How to grow more happiness

Happiness is in emotion we all feel from time to time and most of us would like more happiness in our lives.

Sometimes it can be easy to think maybe if things changed at home or at school or with friends or if I had this particular thing. Then I would be happy and it's true that our circumstances do really affect our happiness.

What's also true though, is that what we pay attention to also affects our happiness, so that doesn't mean, we just ignore the things that don't make us happy. It doesn't quite work like that.

We want to pay attention and look after all of our emotions.

What it does mean though is that we can see a bigger picture. Maybe we can see that some things aren't going so well. But even then there are often things that we may not notice as much that we can still appreciate.

Sometimes when we think of happiness maybe an image of what that looks like comes up. Maybe it's smiling people, bright sunshine, the sounds of people laughing. Maybe we see images of the people around us and think that perhaps they are happier than we are so how can you connect to happiness even if it's not a sunny day, even if things don't seem perfect?

There's something we can do any time to encourage feelings of happiness and this is a very powerful thing to know. That thing is gratefulness. So let's try being grateful together now.

Think of three good things that are here in your experience right now. They don't have to be big things, just three good things that you appreciate.

Perhaps there are things about yourself you're grateful for. Maybe it's a particular strength that you have, like your creativity or your sense of humour. Maybe it's a particular skill you have like playing an instrument or listening well to others.

Maybe there are things around you to appreciate. Perhaps a person that makes you feel you can really be yourself or does things to help you in some way. Maybe it's the bed you have to sleep in or one of your favourite things. Perhaps it's small things like the socks that you're wearing or the fresh air that you're breathing. So take a moment now and choose three good things.

Just spending a few moments every day thinking of things we can really appreciate about ourselves and others and the world around us can start to grow more happiness little by little.