Do you pour yourself a cup of happiness every day? Do you make a point every day to do something that genuinely makes you happy? This blog will help you pour yourself more cups of happiness!
Obviously, there are days where being happy can come easily and you may just feel happy overall, but some people deal with a lot of stress, may have stressful jobs, or have days of the week that are almost always stressful. Even if you consider yourself genuinely happy, how often do you smile a day?
Even on stressful days, even if it is just momentarily, I try to smile about something. On weekends I’m constantly doing things that make me happy! Week days it can sometimes be a bit harder, and if you can relate that’s what this blog is for! I strive to pour myself multiple cups of happiness each day no matter how stressful a day might be.
Plan to pour yourself a few cups of happiness a day!
But don’t settle for always picking the same three things to make you happy every day, otherwise those things may become part of your routine. After awhile they may not create a significant spike in happiness.
Planning Ahead Helps!
I try to make fun plans at least one night during the week, sometimes two, but it is often spontaneous. If you can plan a fun night during the week whether it is just a game night at home, a walk at the park, or a relaxing movie night (if you don’t do that often), that will help with happiness and weekday stress.
Free up Time with Planned Chore Days
I hate the concept of always having lingering chores, so I make a point to schedule my chore days separate from my fun days. Of course, dishes happen every day. However, I do all my laundry for a week on Mondays. It all gets folded at night while I’m relaxing watching some TV. That way the rest of the week I’m not worrying about whether I left a load in the washer and it didn’t make it to the dryer. I don’t worry about squeezing in laundry after a long, stressful day. I’m not constantly folding. I rarely make plans on Mondays, so it works great!
Also, I do my grocery shopping Wednesday or Thursday nights, and lately sometimes I go during the day. I always have enough meals that I can do either day depending on plans. I do clean my house on weekends, but I just squeeze it in when ever I have a bit of time.
How To Pour Yourself a Cup of Happiness Each Day!
Here are some concepts on how you can add more happiness into your day to day life.
1. Morning Routine
This is an excellent time to schedule a cup of happiness into your day. Some people like to get up early before their entire family just to have some quiet time alone. You might choose to take a walk, do an exercise you enjoy, read, journal, just sit and drink coffee in silence, pray, meditate, or all of the above. Just make sure one thing in your morning routine is something you sincerely enjoy.
2. Create Happiness for Those Around You
If your having a bad day, it might cheer you up to make someone else’s day brighter! Do something special for your significant other, a family member, a friend, or your pet. Seeing them happy will likely put smile on your face.
Maybe you plan a fun craft activity, an inventive game for the kids, or a baking night. Maybe you give your significant other a back massage, shower them with compliments, or plan a fun activity for the day or a future night. The ideas are limitless!
3. Be Silly, Be Ridiculous, Dance, Joke, Leap with Joy!
My husband and I are always joking with each other about something almost every day. We always get excited to hug each other at the end of the work day. We can find joy just in cuddling in the morning or at night, and we love chatting over coffee in the morning about fun plans, meals, or anything else on our mind. Sometimes when my husband asks me what he can do to make me feel better on a not so good day, I ask him to bust a move. That will always make me smile.
Blast your favorite song and just dance around your home because happiness is yours to have!
4. Enjoy a Fun Meal or a Special Treat
I used to struggle with turning to food too much for happiness with seasonal depression. But since I no longer struggle with that after moving to the South, I feel it is okay to find a bit of happiness in eating.
Baking some cookies or planning your favorite meal could be just the thing to turn a not so great day into a decent day. Maybe having to cook is the last thing you want to do, so then you might order take out or go out to eat. As long as you don’t turn to food consistently to make you happy, it will be okay. That shouldn’t be the only thing you turn to.
5. Hobbies
Everyone should have a hobby! Hobbies are good for the soul! If you can spend a bit of time on a hobby every day, then make it work! Try to find just 30 minutes to write, craft, garden, read for fun, or whatever you like to do.
6. Go to Your Favorite Spot!
Do you have a favorite place? I have several favorite places to walk, and my top favorite place is where I can sit by a waterfall. If I need to add a bit of happiness to my day and I can fit it into my day, I will make a point to do so. When I have a lot on my mind, I sometimes don’t think of visiting my favorite place. So that’s why I’m sharing this with you.
7. Appreciate Nature. The Sun is Shining!
Sometimes just the fact that the sun is shining is enough to put a smile on my face! Being out in nature also makes me happy, so I try to find an activity to do out in nature whether it’s biking, swimming, hiking, frisbee golf, or just a simple walk.
Nature has not only been shown to help reduce psychological stress, but also improve mood levels, increases energy, creates more meaning for people, and improves self-esteem. More on nature here: Nature Heals the Soul, Calms the Mind & Restores the Body
8. Make Fun Plans for the Future
When you are having a rough day and maybe it has just been a rough week, I have found one of the best things I can do is make some fun weekend plans. It doesn’t even have to be expensive, just plan something you will look forward to. It could be a game night with friends, a picnic at a park, a museum you’ve wanted to go to, a movie, a dinner out, a brunch, a walk in the woods with friends, etc. Have a date night (get a sitter if you need one) and make a point not to talk about anything stressful. You could even plan a future trip.
9. Enjoy a Game Night or Puzzle Night
Most people if they don’t like games they often like puzzles. This is a great way to have some fun with friends or family that doesn’t cost you anything.
A lot of the time I watch TV at night, and it usually isn’t as fun as playing a game, but when I’m drained at the end of the day I’m not as interested in playing a game.
10. Call a Friend
Connect with a friend by calling them, not texting.
6. Pour Yourself a Cup of Gratefulness, Please!
All of the things I mention really make a difference when you approach life with a grateful mind. As being grateful is one of the strongest emotions. When you appreciate everything you have daily it can make a huge impact on your happiness levels. However, it isn’t some magical medicine that will make everything better in our life. That isn’t quite how it works. View: Being Grateful NOT a Magical Pill, BUT is Potentially Life Changing.
Don’t Settle for a False Sense of Happiness
There is a difference between pleasure and happiness and our brains know it. The brain chemical dopamine is a pleasure hormone often created when we are seeking pleasure from our phone devices. Technology is a dopamine stimulator. View the brain images of the difference here: This is why our phones are making us miserable: happiness isn’t the same thing as pleasure, and our brain knows it
Social media can seem fun in the moment, but can become addictive and lead to a distorted reality, it creates a false sense of community, and actually creates more feelings of social isolation.
“Social media creates this sense of false intimacy. We think that we know someone really well online, we think they are true friends. But our brains know the truth. We do not have a human connection with them like we do when we are with people in person (embark BEHAVIORAL HEALTH).”
When people are on social media too often it creates anxiety, depression, and self-esteem problems no matter how many connections they have online.
Studies have shown that people who spend a lot of time on social media are at least two times more likely to feel socially isolated (Wooddell, 2013).
Global depression rates have been climbing significantly in the past 30 years and, according to a World Happiness Report, people in high-income countries have become more unhappy over the past decade or so (Waters, 2021). Anna Lembke, a world-leading expert on addiction shares how smartphones turn us into dopamine addicts. She calls the smartphone the “modern-day hypodermic needle”: we turn to it for quick hits, seeking attention, validation and distraction with each swipe, like and tweet (Waters, 2021).
I have mentioned in previous blog posts how texting, social media, and phone addiction can impact other aspects of a person’s health. So for more information on making changes, check out my blog: Addicted to Your Phone? Ideas for Spending Less Time on Your Phone.
How Much is TOO Much Social Media Time? It is hard to say.
Feeling isolated? Then it is too much!
Americans spend 2 hours and 18 minutes per day on social media (Howarth, 2023). That seems high to me! How much time do you spend on social media a day? Have you checked in your settings? I almost never spend more than 30 minutes on social a day, usually 15 minutes or less. (that excludes my time posting for this blog – which I do in one day)
Happiness is Essential to Your Health
Even though some people are swamped with responsibilities with work, chores, family, etc., it is unhealthy to not do something that makes you happy. Of course you want to! Plus, when you create happiness in your every day life it has a positive effect on those around you. Just like people say “practice self care daily,” happiness is the same. The difference is self-care isn’t always fun. Some self-care activities we don’t actually enjoy even if we feel good about doing them.
Make A List of Things That Make You Happy
Use the list as a guide and try to add more things to your life that make you happy. OR reference things that make you happy when you are feeling down and it may make you smile.
References:
Waters, Jamie. (2021, Aug 22). The Guardian/Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2021/aug/22/how-digital-media-turned-us-all-into-dopamine-addicts-and-what-we-can-do-to-break-the-cycle
Wooddell, Brody. (2023, May 30). bloom/The Impact of social media on modern relationships. Retrieved from: https://www.wfla.com/bloom-tampa-bay/bloom-relationships/the-impact-of-social-media-on-modern-relationships/#:~:text=Social%20media%20has%20had%20a,and%20facilitate%20jealousy%20and%20insecurity.
embark BEHAVIORAL HEALTH/Does Social Media Keep Me from Being Connected to Others?. Retrieved from: https://www.embarkbh.com/blog/technology/the-misconnection-of-social-media/#:~:text=Social%20media%20creates%20this%20sense,are%20with%20people%20in%20person.
Howarth, Josh. (2023, November 28). EXPLODING TOPICS/Worldwide Daily Social Media Usage (New 2024 Data). Retrieved from: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/social-media-usage
I have a Wellness Coach Certificate, I’m an entrepreneur, an innovator, writer, and artist. My expertise includes over 7 years of marketing, research, and developing content for holistic health businesses. Plus, my own personal journey of becoming chronically sick: understanding what went wrong, and finding a way to heal and live a healthier life. I have a passion for wellness with a wealth of knowledge surrounding: wellness, flaws in healthcare, root causes for chronic illnesses, and alternative treatments.
