Happiness…

This is from Mercola on Simple Secrets of How to be Happy.  I found it enlightening and thought I would pass it along.  They are things we all probably know, but could use a nice litte reminder.

These are the principles I use to be happy. They work for me, and I hope they work for you:

1) Improve your relationships with friends and family – Happiness starts at home. Start by improving your relationship with your parents, brothers, sisters, and children. Smile when you greet them, do things for them, don’t allow them to get angry with you. Maintaining healthy loving relationships and friendships can promote happiness. Remember that love makes you beautiful.

2) Be an optimist – Optimism generates good feelings.

3) Develop a genuine smile and laugh a lot – Act happy – It works. Smile into the mirror for a half hour without stopping. Smiling makes you happy and the more you smile the more happy you become. We all like people who smile. It also makes us more attractive.

4) Pray – Become religious or spiritual – This only works if you believe in God. If you want to be happy then ask God to make you happy. Prayer helps you accomplish things.

5) Be generous and share with others – Give more than you receive because being generous will make you happy.

6) Treat time as a friend – Don’t watch the clock.

7) Exercise your mind – Keep yourself busy with some new project or ideas.

8) Work your body – Exercise regularly. Studies show that aerobic exercise is an antidote for mild depression and anxiety. “Happy minds reside in sound bodies,” says Dr. Myers.

9) Have fun in life – Keep cool under pressure.

10) Pursue achievable goals.

11) Have high confidence in yourself.

12) Respect the disadvantaged.

13) Age gracefully.

14) Give compliments – Take every opportunity to be complimentary. Want to make someone like you? Every time you meet a person smile and give them a compliment.

15) Be honest – With honesty comes openness. People respect honest and open minded people.

16) Keep an open mind – Most people seem to think that they know everything that they need to know. There’s plenty of wisdom to go around.

17) Treat difficulties as challenges –Life’s an adventure and every obstacle in life is one of its challenges. Treat life as a game. What fun would a game be if you could never lose?