The 11 secrets of happy people (according to Francesc Miralles)

Although we cannot define happiness or aspire to make it permanent, we can observe (and apply) the habits of those who tend to enjoy it in their life daily. We review your 11 secrets.

1. Happy people live simply.

“Maintaining a complicated life is a great way to avoid changing it,” says Elaine St. James. In order not to fall into the black hole of financial obligations and burdens, stress and bursting schedules, happy people opt for minimalism. They have few things but well cared for, and do few things but well done. This explains why anxiety or depression are rare in the countryside.

The Greek cynics already advocated a simple life to achieve happiness in the fourth century BC. They were convinced that we already have everything necessary to fulfill ourselves. What it is about, therefore, is not to complicate our lives. According to thinkers like Diogenes, the person with the fewest needs is the freest and happiest.

Arthur Schopenhauer, despite being considered a pessimist, wrote 50 rules for life that were published as The Art of Being Happy. In them, the philosopher states that perfect happiness does not exist: we can only aspire to a state that is not very painful. If we want to reach it, goods must be reduced to those necessary to live serenely.

2. Happy people take care of their personal relationships.

They surround themselves with optimistic and healthy friends.They take care of them and know how to choose allies. As in John Donne’s poem, ‘No man is an island of himself. Each man is a piece of the continent, a part of the whole.

Knowing that we are part of that whole, in good company, makes us feel that we are not alone: ​​we have a family beyond blood ties. Be generous, positive and not believe us the center of the universe It is a magnet for these types of relationships.

3. Happy people follow their life purpose

Many of us experience the famous “existential crisis” in adolescence. We feel empty and nothing seems to make sense. Then, as we grow, we find our place in the world, that place where we can be useful and display our talent.

We can call it ikigai, reason for being or personal mission. If you haven’t found yours, your search is already a purpose in itself. Happy people put their passion at the center of their lives. Thus, even if they go through many difficulties, they always have a reason to live.

4. Happy people maintain a work-life balance

It is impossible to be a “workaholic” and celebrate life at the same time. People totally absorbed by their work are subjected to permanent stress, in addition to getting little or bad sleep and functioning with a dangerous level of fatigue.

They live in the illusion of “not having time”, because they are jumping from one urgency to the next -what is urgent is important to another, but not to you-, without paying attention. what is important to them: their family, their hobbies, taking care of themselves. As speaker Brian Tracy says: “There will never be enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.”

5. Happy people laugh at themselves.

We all know people who take life terribly seriously, with a gravity that makes them age before their time. They are certainly not the kind of people who know that humor is the natural solvent of worries.

As the actress and influencer Imma Rabasco says: «Laughter is the sound of the cosmos, the song of life, the joy of being in the world. oxygen laughterIt makes us feel alive and connected.”

6. Happy people, instead of complaining, are grateful.

There are two opposing attitudes towards what happens to us. Some people always point out what is wrong and live regretting their luck, emphasizing the dark side of life; others, on the other hand, they look with gratitude at the sunbeam piercing the darkness and celebrate it.

Becoming aware of the pleasant part of reality, for example, with a daily gratitude list, increases our sensitivity towards this kind of stimuli and multiply the moments of happiness.

7. Happy people take care, not worry.

Proactive people do not waste time projecting themselves into the future, where anxiety and fear reside, nor to the past, seat of sadness and resentment. They are always doing and that keeps them awake in the present.

According to the psychologist Antoni Bolinches: «The only way to manage worries is with occupations. Being busy allows us to somatize less, lower the blood pressure level, have less hypochondria”. And she tunes us in with the happiness of being alive.

8. Happy people do not prolong mourning

They don’t waste time licking their wounds. There are very traumatic processes, such as the death of a loved one, that require a long time for us to integrate them, but throughout life we will have to overcome many small “deaths”: the end of a friendship, a love or a project, a professional or personal failure, a sudden change that we have not brought about.

A characteristic of happy spirits is that They quickly turn the page to reinvest their energy into something new.

9. Happy people do outdoor activities

Chronobiology is a recent science on the harmonization between the internal clocks of the human body and the natural cycles of light. Thus, people with the greatest vitality get up with the sun, eat at regular hours and do not rob themselves of sleep.

By spending time outside, internal and external clocks are synchronized, which also puts the microbiota “on time” to digest better, as well as the melatonin responsible for good sleep.

10. Happy people practice regular exercise, but without punishing themselves

Our mood is closely related to the energy levels of the body. That’s why, both excess and lack of exercise are enemies of happiness. Pushing our body to the limit involves great wear and tear on life as well as a constant risk of injury. At the opposite extreme, a sedentary life causes stagnation of the body and mind.

Active and happy people know how to find the middle ground and they bring physical activity to everyday habits such as walking or starting the day with a light exercise table, like the Japanese Radio Taiso.

11. Happy people offer their help to the world

There is a direct relationship between self-esteem and the perception of Being useful to others. When we feel that our presence does not count, that our actions have no repercussion and that we are not leaving a mark on life, it seems empty to us.

That is why happy people have projects to improve society and contribute their help on a small scale. They know that any initiative makes a difference, in the spirit of others and in their own. Robert Ingersoll, the great American orator, said that “by elevating others, we elevate ourselves.”