137+ Ways to Create Happiness and Personal Growth With Just Your Mind

#101 Is My Favorite

This is a (long) list that I've learned and use to help myself and clients achieve personal happiness. Feel free to apply these as well!

These things are a bit tricky to find science behind, so a lot if this is writing from experience.

There is no particular order to any of these.

1. Remind yourself of what really matters.

• I realized some things don't actually matter:

  • Making a mistake

  • The items on my wish list

  • Things not going the way you planned them out to be

  • Winning

• What really matters to me are:

  • Love

  • Family

  • Friends

  • The fact that I am living, breathing, existing, experiencing life right now

For example, take a moment now to breathe and be thankful you are alive.

2. Have Discipline

If I chose to do something, commit to it.

3. Have Purpose

Having a sense of purpose gives me a meaning to life and keeps me going and happy.

4. Be Bold in What You Do

When I do something, I do it with the fullest of my actions and the fullest of my heart. I don't half-ass things.

5. Let Go of Negativity

It is easy to get caught up in something that is bad, but energy flows in the way we perceive things. If we get caught up in negative thoughts and people, then your world reflects that. If you chose to focus on the positive and let go of negativity, everything gets better. You really have to practice this and believe it to work.

6. Read and Engage with Positive People

7. Cut Out People Who Do Not Empower You

8. Hold Yourself to a Higher Standard

9. Be Present

10.  Stop Sabotaging Yourself

11. Talk and Behave like the Person You Want To Be

12. Work on Progress to Your Goals Every Day

13. Start Your Day with a Question

14. Stop Feeling Limited and Feel Abundant

15. Get Off Social Media

16. Keep A Journal

I keep one for abundance, one for magic moments, one for new thing's I've learned, a food journal, and a daily journal.

17. Express Gratitude

18. Show Kindness

19. Have Passion

20. Fall in Love (with someone or something)

21. Try Something New Every Day

22. Stop Focusing Only on Yourself

I like to focus on and ask myself "how can I help and add value to others' lives?"

• Volunteer

• Donate

• Help Others

23. Stop Worrying About Material Items

24. Stop Caring About What People Think of You

If it is hard to get out of your head, then focus on only things that you can perceive. Stop trying to guess what others are thinking. Look at the world through your own eyes only and not thinking about how others might feel or see.

25. Get Out into the Sun

26. Get Out into Nature

50. Change "To" to "For"

When something would go wrong, I used to always complain, "why is this happening to me?" This always implied that I was being punished. Changing "to" to "for" has empowered me, and now when something doesn't go my way, I'll ask "why is this happening for me?" This means that there is a reason as to why something has happened.

51. Change Disempowering Meanings

When something doesn't go your way, make sure the meaning of it, doesn't disempower you, and instead empowers you. For example, when I broke up with one of my exes, I made sure not to let it disempower me. I said this is happening because I am now allowed to experience self-growth (as opposed to partner-growth).

52. Apply the 2 minutes rule

If something needs 2 minutes of your time, just do it. Dishes after food, bedding in morning are best examples. I feel less cluttered.

53. Believe Everything Happens for a Reason

54. Apply the 90 Second Rule

When something bad happens, you are only allowed to suffer for 90 seconds.

55. Change Your Expectations to Appreciations

56. Have 1 Day per Month Where You Don't Use Electronics

57. Sleep Under the Stars

58. Surround Yourself with People You Respect and that Challenge You

You become the 5 people you hang out with the most.

59. Create new habits

By doing one small part of a habit each day, you can build stubborn and effective habits in weeks. 

For example, you can have amazing energy when you walk in a room.

Step one of the habit would be when you see a door, you put a smile on your face. Step two would be when you touch the doorknob/handle you feel energized. Step three would be upon opening that door and walking in the room you smile at everyone and ask them how they are. Step four would be if they ask how you are, reply with "I am awesome!" and use hand gestures.

100. Affirmations

My favorite affirmation is "everyday, in every way, I grow better and better".

101. Incantations

Incantations are different from affirmations, since they use body language to attach the words you are saying to your body.

For example, if you were to say "I am a badass", you would do this while jumping up in the air and slapping your butt.

This is awesome because it creates a connection between both your body and mind, which really enforces that mindset into your body.

102. Have More Breakthrough Moments

103. Accept Your Flaws (and see them as character)

104. Stop Taking Offense

105. Realize Everyone is Different

106. Declutter Your Space

107. Ignore Ignorance

108. Don't Classify as an Introvert or Extrovert

I notice when I'm seeing outside knowledge I become extremely extroverted, but when I'm seeking self growth, I become extremely introverted. I feel there is no reason to have to "classify" as either or.

109. Walk More

110. Bike To Shops

I like to longboard.

111. Reads the first chapter, last chapter and first and last paragraph of each chapter of a book each day.

112. Don't Conform

The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. 

113. Be Mindful

114. Practice Balance

115. Live Every Day as If It's Your Last

116. Don't Hold Grudges

117. Kill Your Ego

What's the BFD?

118. Realize You are on Rock in Space Spinning at 1000's of mph

119. Read Self-Help Books

120. Ask The Right Questions

121. Get Deep But Stay Simple

Small chat can be done when I'm dead. Real conversations are worth it and are less awkward. A good question to ask someone is "what were you like when you were 4?".

122. Stop Grading Others  

123. Learn another language

124. Learn a musical instrument

125. Give Out Hugs

Did you know that the more hugs your give, the higher your oxytocin levels get? Oxytocin is the hormone that helps social bonding and feeling of comfort.

126. Give more high fives (or fist bumps) 

127. Show affection in relationships and don't hold back

128. Embrace your sexuality

129. Spend more time with family

130. Stand up for yourself  

131. Work less and play more

132. Finish unfinished projects

133. Don't follow cultural expectations (be a hipster)

134. Write love notes (to your loved ones, your friends, and most importantly yourself)

135. Get a cute animal (or play with one)

I've had 3 bunnies: Noonin, Twitch, and Marlow, aka "Hey", "Shitter", and "Stop".

Now my mother has a dog (Brock), so that's where I get my cuteness from. You can also check out r/aww, r/cats, r/dogs, r/animalsbeingbros or r/rabbits.

136. Laugh at yourself

Don't take yourself so seriously. An easy way to do this is to look at yourself in the mirror and laugh.

137. Sing

Singing is a great way to feel happy, especially belting out to your fullest. You can do this in the shower, but I do this wherever I feel is applicable.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THIS LIST

That's it, but the list will keep growing as I learn new things and find new ways to get happy.

Let me know your thoughts and experiences in the comments and stay beautiful!

-Jacob