5 Simple Ways to Be Happy in Your Business Every Day
The desire for happiness is a universal human emotion. To some extent, you want to learn how to be happy with yourself in some shape or form. However, not everyone knows how to embrace happiness. And being happy in our jobs, with our business… well that is sometimes the real challenge. I think they both go hand in hand though – if we are happy within ourselves, we will bring that to our businesses and it will shine in the way we joyfully serve our clients and reflect back into us as true satisfaction.
Unfortunately, society hasn’t helped with this confusion. We have been conditioned to associate happiness with materialistic possessions. Work harder, have more, more money, more clients, and BOOM! We are happy. Nope.
Happiness is not something that you find external to yourself. You won’t close a big deal, buy a new dress, or purchase a new car and feel like you’re living on a cloud for eternity. The feeling passes. Sure, you may feel short-term gratification, but this feel-good vibe won’t last. You’ll soon be looking for the next best thing to fill a void.
There’s no magic pill for happiness. Happiness is an inside job, a choice that you have to make. So here are a few things I have found to help you along the path of true peace and happiness in yourself first, then take that on into your work. Here we go!
1. Practice Mindfulness
How you start your day matters. If you begrudgingly roll out of bed, put on a pot of coffee, and rush out the door to work, how do you think your day will unfold?
I don’t know about you, but my emotions end up getting the best of me. If you don’t master your mind, your mind will master you. This is why I’m such a big believer in creating good habits that support the happy life you want to live.
When you take the time daily to nourish your mental and emotional state, you set yourself up for success. Meditate, journal, exercise, recite affirmations, juice, dance. Do whatever it takes to get yourself aimed in the right direction and embracing the moment before you.
Yes, meditating is great, but it’s bigger than that. You want to strive to live more mindfully all around. Think of mindfulness as a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience, without judgment.
Strive to be more present in every given moment of your life. Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, take time to pause and enjoy the little things. Stop the multi-multi tasking and focus on one thing at a time and look for the joy in giving the single task your all.
2. Be Grateful
Gratitude is a way of living that focuses on seeing the good, no matter how dire one’s circumstances are. Of course, it can be hard to be grateful when you’re going through difficult times in life. However, there is always a silver lining in every struggle. You just have to be willing to look for it. When you adopt an attitude of gratitude, you shift into a state of appreciation. All of sudden, there is no room for sadness because you are choosing love.
Research shows that gratitude is strongly associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, and deal with adversity.
If you don’t already, I encourage you to start a gratitude journal. A simple practice like this one only takes a few minutes every day. It has the power to change your life. What are you grateful for?
3. Find Your Tribe
By nature, we are social creatures. Connecting with one another helps us thrive, especially when we are faced with difficult times.
Whether you are a solopreneur or work with a group every day, surround yourself with people that get you and understand your vibe – likeminded positive peeps. Don’t settle for anything less. You become the five people whom you surround yourself with. If you want to be a happy and successful person, you need to make sure that your friends have the same vision as you.
I wouldn’t be who I am today without the people in my life. They are my family, my people. They lift me up when I am down. They support me and trust me. They are my people. Although my circle is small, I know they will always have my back, no matter what.
Strive to find people who empower you to become a better version of yourself. They will naturally enhance your happiness and make you feel good about yourself.
4. Connect to Your Body Intelligence
Where people get stuck is that they live too much of their lives in their heads and fail to connect with their body intelligence. Your body is a vessel that is constantly speaking to you. Trust your intuition!
When you don’t listen to it, you end up getting into trouble. The body is intimately connected to the gut. The more that you go inward and bring attention to your body, the more you are able to connect with your intuition.
It is the place of inner wisdom that brings you back home to yourself. In actual fact, every cell in the body is intelligent, with the heart acting like a conductor for the cellular processes taking place within us in each and every moment. There are a variety of different modalities that allow you to connect to your body intelligence, whether it’s dance, yoga, or chi gong. When you allow yourself to drop out of your head and into your heart, you come to realize that everything you’ve ever needed is already inside of you.
5. Don’t Take Life So Seriously
Life is so short. If you spend the entire ride worrying and agonizing about everything, you will miss so many beautiful moments. Not only that, but it will create dis-ease in the body.
An overemphasis on seriousness in life lends itself to a narrow way of understanding what’s worth your time and attention. Develop a balance in our personal time and your work life. Look for the things that bring you joy and carve out time for them.
In childhood, we are encouraged to play and be free. However, a lot of people lose this desire once they become adults. What would happen if you slowed down and took the time to enjoy life more?
The next time that you’re taking yourself too seriously, step back and ask yourself: “Is this situation worth getting so frustrated over?” If not, move on and get back to enjoying life.
Final Thoughts
You can’t always control the external world. However, you can always control your internal world. Finding simple ways to be happy with yourself every day is a commitment – at work, at home, and at play. It’s so worth the effort, you deserve to live a happy life!
