Here Are Some Ideas That Have Been Proven To Make You Happier

If you’ve ever wondered what it would take to make you happier you’ve come to the right place.

And it doesn’t have to be as hard as you might at first think.

While it’s true that some of us have been born with a happy gene (one of my blessings in life) there’s still a lot you can do that will help you enjoy life more.

So let’s check out some things that have been proven to make you happier.

Progress over perfection is one way that has been proven to make you happier

Ever been stuck in that overly perfectionist loop?  This is one of the areas I need constant reminders about! Ouch. 

So can something be done for me and anyone else who gets caught up with this? Yes, there can. 

Brene Browne wrote the book on The Gifts of Imperfection. It turns out being imperfect is more than okay.

Here’s Brene:

Perfectionism is not self-improvement. Perfectionism is, at its core, about trying to earn approval and acceptance. Most perfectionists were raised being praised for achievement and performance (grades, manners, rule-following, people-pleasing, appearance, sports). Somewhere along the way, we adopt this dangerous and debilitating belief system: I am what I accomplish and how well I accomplish it. Please. Perform. Perfect. Healthy striving is self-focused—How can I improve? Perfectionism is other-focused—What will they think?

If this resonates with you, it’s time for change. And no it isn’t easy. I’m a case in point, still overcoming perfectionism after all these years. 

But today it’s easier than it was because I’m aware of my old beliefs and I keep a new belief to hand for whenever I find myself going overboard.  Feel free to make it your own…it goes like this:

“I am enough.”

And yes you are. 

If you remember nothing else, remember this: trying to be perfect is a very good way to overwhelm your brain with emotions until you feel out of control. Brain studies back this up.

Getting up each morning choosing to be happy is to shape circumstances instead of being shaped by them.

Elle Sommer

Organize, don’t agonize

Simplifying has been proven to make you happier.  So let’s get organized and stop agonizing over all the things that get in the way of our happiness.

Eliminate non-essential ‘stuff’ in your life. Be it possessions or time commitments that no longer serve.

Pare down your goals to just two at a time and give yourself a bit of breathing space.

Reduce screen time. Being constantly in front of a screen can begin to take over your life and affect you in more ways than you might think.  

You’ll thank me for turning them off and tuning them out more often.

Because seriously, how many awesome, amazing moments in life happened in front of a screen?

Okay so you’ve cleared some clutter. Dealt a bit better with perfectionist tendencies (which by the way we all have to some degree). 

Both of which are great, but what about the biggest happiness booster of all time?  One that has definitely been proven by many studies to make you feel happier.

Gratitude, gratitude and more gratitude

Honestly I can’t encourage this one enough. You can find lots of things about gratitude on Live Purposefully Now. Like here. And here. And here.

Feeling thankful for the good things we have and experience in our life is one of the easiest and most powerful happiness boosters you can find.

But if you find being grateful and focusing on the positive is easier said than done, remember it’s a habit that’s well worth cultivating.

And if you truly want to know how to practice gratitude more often, read the ultimate book on how to be grateful.

Man’s Search for Meaning

Viktor Frankl is a world famous psychologist, who was imprisoned inside a concentration camp during WW2.

His writing will definitely help you to see that we all have the freedom to choose our mindset, however dire our circumstances.

It’s truly the most powerful book on the planet to help us to feel more grateful for where we are and what we have in life. Whatever that might be.

Mindset mastery

Your greatest accomplishment is mastering your mind. 

Maybe, you say! But I’m skeptical about that.

And anyway even if this is my greatest accomplishment, do I want to spend a lifetime to become a master of my mind?  

I say, give it a shot anyway. There are tons of benefits along the way.

Keep it simple and make your goal simply to improve the set of your mind. 

1. Practice finding the silver lining behind every cloud without assuming that behind every silver lining you’ll find a cloud!

When you do this any failures will be temporary glitches, because you’ll be forever improving.

2. Stop defining yourself by single experiences in time. Do you write or are you an author? Do you take people’s photographs or are you a photographer?  

When you make this shift in mindset from being things you do to being someone you are it becomes an act of expansion. An act of mastery.

Perspective is the key to happiness.

3. Feel that you are all you wish to be. Feel that you are happier than you’ve ever been and before too long you will begin to experience and see revealed in your life experience everything you are now conscious of being.

In my book Reboot Your Money Mindset everything in it is applicable not only to money but to every aspect of life and it’s filled with little 13 little practices to support mastering your mindset.  Oh yes there’s also a little workbook you can grab.

(To learn more about why your mindset matters in helping you feel happier, click here.)

So let’s round it all up – and see where you might have some replacing to do.

Progress over perfection – do you believe it’s possible to be the best at everything?  Of course you don’t.  So the need for perfection doesn’t compute. Right? I can only do my best is a rational belief. I must be the best is not. Let it go. There’s incredible power in ‘it’s good enough.’

Organize, don’t agonize – put yourself at the top of your priority list.  Treat yourself.  Make life easier. Simplifying is proven to help you feel happier, so cut back, use filters, turn off and tune out.

Gratitude, gratitude and more gratitude – gratitude could be called the king or queen of happiness. It’s the most powerful tool in our happiness arsenal. So if you’d like to start an upward spiral of happiness in your life, gratitude is a dead simple way to do it. 

Mindset Mastery – not as hard as it sounds. We’re not talking total mastery – that likely isn’t in the cards for any of us. But growing and developing and even evolving our mindset ends up giving us all kinds of extra benefits we never thought of. We can make our world better with a little effort. And having a better life is something we all can say yes to.

All or any of the above will point you in the direction of feeling happier. But fair warning.  Nobody is happy all the time. Nobody.

Looking for nothing less than sheer jubilation every day is a recipe for misery. We’re made happy by what we think, what we feel and what we choose to do every day. That’s it! Life and happiness are always an ongoing process. 

Encourage one another.

If you’re a sharer why not share this article with those you know and love who you think would like to be even a little bit happier!

Love Elle

xox