By Curt Remington
In Three Keys to a Happy, Fulfilling Life, I discussed things you can do to bring more joy into your life, like get out into nature, meditate, and access your intuition or psychic abilities. Here are seven more ways to enrich your life.
The Next Seven Keys to Happiness
Gratitude
A study by Dr. Robert Emmons found that people who focus on gratitude for what they already have are 25% happier. He also found that these grateful people were more optimistic about the future, felt better about their lives and slept better at night.
Health
Our mind, body, and spirit are all intimately connected. Improving our health will also improve our happiness and how we feel about ourselves. Not only that, but we’ll be around longer to enjoy all that happiness. Exercise, especially surrounded by the beauty of nature, can be immensely beneficial to our health, helping us release stress, reduce weight, and improve the performance of our body’s systems. Other steps we can take include drinking more water, eating healthy food, and getting enough sleep. WebMD has Eight Healthy Living Steps to Take Today.
Relationships
Many of us realize that friends, family, and our significant other are the most important things in our lives. They provide love, support, and hopefully help us feel good about ourselves. A study in the Journal of Family Psychology shows that family relationships are more important than level of income in determining our happiness. Like I mentioned in Simple Meditation and an article on expanding your networks, “we are here on earth to learn, to love and to help one another. Relationships are key.” Expanding your social networks and your relationships is a wonderful way to bring more fun and a greater sense of belonging into your life.
Let Go of Judgment
Through clairvoyant readings, I’ve seen many past lives and have concluded that we reincarnate countless times, to have a vast variety of experiences. In those many lifetimes, there have been times that we acted very differently than we do now, possibly much like the people that we’re holding in judgment. If we could step back and take a look at the bigger picture, we might let go of that judgment and realize that we are all quite similar beings struggling through sometimes difficult lessons and experiences here on earth. Letting go of judgment is immensely beneficial to the relationships in our lives. The Michael Teachings provides some fascinating insight into human behavior and our purpose here on earth.
Travel
Travel is a wonderful way to learn and to enrich your life with a wide variety of adventures and experiences. Travel provides the opportunity to meet others, create new relationships, and learn firsthand that although our customs may be different, we are all looking for many of the same things in life, like happiness and fulfillment.
Kindness
Kindness clearly improves the relationships in our lives too. According to David Hamilton, PhD, there are four more benefits to kindness, the first of which is making us happier. Another benefit to kindness is that it’s contagious, as was so well demonstrated in Pay It Forward.
Love
Love is what we most of us would like to see from our relationships, but love is much more than just a positive emotion. Love is energy, of a very high vibration, like joy and gratitude. Experiencing these high vibrations can be absolutely euphoric, so let go of your fears and allow yourself to experience more love in your life, whether it’s for a lover, friend, family member, or for the beautiful planet we live on.
Curt Remington is the founder of Meditation Resources and the author of Simple Meditation.