Proven Ways to Feel Happier

And now, the secret to happiness. Are you listening?

A Swiss study recently published in Frontiers in Psychology reveals that people with high levels of hope are more likely to score high in life satisfaction. Other traits, including zest, love, and social intelligence, were also linked to life satisfaction.

But "be more hopeful and socially intelligent" isn't exactly the most actionable piece of advice. So here's what you can do to actually foster those traits—and enjoy your life a little bit more.

Go List-Crazy

Hopeful people are confident they can achieve goals. They also trust others, believe in their ability to overcome difficult situations, and have a spiritual side that gives them empowerment, connection, and reassurance, says Anthony Scioli, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Keene State University. He suggests thinking about your long-term goals and how they can drive your life. “Try to come up with lists of people, places, and things that can empower you and help you reach those ends,” he says. Then, when you encounter obstacles, think: Are these challenges real, or have I created them? “If they are real, confronting them is better than denial,” says Scioli.

Get Spiritual

This doesn’t necessarily have to mean religion. “It’s reasonable to think about what your spiritual needs are,” he says. “Look at pros and cons of different spiritual traditions—they provide different types of hope.” Even simply volunteering or helping others can be a spiritual experience in itself, he says. It can leave you feeling more hopeful about the future.

Switch Up Your Schedule

Zest is how much energy and excitement you bring to daily life. Mixing up your routine may foster it: In a 2012 paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, people improved their levels of zest by making a conscious effort to work physical activity and sports, social activities, and challenging tasks into their daily routines. They reinforced the schedule enhancements by writing down a description of the activities they added to each day.

Learn to Love Meditation

A landmark study published in the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology suggests that you can increase your potential to love yourself and others with "loving-kindness meditation." Like other types of meditation, this involves sitting with your eyes closed and focusing on your breath. However, instead of centering your mind on the moment, you think about a person you love and then extend those good feelings to yourself and others. This may help you experience and pay attention to positive emotions, the researchers say.
Talk to Yourself

Social intelligence is your ability to navigate social situations and relate to other people. Easier said than done, right? You can start by asking yourself: How often do I find myself blaming other people for social situations that didn’t go the way I wish they had? “Then if you notice that you find yourself saying that, attributing it to other people, ask yourself: What role did I play in the situation, even if I think it’s 90 percent the other person’s responsibility?” suggests Ilene Wasserman, Ph.D., founder and president of ICW Consulting. You might find that you’re making a consistent mistake that leads to conflicts or bad feelings, and then you can take steps to correct it. 

14 Strategies to Become a Happier Person

Sometime this morning, during your shower or at work, you probably did a mental run-through of your day. You decided when you'd tackle various tasks and errands. Perhaps you vowed to hit the gym at lunchtime. Maybe you plotted to get out of something (apologies, PTA meeting). The one thing you forgot to plan for: happiness.

With all the books on bliss and the mood-boosting technology that does everything for us but laugh, we expect happiness to show up on our doorstep, like a pizza. But we have to make it happen.

"When you're young, other people orchestrate your enjoyment of life," notes Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, a social psychologist, director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of Positivity. "Your parents keep you entertained, and in college your friends make sure you're OK. But after that, the scaffolding of having a good day is taken away, and nobody is telling you how to provide that for yourself."

Also tricky: keeping the glee going when you have work to do, kids to raise, bills to pay and more work to do. Mercifully, big, costly, splashy events are not the ultimate bliss bringers. As people get older, they tend to find ordinary treats—such as a latte or a manicure—just as joy-inducing as extraordinary ones like an around-the-world cruise, found a 2014 study by researchers at Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania. With age, the authors speculate, we're more aware of how fleeting time is, so we're particularly likely to relish everyday bright spots.

What you won't find here: a step-by-step happiness guide. How draining would that be? Instead, we tapped top positive psychologists for easy ways to infuse your days with more pleasure. Consider this a pick-and-choose list; even doing just a few will help. Ready for more joy? Plan on it!

First up: Make it your goal
Although increasing happiness levels shouldn't feel like work, having a can-do mind-set really comes in handy. In a study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, people who were told to listen to music and attempt to feel happier had a greater boost in bliss over a two-week period than those instructed only to relax as they listened to the same upbeat tunes. It comes down to motivation: You can transform into more of a glass-half-full type.

While researchers believe that genetics are behind about 50 percent of the variation in happiness levels among you and your neighbors and that life circumstances account for maybe 10 percent, you're fully in charge of the rest. "A lot of people think you can't control happiness—you either have it or you don't—which is totally not true," stresses Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, professor of psychology at University of California, Riverside, and author of The Myths of Happiness. "It's like controlling your health. First you need to believe that you can do it before you take those first steps."

Know your own bliss
When was the last time you mulled over what truly brings you pleasure, aside from biggies like your partner and the kids? "A key to steering your own happiness is reflecting on the things that make you come alive," Fredrickson says. Perhaps it's been so long since you've done some of them that they've fallen off your radar. Make a list, if it helps. "Think back to what gave you joy in your younger years," says psychiatrist Stuart Brown, MD, founder of the National Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, Calif., and author of Play. Maybe you're not jamming on a guitar in your bedroom anymore, but "you can recall the carefree state," Dr. Brown says, "in which the outcome wasn't as important as what you were experiencing." You want to find what does that for you now and...

...Prioritize it
Sigh if this sounds familiar: You make a major effort to avoid future stress—say, staying up late to finish laundry so tomorrow will be a better day—only to suck your evening dry of all fun. Happiness researcher Robert Biswas-Diener, PhD, founder and managing director of the consulting firm Positive Acorn in Milwaukie, Ore., knows this treadmill effect well. He delivers a lecture regularly at Portland State University: "I give the students an hour off and tell them to do anything they want that's legal that will make them happy. Some have a hard time with it—they even do homework! What they say is, 'I'd be stressed if I didn't get that task done.' People think that working toward less stress will make them happier. That's a minor form of insanity."

In a get-stuff-done world, it's hard to avoid our efficiency instinct. The answer, then, is to focus on enjoyable stuff, along with the must-dos. "Don't fit joyful activities into your days—fit your days around them," Biswas-Diener urges. "Do you ever hear devoted church attendees say, 'Can we reschedule church because something came up?' You need to have that church mentality about whatever it is that gives you pleasure. If you say that your weeks are full, find the next blank spot in your calendar." Protect that sacred time from "nibblers" (otherwise known as your family), adds productivity consultant Julie Morgenstern, author of Time Management from the Inside Out: "Announce to everyone that it's your time to recharge your batteries." Tap a friend to make sure you use that time strictly for fun.