How to Think Happy Thoughts and Learn to Fly – 1

Peter Pan was asked by his friend Wendy how she could fly like him. He replied that to fly, all she had to do was to think happy thoughts. Although this was a children’s story and a fictions character, the moral of the story was and remains true. Thinking happy thoughts may not help us fly, but we can be as happy as we choose to be. 

 

Many people allow their life circumstances to control them. Their sense of happiness rises and falls depending on what is happening in their life. This doesn’t need to be the case. We can focus on our happiness every day, so that feeling happy is a state of mind, not a reaction to the events in our life. 

 

Ask yourself daily what you can do to create happiness in your life. At the end of each day take a check of the things you did that made you happy and be honest. If you can’t think of anything you did that produced a feeling of happiness, ask yourself—why and make an effort to change things tomorrow. 

 

There are some ways you can help yourself to feel real happiness and you can practice these every day.

 

1. Help other people.

As long as your focus is always on yourself, you will be acutely aware of things that are not as good as they could be in your life. By focusing on helping others, we realize again the good in our own life. 

 

2. Find something to be thankful for every day.

Look around your world every day and find at least one thing to be thankful about each day. Write it down in a journal and review your journal regularly to help you remember the good things in your life.

 

3. Surround yourself with good friends and spend at least part of one day a week with them. 

Happiness is contagious. As you surround yourself with happy people who are positive, their happiness will affect you and your happiness will affect them. Keep gossip and other negative talk away from your gatherings.

 

4. Head down memory lane regularly.

Your life is full of happy memories. Write down why those things made you happy and laugh with someone who remembers them often. 

 

Read part 2 for other ways you can focus on nurturing and protecting your personal happiness.