From: Hack Spirit
By: Lachlan Brown
Do you wish you were a happier person?
Always wondering about other people, ‘Are they really that happy’?
Want to experience joy in your life?
This article by Hack Spirit should help.
Why are some people more happy than others? It looks like they’ve found what they love to do and have a consistent sense of peace and happiness.
They see positive opportunities when most people see closed doors. They handle failures and setbacks with grace and confidently continue moving in their desired direction.
Don’t worry if you think this doesn’t sound like you.
The good news is, you can be one of those people. Those characteristics are largely learned.
I know this from personal experience. I’ve seen people go through hardships and depression and yet turn their life around purely through their actions and attitude.
Being happy is possible, no matter how dark your days are.
Contrary to popular belief, being happy really doesn’t have much to do with “positive thinking”. It’s about cultivating a realistic attitude that embraces life as it is.
Finding lasting happiness is a lot like physical fitness. You have to work your muscles daily if you want to see results over time. So, if you’re looking for a nudge to get the ball rolling, here are 7 habits of authentically happy people.
1) They have at least 5 close relationships
Did you know that the longest Harvard study ever on happiness found that healthy relationships were the most consistent predictor of a happy person? Having a few close relationships has also been found to help us live a longer, higher quality life. True friends really are worth their weight in gold.
But why five relationships?
This has been found to be an acceptable average from a variety of studies. According to the book Finding Flow:
“National surveys find that when someone claims to have 5 or more friends with whom they can discuss important problems, they are 60 percent more likely to say that they are ‘very happy’.”
However keep in mind that the actual number doesn’t necessarily matter that much, it is the effort you put into your relationships that matters.
