Happiness is the New Black – Here’s How to Achieve It – Affinity

Happiness is the new black. Everyone wants it. It’s in vogue and it’s a need, a desire and a drug in itself that can bankrupt our finances and even our souls in its pursuit. But here’s a wild and wonderful thought: what if the natural human default position was happiness?

It’s right here, right now, this very second, grinning away beneath the obsessive dissatisfied chatter that runs like ticker tape through our minds. We can’t always see its inner glow and goodness because it is clouded with anxiety, sadness, busyness, stress, loneliness, sickness, fatigue, fear and sheer ennui; psychic dust sheets that keep our joy shrouded in shadows which block out its light.

What is happiness to you? It helps to know what does make you happy. We can all do our what we don’t-like lists as pain is easy to notice and label, but know what lights you up and you can plug into its source. Now here’s another radical thought: what if happiness wasn’t over there but right here right now, your birth-right and as easy to access as it is to breath?

You don’t have to have a reason to be happy as this can cause misery if the source is taken away. Be happy for no reason. Be happy because when you are, you energise the world, dreams start to fall into alignment and people want to stick to you like Velcro. Your happiness is your gift to the world. Happiness is ever present. It never turns its face away from us, but we turn away from it.

Try these 5 tips from the UK’s top life coach Carole Ann Rice to feel happier today and every day:

Seek the silver linings in your life – they are always there you just have to start appreciating them and stop taking them for granted.

Smile more – smile at strangers, smile at your boss, smile at your colleagues, smile at the bus driver, and smile even when you feel like frowning.

Spend time in nature – find awe and magnificence in everyday things. Our world is pretty special take a few minutes out of your day to look at the blue sky, touch the flowers and stand still in the breeze.

Do something kind or generous for someone else – give compliments freely, check in on your loved ones more often and put more of an effort in with new starters at work, make them feel welcome.