Welcome back to the Santa Clara Meditation blog! 🌿
We all want to be happy people. This is because happiness is the most important, natural, and universal value we all strive to achieve in our lives. To become happy, we live diligently, study, earn money, and navigate our social lives. But if we ask ourselves, “Am I happy right now?” and the answer is no, then when exactly will we become happy?
Professor Suh Eun-kook, author of The Origin of Happiness, stated, “Happiness is a means, not an end.” Happiness is not a final destination to reach, but a natural right that we should rightfully feel every single day. Many psychologists echo this sentiment. They say, “It is an illusion to believe that enduring painful years now will guarantee a happy future,” and “You should not obsess over the size of your happiness, but rather increase its frequency.”
We don’t have to achieve something grand and successful to be happy; we should be happy simply by existing in our daily lives. In fact, our brains can feel happiness even in the smallest of things.
Here are 10 ways you can become happy right now. Start with what you can do immediately and increase the frequency of your happiness! 🕊️
🌟 10 Actionable Ways to Be Happy Now
1. Create Stepping Stones of Happiness
Just like laying down stepping stones, try arranging the things you find most fun and love to do at intervals of a few days. Watching a movie, going to a great restaurant, chatting, traveling—sprinkle these small but certain “happiness fuels” throughout your schedule. A dinner plan with a friend tonight can be the driving force to work hard for the rest of the day. Create a schedule that increases the frequency of small, everyday joys and rewards you with a sense of accomplishment.
2. Place ‘Nature’ on Your Desk 🍀
Humans came from nature, live in nature, and return to nature. Therefore, keeping yourself close to nature has the effect of boosting your happiness. You don’t have to travel far. Start by placing a small fishbowl or a potted plant on your desk right now. We marvel at beautiful works of art, but the beauty of nature goes without saying. The mystery, awe, and overwhelming emotion that nature provides make us happy.
3. Say “Thank You” ☕
Many studies have proven that even consciously repeating “Thank you” activates the brain areas associated with gratitude, reducing worry and depression while making you a more positive person. Try to recall the small but pleasant things that happened to you today. For example: there was no traffic, lunch was delicious, a friend’s story was funny, or I saw a cute dog while walking. List them all. There will be more to be thankful for than you think. If you say it to yourself in the moment and share your gratitude with those around you, your happiness index will soar.
4. Love Your Body ⛵
It is no exaggeration to say that happiness begins with a healthy body. Find a health routine that fits your body. Exercise, eat healthy foods, and get a good night’s sleep. Regular exercise reduces depression and is said to act like the antidepressant Zoloft. It increases the amount of neurotransmitters circulating in our brains, reducing stress and making our bodies healthy.
Additionally, compliment your body. Turn that outward gaze inward to focus on your strengths. Making a list is a good idea: “I’m quite athletic,” “I don’t have picky eating habits,” or “I look pretty when I smile.” Anything is fine. A positive mind and a healthy diet form the foundation of happiness.
5. Always Smile 🦋
Keep smiling. Always smile. Scientists say that whether you are actually happy or not, smiling makes you feel better. Start your day with a smile and treat people with a smile. Laughter causes a chain reaction: you smile because you are happy, and you become happy because you smile. It is said that patients who smile during treatment experience less pain than those who remain expressionless, because smiling triggers endorphins that relieve pain and serotonin that induces happiness.
6. Distinguish Between ‘Want’ and ‘Like’ 💎
Do you know the difference between wanting something and liking it? For example, if you go to a gathering and everyone has something that you don’t, you might feel envious and strongly “want” it. But you’ve probably experienced feeling empty or not even enjoying it much once you finally got it.
Therefore, a process of proving whether you must make it yours is necessary:
- First: Distance yourself from the people who have what you wanted. See if you still keep thinking about it and want it.
- Second: Meet people who live perfectly well without any inconvenience even without having that item.
Only then can you verify if what you want right now is genuinely important and good for you in the long run. These experiences are a huge help in determining your life’s direction and finding your own unique happiness.
7. Escape the CCTV in Your Mind 📷
Sometimes, I send a clearly detailed message, but the other person interprets it completely wrong. We mistakenly think, centered on ourselves, that the other person sees the world exactly as we do. We also have the illusion that other people are always watching us—that they will notice every change in our hairstyle or outfit.
But in reality, others often don’t notice at all and won’t even remember. The only person closely watching you is you. We have installed a self-centered CCTV in our minds, constantly thinking only about ourselves from head to toe. Just breaking free from this will make us much freer.
8. Look at the Situation Rather Than the Person 🤝
When there is a problem, look at the situation rather than the person. Just as you would explain the situation if a problem arose because of you, it is important to have the same attitude toward others. Such an attitude turns you into an understanding and inclusive person.
Even if someone acts strangely toward you, recognize that to them, you are the situation. Once you realize that you influence their behavior, you will try to act and converse more wisely. When you step out of your own perspective and harmonize with others, you can form positive relationships and live a happy life.
9. Forgive 🕊️
Forgiveness is truly difficult. Nevertheless, it must be done because forgiveness is not for the other person, but for you. Anger and hatred only torment you.
Is there someone you need to forgive? If so, write down whose specific wrong behavior you want to forgive, along with the event and your emotions. Then, try writing a letter to the person you want to forgive. Write down why you are trying to forgive them and what you hope for. You don’t actually have to send the letter. Simply writing it down and feeling a sense of forgiveness within yourself is enough. Forgiveness is a deeply spiritual experience.
10. Help Others 🌻
The reason we feel a sense of happiness after volunteering or performing an act of kindness is that it is originally our nature. Even if we have sometimes lived selfishly and self-centeredly, our original nature remains unchanged inside us, which is why we feel happy when helping others without anyone having to teach us. Therefore, becoming a person who knows how to understand and help others is essentially making our entire life happy.
Subtraction meditation, which involves self-reflection, allows us to discard the selfishness, stress, and negative mindsets accumulated throughout our lives. By restoring our original mind, we naturally understand and accept others, making helping others the most natural, comfortable, and happy state of being.
📖 The Definition of Happiness Reflected Through Quotes
“Happiness is living without worry, and a happy mind is the mind that wishes for others to live better.” – Woo Myung “For happiness, you must change not your current situation, but your mind.” – Gautama Buddha “Oh, human! Happiness is within your mind, why do you seek it outside!” – Boethius “To be happy, one must discard oneself and wish for the happiness of others.” – Bertrand Russell “Happiness is the absence of pain and fear.” – Epicurus “Happiness is not a matter of ‘what’, but of ‘how’.” – Hermann Hesse
It is said that “happiness chemicals” like Anandamide do not flow well in modern Korean people. This is because they believe happiness will only come if they set a massive goal and work diligently to achieve it. What is the meaning of those unknown future days you expect to arrive eventually, if you are not happy right now? You must be happy now. We have the qualification and the right to be! ✨
(References: Book: Frame by Choi In-cheol, 21st Century Books / Lecture: Kim Kyung-il, Professor of Psychology, Ajou University / Website: wikiHow Korea)
