Leading a happy life is the goal of all mental health treatment and the aspiration for just about each and every one of us. When stepping into the therapist’s office, deciding to tackle some inner work, or have come to a crisis point and admitted to a facility for treatment, it is essential that you place yourself on the steps to a happy life. While therapy can be hard at times, working through your pain, healing and letting go, and finding yourself can change your life, no matter the circumstances that hit ahead of you in the future. There are a lot of philosophies throughout centuries that have pondered what secrets leading to a happy life can do for you when you find them. Even if happiness is not said to always last, it does not have to entirely go either. To make it simple for today, what are just 4 steps to leading a happy life?
Your Mentality
Part of being present to the blessings in your life involves forgiving the past, whether yourself or others who have hurt you, and making peace with what came before this. Noticing the good in this very moment requires you to learn to let go of what you could not control then and what you cannot control now. As time heals all wounds, leaving your past behind you with practice and releasing painful memories with forgiveness can help you become optimistic about your future, where you’re sure to notice even more blessings. Soon you’ll see you have created a better future as you are leading your life in a more positive direction where you are more creative and powerful.
1. Gratitude
Noticing the good present in your life now, and feeling what you are grateful for is essential to knowing happiness. While not everything may be perfect, accepting both the positives and negatives in your situation can switch on a feeling of positivity and contentment and fuel feelings for a positive and healthy outlook. Gratitude is also a practice and you can flex it like a muscle in your life every day.
2. Use Your Strengths
Knowing what your true strengths are and using them to the best of your ability can give you a sense of pride and satisfaction. It is satisfying to know that your unique talents and traits create positive fruit and can even shift the outcomes of your experiences into accomplishment and growth. Possessing the motivation and investing time in burgeoning your talents can set you on the path to realizing your dreams. Using your talents and seeing them lead to beneficial consequences in your life, and the lives of others can even build resilience and belief in yourself. This can even bring you more contentment than acquiring the material things in life only. And being able to do what you love is one of the best ways of leading a happy life.
3. Kindness and Service to Others
Part of what may be suggested in a mental health treatment program is something like putting your focus on helping another person as a way to heal and feel a rich sense of oneness with the world in a positive way. Many people feel their calling is to serve others. Kindness in giving to others is said to help heal depression and grief, taking one away from cyclical patterns of pain and the loneliness of isolation and sadness. When you take time to brighten someone else’s life with kindness and an act of service, you can gain perspective on what you are grateful for in yours.
You may see service to others as an essential way to lead a happy life because it is what gives life purpose and meaning. If you know your talent and you can use it to alleviate another person’s suffering, you can make meaning out of the suffering and join in a transformational growth process. The steps to a happy life with serving others may lead you to a career and a course of study. It is also said that serving and helping others is healing to the physical body as well as beneficial spiritually. Making a positive impact in someone’s life will reinforce belief in oneself and keep building resilience and even a sense of self-love and self-gratitude.
4. Loving Yourself
Self-love means accepting who you are, even if you find things about yourself that you want to change. When you achieve a genuine love for the person you are inward, you develop positive self-talk, which can be learned and solidified by saying self-love affirmations. Self-love occurs and builds from the inside first. Outside validation is not as important in defining the person you are and wish to be.
Self-love means treating yourself with the same love and respect that you treat others. By not letting your thoughts always control how you feel, you accept a broader perspective of who you are and can creatively choose which steps to take to a happy life for yourself. Instead of getting caught in judging yourself or others for perceived flaws, you can notice that your imperfections make you unique and allow for harmonious understanding and respect for the differences in those around you, letting that enrich your experience of leading a happy life.
Affirmations
Since the steps to a happy life begin with how you feel on the inside, a way to lead a happy life begins in your self-talk and your inner fountain of self-esteem. Saying affirmations of self-love to yourself can have extremely positive effects and change situations that attract you and that you attract. It can change your life forever. Here are some powerful affirmations that have may have a direct effect on your self-love:
- I know that I have beautiful qualities.
- I am worthy of love and respect.
- I am a soul full of love.
- I trust myself.
- I lovingly forgive my past mistakes.
When developing stronger mental health, learning the steps that lead to a happy life affords you the resilience, positive outcomes, and the best capacity to overcome challenges. You can attract new more desirable conditions into your life by radiating positive self-esteem. By redefining yourself first and knowing the 4 steps that lead to a happy life, you will operate in alignment with who you truly are.
To learn more about living a happy life with a healthy mindset call (858) 258-9883 and talk to a care coordinator at the Mental Health Center of San Diego.
