What about Life!

Enjoying life is often thought to be a mind-set, the result of reflection, action and gratitude. And while most of us lack sufficient free time to escape to some mountaintop temple to follow our bliss, the best way to find happiness is to make practical, everyday changes. Coupled with conscious choices to appreciate the people in your life and making space to do the things you're best at, small changes to your life soon add up to greater enjoyment in life.

Get a pet. Owning a pet provides love, companionship, and hours of entertainment. Pet ownership has health benefits too, such as reducing your blood pressure and the risk of heart disease, increasing your feelings of well-being and connectedness, and teaching you lessons in empathy and nurturing. For extra warm and fuzzy feelings, consider rescuing a pet from your local shelter.

Get into music. Listening to music taps into your brain’s imagination and sense of self-identity, boosts your self-esteem, and lessens feelings of isolation. Listening to music feels empowering. Put on your favorite album––or that one you keep meaning to dive into, turn up the volume, and cut out all other distractions so that you can really experience the music.

In some cases, music has been shown to help people coping with dementia, giving them a greater sense of empowerment.

Start the day with a smile. Your facial expression is traditionally thought of as a window into how you feel, but it's also thought that your facial expression can influence your mood. Therefore, be sure to smile freely, to ensure that your mood is upbeat. You might even want to greet yourself in the mirror with a smile first thing in the morning––which happy face may be just enough to keep that mood flowing all day long.

Take a break. A decent break doesn’t mean zoning out to the TV or going down the internet rabbit hole. It means setting some time aside and making it special. As a thank-you to yourself, give yourself a vacation or “stay-cation”; a change of scenery––even if it just means having a picnic in your backyard or building a fort with your kids in the living room. Taking a break that is different from the ordinary and lets you "hang loose" can do wonders for your sense of fun, escape, and fulfillment.

Spend time with interesting people. It is well known that people with a wide circle of friends tend to live longer. Of course, birds of a feather flock together, and it’s also been shown that your friends’ behavior can actually have a big impact on yours.[6]Make sure you hang around with positive, interesting people to inspire yourself to live a richer life.

Putting off getting in touch with an old friend? Make that call today! If you can’t reach the person by phone, set some time aside to write a long email.

Being dragged down by an unhealthy friendship? Enabling your friend’s bad behavior doesn’t do either of you any good. Do some soul-searching and decide whether to resolve things with a heart-to-heart or to simply end the relationship.