning or have been meaningful in the past.

It would also be wise to ask yourself what you are truly passionate about, what is important to you, or what area of life you would like to impact.

And for a final bonus step, I encourage you to begin by consistently implementing only one of the listed strategies.

Attempting too many strategies at once can lead to feeling overwhelmed and abandoning all strategies.

So, I encourage you to start with one and do it for a week until it becomes habit-forming and relatively easy to do before adding another strategy.

I hope you found these strategies helpful in helping to improve feelings of happiness.

If you’re experiencing challenges implementing these steps, please contact us @ https://www.drsullivan.ca/

Thank you for watching, and be sure to watch part 2 of my video about How To Cope With Feelings of Guilt, which will be released shortly.

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