10 Decisions that Create a Happier Life

Happiness is not a feeling; it's all about the daily decisions you make.

Decide to be Grateful

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have, into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, and a stranger into a friend." ― Melody Beattie

Reminding yourself daily of all the reasons you have to be grateful is one of the most potent ways to radically change your life for the positive. Make a list of all the things and people you're thankful for in your life.

Take the list of things and people you've written down, and start reviewing it every evening before you go to bed.

Instead of going to bed at night stressed and anxious about what someone else has that you don't have yet, or all the things you're trying to accomplish that you haven't yet, go to sleep peaceful and happy about all of the amazing things you have to be grateful for in your life.

My father repeatedly said to us, "you won't be happy with what you want until you're happy with what you've got!"

Decide to be Positive

"The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible." –Winston Churchill

A Positive Mindset is our rescuer from life's storms. When you adopt the thinking that life is happening for you, you can stop being frustrated when situations don't go the way you wanted them to go.

You can accept the fact that although things might not always go according to your plan, there is still something better for you just around the corner. You can relax and live life more comfortably with the realization that everything is happening for your good.

If you want positive things to happen for you in your life, then you must decide daily to sow positivity into your life. Use better words like, "I will, I can, or I am," instead of words like "I won't, I can't, or I'm not." They have a significant impact on your attitude and your mindset.

Plant the seeds of positive thinking and positive daily action, and before long, you will have a beautiful garden of very positive and amazing things growing in your life.

By deciding to focus daily on positivity, you will quickly be surprised at how much more you're able to achieve and how much happier you're becoming. It's like Zig Ziglar says, "Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will."

Decide to Listen More and Talk Less

God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason." -Marietta Mints

All of us are happier when we're surrounded by great relationships. Enjoying great friendships and relationships in our lives is life-giving. It's one of those things that fill us with happiness and joy.

Having those kinds of friendships and relationships comes from a decision to listen more and talk less. The people in our lives want to feel that they're understood. They want to believe that you get them.

When we truly listen, listen to understand, listen for how they're feeling about what they're saying, people, are drawn to us. It creates a genuine connection, that's not so common these days.

Real genuine friendship and relationships are magical and fill our lives with happiness.

Decide to Smile

"Sometimes, your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."– Thich Nhat Hanh

When you choose to smile, psychologically, you're exerting massive effort, because it takes many more muscles to smile than to frown.

You know, the whole resting "B" face thing, right?

Subconsciously when you smile, people pick up on the fact that you're putting forth the energy and effort to smile, and they appreciate you for it.

It's like a gift you give to everyone you meet.

In addition, your brain benefits from it as well. Your external actions affect your internal thinking. In the same way that your face shows what you're thinking when your negative, it also does the same when you're thinking positively. 

Your smile can trigger your brain to realize, "Oh Yeah," I'm happy because I'm smiling. As a result, you begin to experience happiness by merely deciding to SMILE!

Decide to Speak Affirmation into Your Life

The single most influential force that controls your attitudes, beliefs, capabilities, and emotions is repetition - the words you silently use, over and over again, in your internal dialogue with yourself. - Napoleon Hill

Affirmations are used to reprogram your subconscious mind, and to encourage you to think and then believe positive things about yourself and the circumstances of your life. They're used to help you create the life you're dreaming of, and the future you envision.

Positive affirmations spoken daily, and spoken out loud, are extremely powerful because they take charge of your thoughts. The sound of your voice has incredible influence over your subconscious—more than any other voice.

By repeatedly speaking affirmation into your life, you slowly change the pattern of your thinking from negative to positive, which in turn gradually changes your actions, ultimately changing your life for the better.

You can literally speak happiness into your life.

Decide to Meditate. 

Solitude is very different from a 'time-out' from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other. - Henri Nouwen

In the crazy world in which we all reside, it's essential to find time to be alone in solitude. As our world increases in stress and anxiety, the ability to withdraw to a quiet, peaceful place becomes even more critical. 

Research has confirmed the importance and life-giving benefits of setting aside time daily to meditate.

Finding time to sit quietly and read and journal your thoughts has the power to instill a deep sense of peace in your heart and mind.

As it becomes a daily habit, you'll begin each day in a state of refreshed focus on becoming the person you envision.

You'll be able to communicate better to the people that are important to you. You'll find it easier to manage life's ups and downs because you'll have a more profound sense of calm about what's happening and why. All of life's circumstances will begin to make sense, in that they're working for your good.

Internal calm and peace equal happiness.

Decide to Start the Day on Your Terms. 

How we start our day determines how we create our life. Are you snoozing through your morning…snoozing through your life…and snoozing through your unlimited potential? ― Hal Elrod

People who know how to start their mornings on their terms, get more done by noon than most people get done all week. When you learn how to use your morning, you can exercise, read, plan, and prioritize your day, all before you leave for work.

Get up a couple of hours before you start your day. Read or listen to something positive, encouraging, and motivating as soon as you wake. Refuse to turn on your phone, TV, or computer until after you've started your day.

By starting your day earlier, you will have plenty of time to do a bit of exercise, shower, and dress. You'll have time to meditate and journal, read over your priorities, eat some breakfast, and plan your day.

Starting your day early creates confidence, and when we're confident, we're happy.

Decide to Trust others More. 

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved. -George Macdonald

Researchers say that when you feel trusted by the people you care about, it creates a critical factor in feeling optimistic about your life. Optimism, in turn, increases your satisfaction with life and lowers your risk of depression.

Another study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology showed that when you feel trusted by the people you're close to, your perception of life's challenges change: Life begins to happen for you rather than to you.

If you want more trust in your life, then you must decide to be more trusting. Does this decision feel risky? Well, of course, it does. By making this conscious decision, however, you'll improve the likelihood that you will have trusting relationships in your life that create happiness.

Decide to find Purpose in Your Pain. 

" Failure gave me strength. Pain was my motivation." – Michael Jordan

This life can be difficult. Nobody escapes it without pain. At some point—in some way—we all encounter it. When you do, remind yourself again and again, that the trials on this earth may be difficult, but they pass.

In its wake, you're left much stronger and wiser for it. Search life's circumstances to find a deeper meaning and purpose in the struggle and pain.

Decide to look and find the benefits that are in your trials. The growth lessons, the understanding gained, and the empathy obtained. Take note of the perseverance you're procuring, the confidence that's building, and the intentional leader you're becoming.

Decide to allow your mindset to stay wide open and see the gift that pain bestows. When we truly understand the purpose of pain and struggle in our life, our attitude receives a rush of positivity. We CAN decide to be happy because of our pain and struggle.

Decide to be Happy Today

 Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you. – Ralph Marston

Decide today to create the future you want. Make the decision and then take action. What actions do you ask? The actions you've been reading. I've learned personally that happiness is a decision that I have the opportunity to make every morning.

Og Mandino wrote in his book, The Greatest Miracle in the World, that we should "use wisely our power of choice." When we make wise decisions daily, we are creating more of the results we desire, including HAPPINESS!

Your life and successes are the sums of the daily decisions you make. The decisions you've just read about are some of the decisions you can use to create happiness in your personal and professional life.

Life IS all about the daily decisions, and those decisions are the path you pave for yourself every day. Nothing is predetermined. You get to decide.

Understanding the Vision you have for your future is key. Understanding who you want to become and where you're going will help you to make better daily decisions. Your decisions will be either moving you toward your Vision or away from it.

Making great daily decisions about who you're becoming and where you're going is the epitome of being happy with life.

Happiness, my friend, is not a feeling; it's all about the daily decisions you make!