How to Live a Happy Life
Need some more pep in your step or want to find more happiness in 2021? There’s a lot of advice out there about how to live a happier life, but a lot of it can be cost prohibitive. From year-long courses and counselling, to changing where you live or work, and planning holidays or starting new projects… it can all add up. So, what if you want to make some changes this year, but you’re on a budget?
Well, the good news is that happiness isn’t about material things. In fact, according to research from the University of Illinois Chicago about what Christmas gifts makes people happiest, it turns out that giving (and receiving) gifts that we can experience (live through) instead of material things makes us happier.
The research does show the easiest way to make gains in your happiness and how to live a happy life: plan to create meaningful experiences or share time with people you care about this year – and you can do that for very little money!
Here are our 5 cheap ways for how to live a happy life. Read on!
1. Make a Garden
There’s a reason why many doctors and therapists recommend gardening to people. By helping you to create life yourself and watching it grow into something beautiful, gardening can bring immense peace and happiness into your daily life.
Lots of people will say that they love gardening because of the outcome of it, the fresh vegetables or pretty flowers. However, many people don’t realize the positive psychological effect it has on your mind and body while you’re cultivating those plants.
According to Project Happiness, scientists say that working with soil is beneficial to your health and happiness. Soil bacterium are microscopic bacteria that enter your system when you touch soil – and they generate the feel good hormones: serotonin and dopamine.
You also get vitamin D, and although we’re warned by society to stay out of the sun, it is actually detrimental to our health if we don’t get enough of it. Sunlight allows us to stay happy and healthy while soaking in Vitamin D, which is essential for our bodies. So slap on some sunscreen and get to planting!
Seeing something you’ve worked hard on finally come to fruition is a positive experience no matter what it is you’re working on. And there’s nothing better than seeing your garden sprout beautiful flowers or fresh fruits and vegetables.
2. Go on a Walk in Nature
If you live in a big city, as most of us do, chances are walking in nature is something you don’t do enough. But finding the time to walk in nature regularly can change your life in numerous ways.
The benefits are endless:
- Improved sleep. The exercise you’ll be getting will improve sleeping quality and increase the time you spend asleep. This gentle exercise can affect your body’s natural melatonin production, creating a healthier sleep schedule all around.
- Increases “feel good’ hormones. Along with the increased melatonin, walking in nature will release other healthy endorphins, giving you a natural high. These endorphins will decrease pain, therefore increasing positivity and a healthy well-being.
- Increased creativity. Being on a walk engages your body in a low-level activity, but it doesn’t take much mental energy effort. This allows your mind to wander, daydream and make new connections and think of new ideas.
- It allows you to unplug. Our world today is full of technology and social media that lowers serotonin and productivity. Going on a walk allows you to put away the smart phone and unplug for a while without the temptation.
- Increased Intake of vitamin D. Much like gardening, going for nature walks will also increase your Vitamin D intake, giving your body a hormone boost to improve your mood.
- Decreased stress. Cortisol is the stress hormone. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious or stressed you will tend to have more cortisol in your body which can contribute to a wide range of unpleasant symptoms. Walking in nature can help to lower levels of cortisol in your body, in fact, a review of 24 Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) studies confirmed that simply looking at forest landscapes reduces cortisol by about 13 per cent, while walking in the woods decreases it nearly 16 per cent.
- Grounds you back to what is important. Just taking the time to be in nature can help you feel more connected to the earth and its positive effects on our bodies. Even the color green alone has been shown to lower heart rate and increase calmness.
- It encourages you to breathe. Our bodies breathe involuntarily, but in our day-to-day lives we rarely stop to really allow ourselves to breathe. Walking in nature encourages deep, rhythmic breathing which encourages your body to relax and feel calmer.
- Increases your energy levels. It’s important to breathe fresh air away from toxins in urban areas. Walking among nature will help you breathe in pure, fresh air, resulting in you feeling invigorated and energized. On top of this, if you can make it a daily exercise or walking routine it will increase your productivity and energy in general.
3. Learn Something New
According to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, “studies show that workers who maintain their ability to learn outpace other professionals. The people who will thrive in the 21st century will be those who embrace lifelong learning and continually increase their knowledge, skills, and competencies.”
The best part about the research on adult learning is that it’s not only the acquisition of new skills and competencies that benefit these workers. The mindset that drives people to be curious and want to learn more is also a great buffer against criticism and failure. People who have a growth mindset see failure as a part of their development journey. Learning also fuels our creativity, making us feel more productive and happier.
And, it turns out that developing a growth mindset and lifelong learning habits are skills that will benefit you well into retirement too. A recent study showed that people who keep their mind sharp in retirement tend to live longer.
According to Psycologies.co.uk, there is evidence to suggest that adult learning has the most positive impact on self-esteem and self-efficacy when the learning provided meets the needs of the learner, and when the learner is at a stage in their life when they are ready and receptive to benefit from it. So you have to find something that sparks your interest, not something you think you ‘should’ do.
A cheap way to learn something new is to create a new podcast list or create a playlist on Ted Talks. If you want to learn more about how to live a happy life, you could also check out the 5 Best FREE Positive Psychology Online Courses or these Top 5 Speakers on Gratitude.
4. Start Journaling
Do you feel emotionally stuck? Or are you going through a tough time right now? Are you curious about seeing a counsellor or feel you need to speak to a professional, but just can’t afford one?
Why not try journaling?
“When we put our thoughts and feelings down on paper, we’re not just transferring them—we’re also transforming them. Writing forces us to arrange our ideas into a sequence, one after another; over time, themes and patterns start to emerge; new insights and perspectives start to bubble up,” said Kira M. Newman on Greater Good Magazine.
Are you someone who is generally not comfortable opening up to people? Studies show that journaling might be the most beneficial to you.
To get started all you need is a notepad, and you need to get into the habit of doing it, here’s how:
Generally, you want to set a timer and just keep writing for at least 20 minutes. However, research suggests that even writing for a few minutes can be beneficial. You also want to start making this a practice. Try to write for four days a week, but as with all new habits, remember to forgive yourself if you fall short and just pick up where you left off (i.e. keep going!).
**If you’re going through a tough time and need to speak to a professional, the above information might not be suitable for you – in Australia, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 for free if you need to speak to someone. **
5. Practice Gratitude
One of the easiest and cheapest ways for how to live a happy life is practicing gratitude — and it’s fully science backed. In fact, all it takes is a few minutes a day or per week. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, showed that participants who kept a gratitude journal weekly for 10 weeks or daily for two weeks experienced benefits.
These benefits included more positive moods, optimism about the future, less stress and better sleep. Gratitude also leads to higher overall wellbeing and satisfaction with your life and social relationships. Why? We’re biologically wired to look out for the bad things in life (don’t want that lion to eat us, ya know?!) so we need to balance the scales and train out brains to see the good things too. And the more you train your brain to see what you do have, the more you’ll see and appreciate the good in others and in your own life.
The research suggests that writing about what you’re grateful for is key. Translating your thoughts into concrete language makes you more aware of them, deepening their emotional impact. It’s useful to reflect on smaller, more frequent things—such as a modest bit of help from a friend or colleague. You can simply pick up a notebook from the shops and get to writing.
Not all is lost if writing isn’t your thing, I have personally found that sharing what I’m grateful for with my husband every night has had huge impacts on both of us and has also brought us closer. Instead of asking what we’re grateful for which started becoming hard not to repeat things every night, we instead ask, “tell me 3 things that went well today.”
Related reading: How to Practice Gratitude, and Why You Should do it
All of these ideas and tips are proven to cheap ways for how to live a happy life. Why not get started on your happiness journey today?!