Cultivating Happiness

"The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go" - Dodinsky

Many people spent their whole life looking for happiness, but happiness is not out there to be found; instead, it is within us. Our choices and actions are what constitute our own unique happiness. This is why happiness is always easier said than done. It takes a lot of exploration and experimentation to find the happiness that is customized to each of us.

Despite our differences, here are my six ways of cultivating my personal happiness.

1. Knowing When to Let Go

Letting go is one of the most powerful way to cultivate happiness, but it is also one of the hardest to achieve especially when it comes down to letting go of certain responsibilities or noises. Often times we burden ourselves with so much stress and responsibilities from school or work that our emotions are drastically affected by these negativity within us. Learning when and how to let go of these stress will ultimately uncover the happiness that is within us. Letting go can be hard because we feel guilty about it. However, there is a difference between overburdening and taking responsibilities. Happiness is the result of finding the perfect boundary between these two.

2. Understanding Your Limits

Understanding your limits goes hand in hand with knowing when to let go. When you know your limits and know what you are capable of, it becomes easier for you to let go some of the responsibilities in life. On a daily basis, we get a lot of noises telling us what we should do or how we should be. However, these noises can be ignored if we understand our limits and learn to let go of the things that we deem insignificant. This tip is powerful in a way that it teaches us to be ourselves instead of forcing ourselves into someone who we are really not. Life can never be happy if we are always trying to live someone else's life. The ultimate method of cultivating happiness is to be ourselves by understanding our limits and by blocking out or letting go of the things that are inconsequential to us.

3. Random Acts of Kindness

Simple random acts of kindness can make both someone else's and your day a whole lot brighter. The satisfaction we get after helping other person is almost indescribable. It is not until I started doing random acts of kindness that I began to realize that one can benefit so much from giving. The key thing is that random acts of kindness can come in many forms. You might be already doing it everyday without even knowing it! An example of a random act of kindness could be simply be opening the door for someone else. Small acts of kindness like these trigger a region of our brain that is responsible for our sensation of social connection, pleasure, and trust. If you are interested, here is a more scientific explanation for the feelings we get from doing random acts of kindness.

4. The Power of Nature

This method of cultivating happiness is really subjective. My roommate would never agree to this point because he is a city person. He enjoys the crowd, the opportunity and the busyness of a city life. For me however, growing up in a small rural town, I often find peace in nature. I enjoy the quietness, the freshness, and the colors that nature has to offer. Whenever I'm on a hiking trail or on the beach, I often find it the easiest to uncover the happiness that is within me. I can spend hours immersing myself in nature, and just let it take away my trouble with its natural melody and scent. My roommate, on the other hand, cannot spend more than an hour in nature as he finds it boring and a waste of time. Nature is powerful in its own ways, but only the ones who enjoy nature can see its potential and greatness.

5. Keep a Journal/Diary

I never realized I could find happiness in writing. Keeping a journal has been a part of my bedtime routine for a few months now, and I find it effective in blocking out the negative energy in my life. With the negativity gone, it becomes much easier to find the happiness within myself. To tell the truth, I am never big on writing. But I soon realized that you do not need to be an exceptional writer to keep a journal. The writings and the thoughts are very causal in journal writing. My journal becomes this invisible listener to whom I can rant and complaint all I want without it ever getting tired of me. My negativity outlet is my journal, and it is crucial in cultivating my happiness.

6. Physical Activity

Doing physical activities is a great way to cultivate happiness. For me, exercising allows me to keep my busy mind off of all the responsibilities and stress I have. A simple 30-minutes of physical activity can improve my mood and clear my mind significantly. Ever since I came to college, my roommates and I have been active on an almost daily basis. We would alternate between table tennis, basketball, and the gym. We all found it to be extremely helpful in coping with stress. I highly encourage everyone to give this tip a try if you have not been doing so already. A study from the University of Pennsylvania shows that physical activities can not only improve our physical fitness, but it can also promote mental awareness and health. We often feel a great sense of euphoria after working out, and that is because our brain releases endorphin, dopamine and other chemical during the exercise to respond to our increasing heart rate.