Life as we know it is extremely fast paced, it is not often we sit down to evaluate things and decide on what we need in life to be truly happy and feel joy every day. If you find yourself thinking negatively, not enjoying your life, and experiencing moments of unhappiness, you can change your habits to help bring joy into your life every day.

Here are a few tips that you can use to invite joy into your life…

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is a hugely underrated emotion that is highly connected to our general levels of happiness. If you are constantly chasing after more, you will never be satisfied. There is a reason why some millionaires still go chasing after more.

Practicing gratitude is when you think of all the things in life that you are grateful for. On some more dismal days, that can be as little as being able to feed yourself, clothe yourself and house yourself. Or it can be gratitude for having a loving family, or hearing the birds sing, or the sunshine on your face.

Try listing 3 things you are grateful for each day before you go to sleep, and you will soon feel content with the life that you have.

Turn Negatives Into Positives

Similarly to practising gratitude, turning a negative thought into a positive one is a sure fire way to bring more joy into your life.

For example, instead of dragging yourself out of bed and thinking ‘I hate getting up this early,’ you can instead turn that into a positive and think ‘I get to get up and go to work every day to provide for my family.’

Similarly, if you are overwhelmed or feeling anxious, you can take positive action by creating a calm box. A box of things that you can turn to if you’re having a bad day. This helps calm your mind and any negativity.

Surround Yourself With Good Relationships

Distance yourself from people who are a source of negativity in your life- if there is a friend who you dread seeing, who makes you feel unworthy, or anxious- remove them from your life. They are not worth your energy.

By surrounding yourself by positive people who love you and want the best for you, you can feel lighter and happier.

Recite Daily Affirmations

Some people find success with reciting positive daily affirmations, things like ‘I am enough,’ ‘I make positive choices for myself,’ ‘all is well in my world.’

These mantras or affirmations are positive phrases which are designed to challenge negative thinking. You can decide on what you want your mantras to be based on whether you want to boost your self-esteem, motivate yourself or remove negative thoughts.

There is some science behind reciting daily affirmations, and just like constant patterns of negative thinking can bring us down, patterns of positive thinking can buoy us up.

Find Meaning And Purpose

You can find meaning and purpose in life in a multitude of ways- and where you find that purpose will depend on your own individual principles. It might be in raising a family, volunteering for charity, finding a hobby that you love or building something that you are proud of.

You can help this process by setting meaningful goals and enjoying the process of reaching them.