Happiness Skills

The Key to Happiness

Happiness is a learnable skill. Yes, that’s what Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues found in their famous Happiness Pie study (read more about it here from the Greater Good Institute). Some people are born happy, some encounter happiness life circumstances but most happy people LEARNT to be happy. Ergo, happiness is a learnable skill. Good news, hey?

I think the most important happiness skill you can learn is that happiness is in your control. It’s not up to society, the government, your parents, your partner, your friends or chocolate. It’s your decision. Why? Because happiness is about perception. We can look at the world in different ways – it’s always the same world but it can make us happy or unhappy. It’s up to you to chose.

To make it a bit easier, I’ve come up with a list of happiness skills to support your decision to be happy. By the way, don’t understand me wrong, it’s not about being chirpy happy every day. It’s just about being happy in general… feeling in control of your happiness even through stormy moods and circumstances.

Happiness Skills

  1. Choose to be happy! It’s all about perspective.
  2. Learn to transition into your parasympathetic nervous system – for example by breathing.
  3. Identify your dreams and pursue them enjoying the ride.
  4. Appreciate fulfilling dreams.
  5. Review and declutter your resources.
  6. Embrace abundance.
  7. Adapt beliefs and habits to support your dreams.
  8. Make more positive moments than negative ones (4:1) by leveraging your hormones (emotions) and practising awareness/mindfulness.
  9. Declutter your mind (meditate and journal).
  10. Nourish, move and rest your body so it can support you.
  11. Make love (create positive moments within a connection).
  12. Share generously.
  13. Be happy for others.
  14. Develop, maintain and nourish your connections. Enjoy it.
  15. Let go of baggage and forgive and release.
  16. Enjoy play and fun.
  17. Tap into your creativity and stimulate the flow.
  18. Let go of control and surrender to the universe.
  19. Embrace the messiness of life, the coexistence of right and wrong, the colours of the rainbow in between black and white and the magic of happiness. 
  20. Enjoy the experience of life.

Need help?

Do you like the concept but struggle with implementation? No problem. I’ve designed a course to support you. It’s very hands-on, focusing on practising and implementing to bring in all that happiness. More about that here.

If you don’t need a course right now but want reminders for happiness, sign up for my newsletter here.