How do genuinely happy people manage to maintain a good mood and a positive attitude? Let’s explore their secrets!

Happiness is the world’s most sought-after emotion. Happiness is also the most talked about, yet there is no magic wand or guaranteed steps you should take to achieve it. Nonetheless, the lack of a proven formula doesn’t mean there aren’t certain habits happy people share.

Ask a genuinely happy person for the habits that boost their mood and a combination of the following routines becomes evident.

1. Staying Active

Happy people are busy people. The key is finding a balance between being busy and feeling stressed about it. Free time is not the cure for our unhappiness, as it can end up causing you to feel more miserable.

When you have time, you’ll start noticing the things that might not be good – you don’t have friends, your work is not fulfilling, and you don’t have hobbies to look forward to. By staying active, by filling your calendar with your passion, you might occasionally feel tired at the end of the day, but you’ll also feel more alive.

2. Nurturing Relationships

One of the regrets people have on their deathbeds is the way they’ve treated or let other people treat them. Humans are social animals and we are happy when we are with others. Think when you are the happiest? It’s probably when you are with a special friend or someone from your family.

On the other hand, you might feel sad in the company of others as well. The emotions you feel tell a story and it might not always be a pleasant one to hear. But the bottom line is: you need to spend your time with people who make you feel good and stop wasting your time hanging out with those that leave you in tears.

3. Being Kind to Yourself

It might sound like a cliché but happiness begins from within. The most common reasons for unhappiness come from within too: we think we aren’t smart enough, pretty enough or healthy enough, and we seek happiness from the outside.

If you fill your head with negativity and you punish yourself for the mistakes you are bound to make, you can’t expect to find happiness even if you win the lottery.

Genuinely happy people understand it and they’ve found peace. If you can accept yourself, for all the strengths and weaknesses you have, you can face the world with an open mind. You’ll also understand sometimes you need to treat yourself instead of expecting the world to do it for you.

So, don’t be afraid of splurging on the spa treatment or taking a moment to sip wine and read a good book – tell yourself that you are worthy of happiness and happiness will come in.

4. Spending on experiences, not material

In the modern world, happiness is often equated with money or material. You’ve probably thought in this way in the past. “If I had a bigger house, I’d be happy” or “If I just could get that new dress, I’d smile for a week” are things we say to ourselves.

But the genuinely happy people have understood that it isn’t the material making us smile, it’s the experience. The dress might not be the reason you smile, it could be you’re happy to spend time with your spouse on a date night.



The saying “money can’t buy happiness” is a rather dull one. It’s easy to argue the statement to be true and wrong at the same time. The truth of the matter is that if you want to spend money in search of happiness, you should do it through experiences, not material.

So start saving money to enjoy these experiences through activities like wine tasting or jump from an airplane, gifting someone really special. Don’t hoard things around you; indulge yourself in your favorite Art & Entertainment activities which can make you feel cheerful.

Discover more and explore the world around you.

5. Letting go of expectations

As eluded above, happy people let go of expectations. They understand that things don’t just happen, but for the most part, you need to work for success, joy, and happiness. Happy people also take positive things as they come; they don’t spend time worrying or predicting.

Things happen and they are there to grab the opportunities as they come along.

In addition, happiness is not a concept to be measured and compared. Genuinely happy people can be happy about things someone else might not be excited about. They don’t mirror their experiences with other people and expect to feel the same.

If you want to be happy, you have to let go of the idea your happiness will be the same as your neighbor’s satisfaction.

Happiness is a fluid state of mind – you can’t live life without occasionally feeling blue. But it’s also not a mystery, happiness is all around you and the above habits prove you can find it as well.

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