Try a 30-Day Happiness Challenge

Happiness can be a natural state. You don’t need anything to be happy except to choose to be happy. However, but some things can prevent your happiness from shining through.

After the past year, many of us have developed habits that block the experience of happiness. As each month of 2020 ticked away, many of us braced ourselves for more dread or more unwanted news. We have learned to look at life through an extremely negative lens. All is not lost, though. With a little bit of work, you can reprogram yourself to eliminate the negative thoughts and actions that can limit your happiness.

I challenge you to train yourself to be happier in just 30 days.

Try these strategies:

1. Keep a gratitude diary. Each day for the next 30 days, list 5 things that make you feel grateful. The challenging part is that each day must have 5 unique items! No repeats.

• If you do this early in the day, you’ll find that it puts you in a great frame of mind for the rest of the day.

1. Spend 10 minutes visualizing your ideal future. It’s nice to have something pleasant to look forward to. So, spend a few minutes each day visualizing what you want your life to be.

• Be reasonable. You might dream of being 6-inches taller and having 10 million dollars, but let’s be realistic. Shoot for something that’s appealing but within the realm of possibility.

1. Set a small goal that can be accomplished in 30 days and spend at least 10 minutes each day working toward it. Set a 30-day goal that’s meaningful to you. Make yourself spend a few minutes working toward that goal each day. A few examples include:

• Losing 5 pounds.
• Organizing your clothes closet.
• Cleaning out the basement.
• Writing 15 pages for your book.
• Meditating each day for 30 days.

1. Give at least two compliments each day. Give yourself and one other person one compliment each day. Feel free to give more. You’ll feel good about yourself for making someone else feel good. And you’ll be making yourself feel good too.
2. Catch and stop all negative thoughts. Has lingering on your negative thoughts ever helped you? Of course not. Catch yourself when you’re dwelling on a negative thought and think about turning that negative thought into something positive. For example:

• Ask yourself what you are supposed to learn from this negative situation.
• If you’re dealing with a problematic person, explore why you feel this person is difficult. Perhaps you can put yourself in their shoes.
• If you are dealing with disappointment, look for a tiny bit of good that has come from the situation

1. Focus on solutions instead of problems. Everyone has challenges. Stopping your negative thoughts doesn’t mean ignoring your issues. Instead, recognize that there are things in your life that need to be addressed. Then focus on resolving them, rather than worrying about them.

• For 30 days, give up worrying and focus on solving. Your life will improve dramatically and so will your attitude.

1. Eliminate sugar from your diet. For just 30 days, give up all foods with added sugar. You can expect to feel worse for a few days, but you’ll be happy with how you feel by the end of the month.
2. Create a list of 30 things you can do over the 30 days. Have something planned for each day for the next month. These are little, or big, things you can do that will increase your happiness. A few examples include:

• Calling your childhood friend.
• Meeting someone for a walk.
• Trying a new recipe.
• Reading an inspiring book.
• Watching your favourite movie.

Happiness doesn’t have to be elusive. To find happiness, we often focus on the wrong things and ignore the right things. We have too many negative thoughts and spend too much time thinking about the past and the future. We end up training ourselves to be unhappy.

Wouldn’t you rather train yourself to be happy? You can do this! Give yourself 30 days to prove it to yourself. You can feel different in a month!