7 Ways to Improve Your Happiness Beginning NOW…

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Written by Jimmie Burroughs –  Email this article to a friend

I just took the true happiness test and my grade was A+. You can take the test at http://www.bluezones.com/. The test will reveal weak areas that hinder happiness that need improving.

About My Grade:

“You scored high in both remembered and experienced happiness. You feel competent, independent, and have good relationships with friends — all key factors to your happiness. Your positive attitude reflects your desire and ability to thrive on a day-to-day basis. Continue to support your healthy self-image by making improvements to your home and spending time on activities that truly interest you.”  From bluezones.com

I want to share 7 ways to improve your happiness beginning now…These are based on my own experience; I hope you find them useful:

1. Improve your finances

2. Improve your health

3. Improve relationships

4. Do more things that you enjoy

5. Go to new places and meet new people

6. Get a pet

7. Develop your spiritual life

Improve your finances:

It is extremely important to your happiness to have your finances in order. Some buy a house far beyond their means, thinking it will make them happy, and actually, it takes away from their happiness. When you have to struggle to pay your bills and are constantly living on the financial edge, it is hard to have much happiness.

If you are young, it is especially important to learn finances and make some wise financial decisions. Here are some things that I suggest you begin to do now. Pay off your bills beginning with the smallest. As soon as you pay off a bill, take the amount you were paying on it and pay off the next one until you are paid off. In the meanwhile avoid the temptation to buy anything else.

The difference in how people with money spend their money contrasted with people who do not is that people with money buy assets, while people who do not have money buy un-needed junk that often winds up in a garage sale.

Be wise in how you spend your money; live below your means in order to save. Remember, it is not how much you earn but how well you manage what you earn. Many high paid people live from paycheck to paycheck. They have never learned how to manage money either. I read recently that Bert Remold’s home in Florida is in foreclosure; he was the top box office draw for years and made millions. He is not the only celebrity who is in trouble financially; there are several others.

A well-known entrepreneur on the Internet was talking about his surprise when his mother told him she was retiring with over a million dollars from her job as the church secretary. She apparently knew how to manage money.

Take time to evaluate your finances and make some plans on how to get them under control and be sure to begin to save for retirement unless you plan to work until you drop over dead. Read my article on“10 money principles for financial freedom”.

Improve your health:

It is difficult to be happy if you are suffering from poor health. People with poor health usually suffer with a lot of pain or restrictions. I was sitting on a park bench today at the beach on a beautiful warm day in Florida when a man and his wife came along. They paused to ask about my dog. We talked for some time, and I noticed he had a breathing problem. Before long, he took out a cigarette and lit up. He did not smoke the entire cigarette; he carefully put it out and then replaced the remainder back into the package for later. It never ceases to amaze me how some knowingly destroy their health. I had two friends who had lung cancer and continued to smoke right up until they died. I have never smoked, so I do not know what it is like, but I often wonder what it is about a cigarette that is more important than health or even life for a matter of fact.

Habits that include health risks are not worth it. Your health is an important ingredient to happiness. It is far more valuable than wealth or material things. Here is the thing: It is just as easy to maintain good health, as it is to tear your health down with bad habits, poor eating and lack of exercise. We maintain good health by changing a few things about our lifestyle and by doing just a little each day to maintain good health.

Improve relationships:

The first sentence above of the evaluation of my happiness test says, “You scored high in both remembered and experienced happiness. You feel competent, independent, and have good relationships with friends – all key factors to your happiness.”

If there were one thing in life that is more important than all the rest as far as happiness, it would be relationships. It does not matter what you have, if you have no one to enjoy life with, it is unimportant. Some people mess off all their friends and wind up alone, disgruntled and unhappy. Relationships like most anything else need maintenance and care to grow and to survive. The best rule of thumb, when it comes to improving relationships, is the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Read my article “Becoming a better person is the secret to building better relationships”.

Do more things that you enjoy:

I could add to the above, “and less of the things you don’t enjoy.” For years, I was in a situation that required regular meetings. If those meeting had been needed and had a purpose, it would have been different, but for the most part, they were not; so I developed an aversion concerning meetings and until this day I avoid them; I do not like them. I am at a point today where I can choose the things I do and so I do very few things that I do not enjoy.

One of the great things about having a strong financial state is the ability to do more of the things you enjoy in life. I enjoy travel, so I have traveled in 49 states and several other countries. However, you cannot do this if you do not get on top of your finances when you are young.

Go to new places and meet new people:

One of the things I hope to do in late 2012 is to take a trip to China for a year and teach English in a university. I would be teaching about 400 Chinese students. While this is not yet for certain, I am hoping it works out. That to me is something entirely different from anything I have done before and the thought of it is so exciting.

However, it does not have to be something as drastic as that. It can be going to new places in your own community, meeting new people, and making new friends.

Get a pet:

Forgive me for using so many personal examples in this article but it is based on my own experiences of things that have added happiness to my life, so I suppose, in that case, it is all right.

Having a pet is so important to me. I have owned pets throughout my life, both cats and dogs, though I prefer dogs. All my pets have been outside pets until the present one. I now have a West Highland Terrier, called Westy, who is an inside dog.

How I came about him is a sad story. My wife always wanted a Westy, but since I never liked to have an inside dog, we never got one, that is until she got sick with cancer and then I agreed to get one. She bought him when he was two months old and he was so small that she often carried him in a large purse she had with his head sticking out.

The sad part is that she died 11 months after getting the dog. He was completely her dog until she died and then he turned to me and has been with me for six years now. He has been such a help to me during the grieving period and to this day; he is happy just being where I am. I would hate worst than anything to be without him; he adds so much happiness to my life. I travel in a motor home, and together he and I have been in 37 states. It is a proven fact that people with dogs are happier and lives longer.

Develop your spiritual life:

More than anything else in my life, the spiritual connection I have had with God has given me happiness, contentment and purpose. Even through the very difficult times of my life, and perhaps especially during those times, God’s presence has brought me through. I cannot imagine going through life alone without God.

I remember years ago reading a poem that has stuck with me. I found it on the Internet and share it with you. The original author is unknown. This copy is provided by Margaret Fishback Powers.

I Had a Dream

One night I had a dream

I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene I noticed two sets

of footprints in the sand,

one belonging to me

and the other to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

There was only one set of footprints.

I realized that this was at the lowest

and saddest times in my life.

This always bothered me

and I questioned the Lord

about my dilemma.

“Lord, you told me when I decided to follow You,

You would walk and talk with me all the way.

But I’m aware that during the most troublesome

times of my life there is only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed You most,

you leave me.”

He whispered,  “My precious, precious child,

I love you and will never leave you

never, ever during your times of trial and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints

It was then that I carried you.”

If you are interested in knowing how to have a relationship with God, CLICK HERE.

 

About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is a motivational speaker and author who have been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for more than 30 years. He is a dedicated believer in Jesus Christ and considers helping others his calling in life. His website contains over 600 articles on preparing yourself for success through personal development and the things that accompany personal development.

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