How to Be Happy Every Day

If you're a fan of fairy tales, you've probably wondered what happens after the story ends. Is Cinderella a happy housewife? Is Snow White singing through her days with a band of merry dwarfs and a brood of kids? The answer all depends on whether these fairy tale characters know how to be happy every day.

Every day? Are you off your rocker? No way can anyone be happy every day. Well, they may not be able to be happy all day, every day, especially if they are grieving for a family member, but people can be happy most of the time.

The first step is to decide that you want to be happy. It sounds too simple, right? The sad truth is that many people don't actually want to be happy, though. Happy isn't dramatic. Happy isn't attention getting. Happy doesn't usually bring big bucks. You have to decide that you want to be happy more than you want the things that being unhappy or dissatisfied give you.

(For an example of a super happy person, watch or read Pollyanna. That little girl was so happy it was downright nauseating to cranky people, but they sure missed her happiness when she misplaced it for a bit.)

Once you decide that you do want to be happy, you need to get up each morning, look at yourself in the mirror and say, "I'm happy. Boy, am I happy. I'm starting the day off alive. What a terrific beginning!" Seriously, you have to expect to be happy and you have to remind yourself to take a moment to enjoy all the good things in your day.

Next, accept yourself. Accept your life. The desire to keep up with the thinner, richer, more sophisticated Joneses leads to more unhappiness and stress than almost anything else. And if you could just listen in on the Joneses one day, you'd find out that they are trying to keep up with their own set of Joneses and are just as dissatisfied with their lives as you are with yours.

Take a hard look at misery causing things. All the self talk and blessing counting in the world may not be enough to make you happy if you are working 80 hours a week for a boss who is a combination of Hitler and Simon Legree. To be happy, you may need to make a few changes. Don't expect to be instantly happy from quitting a job or ending a toxic relationship, though. To be happy every day, you need to be happy from within instead of relying on external things.

Once you've created the foundation for a happy life, don't lose track of your goal. You want to be happy as much as you possibly can so you can spend your time enjoying life instead of feeling sad or depressed. Hanging around driven or self centered individuals can cause you to relapse, so if that happens, find a cheery person to hang out with awhile or think of a list of good things that happened to you to recover your happiness. However, if you can't seem to stop being exhausted and sad long enough to think happy thoughts, head to your doctor. Chemical imbalances that cause severe depression can and should be treated by a medical professional.