How To Be Happy

After two months in a foreign country, with a change of diet, mind and general outlook on life, it has become clear that one of the most important things in life is to be happy.

Obvious, you may think, but often our own happiness is ignored. Maybe you sacrifice your own happiness to make others around you feel better, or to fulfill an expectation (whether this be image, career, personality) that you think is important. Or maybe the thought has crossed your infinitely intricate and complicated mind, that you, one of the 7 billion people in the world, do not deserve it.

Alas, you do! Everybody does. Everybody, whether you are living in a hut in the depths of a South American slum, or you earn absurd amounts of money and live in the luxurious tower blocks of London.

Now, the point of this blog is not to delve into a philosophical debate of what it means to be happy.* As interesting as that could be, this is merely a snippet of collated ideas to help you CHEER UP! So read it and let the endorphins of your pretty little brain seep out into every corner of your beautiful body.

So, how can you improve your general mood the natural way?

• Food is a big factor in your mood (ha, it rhymes). Low levels of zinc, potassium and iron can cause bad moods. Stuff like this is found in bananas, spinach, strawberries, peanuts, weetabix, seeds and roast beef (yum). So can vitamins B and C, so fill up on grapes, oranges and nuts.
• Talk. A lot. There are so many reasons why this works but the main is just to improve your relationship with others around you. If you don’t have anyone in person you can talk on the internet – don’t go all stalkerey but find a forum with likeminded people and you can discover shared passions that maybe in day to day life, you don’t have anyone to talk to about them. Also, stop talking and you may find the rapports you have with friends, family, colleagues etc have deteriorated somewhat. An unexpected phonecall or text to an old friend can make their day. Which leads us onto the next point…
• Do something for somebody else. Try charity (I know it sounds cheesy but it really is a warming feeling to be selfless once in a while) or help out with something you didn’t have to do. Stop and talk to the annoying charity person in the street and make their job easier. Give some change to a homeless guy (unless he’s drinking beer) or tell the cashier to have a nice day when you talk to them in a shop.
• Exercise. As well as all the sciencey serotonin thingybobs, the fact is, exercise just makes you feel better. It makes you sweat out your stress and increases your positivity in terms of body image. Unless you go too far and break something. So do some yoga, go to the gym, have a swim in the pool, or go for a walk (I have always been a firm believer that walks are just boring, but age and maturity are warming me to the idea of aimlessly wandering around for a bit).
• Smile! Self explanatory really.
• Find something that makes you laugh. Personal faves are the rambling of Karl Pilkington, but you might like cats on pianos.

Right, now these are all my ideas, but of course there are always ways to increase your mood and that depends on you personally. Maybe you watch porn. Maybe you like a nice, hot bubble bath. Maybe you blog. So do these things whenever you’re feeling crap and remember that life seems a hell of a lot easier when you’re happy. And unfortunately you can’t always rely on somebody else to help you with that. So look after yourself my little burgeracs, and remember in the words of Bjork, ‘All Is Full Of Love‘.

* (by the way, Oxford Dictionary says its ‘feeling or showing pleasure or contentment’ 😉 )