100 Simple Things That Make Me Happy
Embracing little moments of happiness in a dysfunctional family can be challenging, but I wanted to share 100 simple things that make me happy and hope you can incorporate them into your life. Think of these things as little rays of sunshine that can help brighten your day and give you a break from the difficulties at home.
Happiness is worth pursuing! Despite the circumstances, you deserve to feel moments of happiness (and relief). This isn't about escaping the challenges but helping you navigate them more effectively. You may wonder how a list of things that make me happy can help you. Well, by sharing what brings me happiness, I hope to give you a gentle nudge to explore your sources of joy- your own pockets of happiness and peace.
It's the little things that can make the most difference, and as you read through this list, I encourage you to think about what brings you happiness and how you can incorporate the small pleasures into your daily life.
So, let's get into the list of 100 things that make me happy.
Why I Made a List of 100 Things That Make Me Happy?
These 100 things that make me happy are like a big self-care hug- my personal happiness toolkit. It helps my mental health, and when I am feeling down, I look at this list for inspiration.
As someone from a dysfunctional family, being intentional about finding joy by having a list of reasons to feel happy helped me escape the challenges at home and focus on the positive aspects of life. This list allows me to shift my attention to things that bring ME joy and gratitude.
When I feel mixed emotions, I look at this list and do things that help me slow down, distract myself, or sit with how I feel.
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Things That Make Me Happy List:
Here are 100 little things that make me happy:
- Morning silence
- Spending time with my sisters
- Lifting weights
- Going on a drive with windows down
- Randomly finding money
- Random act of kindness from a stranger
- Taking a nap without setting an alarm
- Reading a good book
- Puzzle
- Playing with dogs
- Listening to the sound of rain
- Journaling
- Hugs from my partner
- Harry Potter marathon during the holidays
- No Sunday scares
- Candles
- Yoga
- Being appreciated for my efforts
- Pizza
- When someone compliments my outfit
- Iced coffee
- Gym clothes
- A good therapy session
- Learning about my parent's upbringing (especially happy ones)
- Changing colors of fall leaves
- Homemade meal
- Trying a new hobby
- A warm bowl of ramen
- A clean space
- Compliment from a stranger
- Going to a support group
- Facetime with my best friend
- Tea time with in-laws
- Playing a game on my phone
- Meditation
- Reading a positive comment on my social media
- Getting handwritten letters
- Feeling the warmth of sunshine on my skin
- Sun sparkling on the water
- Binge-watching a good show
- Cooking a meal for someone
- Sounds of ocean waves
- Listening to uplifting music
- Watching a funny movie
- Listening to a motivational speech
- Being able to manage my emotional response
- Practicing affirmations
- Setting a small goal and achieving it
- Practicing self-compassion
- Digital detox day
- A long bath
- Being in nature
- A day without plans
- Daydreaming
- Going to bed without setting an alarm
- Hitting 10k steps
- The feeling of letting go
- Seeing my clients make positive changes and progress in their personal growth
- Having a healthy work-life balance
- Planning a self-care day
- Sleeping through the night
- Playing card games with my family
- Creating a routine
- Learning a new skill
- Listening to music while riding a bike
- Long walks with my husband
- Cooking with my mom
- Strolling through the library for a new book
- Witnessing little things that make people smile
- A deep breath
- Tea time with my sisters
- Going to an ACA meeting
- Taking a weekend trip
- Going to my pilates class
- Tidy spaces
- Taco Tuesdays
- My mom's rice and dal on a cold day
- Solo date
- Watching a childhood favorite movie
- Watching Koffee with Karan
- Uno cards with my husband
- Life chats with my in-laws
- Buying candles
- A good book with coffee at a cafe
- Going through old photo albums
- Hitting a PR in the gym
- Buying a new journal
- Organizing my calendar
- Being able to observe my thoughts without judgment
- Practicing a new coping technique
- Engaging in regular self-care
- Flipping to the last page of a good book
- Being able to empathize
- Gratitude
- Making mindful choices
- Setting a boundary
- Soothing my inner child
- Sitting in my blue chair
- My office
- Coping with my emotions in a healthy way
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Why You Should Explore Things That Make You Happy?
You may be wondering why you should explore things that make you happy and well because it simply makes life better. When you explore your mood booster activities, like watching a beautiful sunset or journaling, it makes you feel good, right? Well, those are the moments that make your life better. When I was dealing with difficult family situations on a more regular basis, finding and doing things that made me happy was a valuable escape.
Think of it as being on a journey of discovering your unique flavors of happiness. It's not only about what helps you feel good in the moment but also helps you learn more about yourself and what really matters to YOU. When you are happier or able to move yourself closer to being happier, you are more prepared to cope with difficult and unpredictable situations.
How to feel happy again? Engage in activities that bring you joy.
So, go ahead, start with writing down five simple things that make you happy.
How To Discover What Makes You Happy
There are SO many things you can do and try to create your personalized list of 'happy' Here are a few steps to get you started:
1) Reflect on Past Experiences
Reflect on past experiences when you felt incredibly happy. What were you doing? Make a list of all the memories. For example, something weird that makes me happy is watching people clean and organize their space. It is visually satisfying and gives me plenty of ideas to try out.
Similarly, reflecting on past experiences allows me to realize the things that make me unhappy include clutter and unorganized spaces in my home. It gives me a cue to improve my mood.
What makes you happy on a bad day?
2) Explore Different Activities
The fun part of the self-discovery process is to explore and experience. In this step, you will get to experiment with activities that you THINK you may like and will bring you joy. These could include hiking, a new hobby, or learning a new coping skill. If you need help figuring out where to start, here is a list of hobbies that make you happy to help you get started.
What three things make you the happiest?
3) Track Daily Experiences
The answers are hidden in our patterns. When you start tracking your daily experiences and how they make you feel, you will notice a pattern. For example, when I started tracking my everyday experiences, I noticed I was watching crime-related shows frequently, leading to the emotion of fear. I created a list of '5 things that make me happy' to help change the emotion from fear to happy things to think about during my day.
You want to focus on experiences that bring you happiness and joy. If that isn't a part of your daily experience right now, go back to step 2 and think about what activities you can explore and simply track experiences by tracking- it makes me happy when_______
4) Experiment and Adjust
Another thing I love about the self-discovery process is that you can adjust what makes you happy based on what you continue to discover. For example, if you find you enjoy reading more in a cafe than at home, make an effort to do that more often.
As you age, your preferences for what makes you happy will also change. That is OKAY and an essential part of growth. You never stop learning about yourself.
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Recap....
There you have it- 100 things that are important to me and make me incredibly happy. If you are ever wondering, 'What things will bring me happiness?' or 'How to feel good in bad times?' pull out this list and try out a few things to see what brings you joy and help improve the moment by creating your own list of '100 things to do for myself'.
What are some simple things that make you happy?
