12 Practical Guidelines For Happy Living

Practical, down-to-earth, nitty-gritty, where-the-rubber-hits-the-road kind of advice.

1. Make up your mind to be happy...learn to find pleasure in simple things.

Happiness depends on you. You decide whether or not you want it! If you are normal, you would want to be happy. It is a pretty simple state to become. Just decide that happy is what you would like to be and you will be.

You need not complicate your life to find happiness. Simple things can give you pleasure if you just keep a positive mindset.

More positive tips here: https://writersforhire19.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/10-effective-ways-to-stay-positive/

2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something.

You have no choice about your given circumstance but you definitely have a choice how you will react in that particular circumstance. Afterall, your life is only 10% of what happened to you and 90% how you react to it!

Everything is what nobody has and something is what everyone have. Including you. Not so bad to be just like the rest of humanity, huh?

3. Don't take yourself too seriously...nobody does.

Why will you? It is so boring to take anyone in that way. Seriously? Come on...get real! Real is when you can laugh at yourself. You can't? Now is the time to learn how. Call your bestfriend. Surely, he/she will laugh at you and teach you how.

4. Don't let criticism worry you... you can't please everybody.

Criticism, whether positive or negative, should be taken if you want to improve something. There is nothing to it! Just take it and move on!

Know you were not born to please anybody but your companion 24/7, yourself.

5. Don't let your neighbors set your standards...be yourself.

Stop keeping up with your neighbors, even if they are named "Jones". Live within your means because living outside your means is too damn expensive!

6. Do things you enjoy doing...but stay out of debt.

Refer to Number 1. Enjoy life but keep it simple. Indebtedness has a way of making life complicated! Use your credit card judiciously or learn to pay for everything in cash. If you always pay cash, it will be good to remember one thing: if you cannot afford to pay for it in cash, you cannot afford it!

7. Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones.

Imaginary troubles are similar to garbage. You will not eat garbage, right? If you are not eating garbage, why will you put garbage in your mind? Do not make your mind a garbage dump. Mind is everything. What you think, you become.

8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges.

Hatred is like taking poison and wishing the one you hated will drop dead! It does not work and is detrimental to your own self. Forgiveness is an attribute of strength. Only the strong can forgive. Be strong. Forgive. Not because the one you hated deserves a second chance, forgive because you deserve peace of mind.

9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about places.

An idle mind is the devil's workshop! Don't give the devil space to work on your person. Get occupied! Cultivate interests to fill your minds with beautiful thoughts and always think of something worthwhile to do with your time.

10. Don't spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes. Don't hold post mortems.

The present is where we are. It is where we should be. Body, mind and spirit. We cannot be in the present, physically, in the past, emotionally, and in the future, mentally. The past is over and done with. Gone, never to return. Make peace with the past and move on. The future is not certain. It may come or not. The present is all we've got. Let's not waste it but letting our issues in the past or our excitement of the future ruin our enjoyment of the present.

11. Don't be the one who never gets over things.

Move on. If you will not move, you will die, literally and figuratively, where you are. To be alive is to be constantly on the move. In moving, things and people change. Change is the only constant in this ever changing world. Deal with it by acceptance.

12. Keep busy at something...a very busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Look for useful ways to spend your time. Volunteer. Help. Be of service to others. It is a wonderful feeling to be of service and to feel needed by your fellow human beings.

If you have something to add to this list, feel free to do so by leaving a comment below. Thank you.💕