5 Rules for a Happy Life

No matter where you are right now, if you really want to be happy, you can be. It may take some practice and it may take a while to grasp the concept, but happiness is yours for the taking. If you want to stay miserable, that’s your choice too. No one else can make you happy or sad.

So where do you start? By adopting these five basic rules, you can begin to turn-off the negatives and turn your life around:

1 - BE CONFIDENT.

You’ve probably heard the saying: “You can’t love someone else until you love yourself.” Nothing could be truer. If people would love, respect and believe in themselves, they would have no reason and would make no excuses to be negative, feel anger or show hatred toward others.

When you are confident you know what you want, you go after it and you get it. You blame no one for your shortcomings because you accept yourself just as you are - imperfections and all. You don’t feel the need to dominate others or compete with others, because you know there is enough of everything to go around and you’re happy to share.

It is not selfish to love yourself, exactly the opposite. In his play, “Henry V”, William Shakespeare explained it beautifully when he wrote: “Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.”

2 - BE KIND.

Treat everyone and everything with respect and kindness. Not just your family and friends, but strangers and your enemies as well. What’s the best way to conquer your enemies? Make them your friends! If someone is treating you badly, turn it around on them. Give them a smile and a compliment. Watch in amazement at how quickly they cower.

War and hate are never the answer to anything. Kindness can win over even the coldest heart. Lead by example and you can change the world.

Mother Theresa once said: “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

3 - BE APPRECIATIVE.

Everyone has something or someone they can and should be appreciative of. Think about the good things in your life: Your home, your family, food on the table. When you are appreciative, you have no time to be depressed, feel sorry for yourself or look at the world pessimistically. Enjoy sunsets, flowers, trees, and stars.

No matter if you’re rich or poor, look at the good in your life. Even if you feel it is small. Don’t dwell on the things that seem wrong or that you don’t have. Don’t degrade others because they have more money or things. Life is not about money or possessions. After all, even rich people get the blues.

“Prosperity depends more on wanting what you have than having what you want.” Geoffrey F. Abert, 20th century author.

4 - BE TOLERANT.

This is just a nice way of saying: Mind your own business. Instead of trying to control what others do, let people live their lives. We do not live in a perfect society and Puritanism, thankfully, died long ago.

Churches and other religious organizations, as well as governments, have been discriminating against different ethnic groups and lifestyles for centuries. Don’t be a part of it. Live your life and let others live there’s. What they do has little, if anything, to do with your life unless you let it. As long as people are intolerant there will never be peace in the world.

In his song “Imagine,” John Lennon asks us to imagine a world without boundaries: no religion, no country and no possessions. Then what would we have to fight about?

5 - BE HAPPY.

It’s your choice to be happy or not. Why not choose happy? What do you have to lose by this choice? Happy feels so good. Happy is free. Like love, it doesn’t cost a thing. Happy people are healthier, wealthier and wiser. Happy attracts happy. As the old saying goes: “What’s so bad about feeling good?” Nothing. You won’t be on this planet forever. Enjoy it while you can.

Though it’s hard to change a lifetime of negativity, it can be done. Don’t get discouraged. Just keep trying and don’t give up. Make a little progress every day until you are the person you were born to be. Then sit back and watch how differently others respond to you. It’s amazing!

Despite all the bad you see in the media and hear from negative people, there is so much good in the world. You deserve all that life offers, so smile, laugh and have fun. Start your journey to happiness today. It will be the best trip you ever take.