We know there’s a lot to be worried about in the world right now, so sometimes it can feel like a real stretch to feel a sense of joy. But adding a real, honest dose of happiness to your life doesn’t mean you have to run away to an island where there’s no social media or news feeds, and it doesn’t mean you have to shirk all your responsibilities and dedicate your life to playing with kittens.
It’s possible, every day, to experience joy if you make the time and space to feel it.
“Happiness is not about the absence of negative emotion and the abundance of positive ones; it is about pursuing a life of meaning and purpose and living in accordance with your values,” explains Judy Ho, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist in Manhattan Beach, Calif. “When you do this, you will inevitably come across both highs and lows emotionally, but all lead to a deeper sense of joy.”
Meet the experts: Judy Ho, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Joshua Hicks, Ph.D., professor, department of psychological and brain sciences, Texas A&M University; Sari Chait, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who works mostly with online clients; Chianti Lomax, author of Evolving While Black: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Transformation On Your Own Terms and chief happiness curator of The Happy Pop-Up; Kristin Papa, L.C.S.W., psychotherapist, and owner and founder of Living Openhearted Therapy and Wellness; and Nicole Issa, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist and founder of PVD Psychological Associates.
You don’t have to try all 28 tips below at once—some of them may not fit your lifestyle and personality—but trying out one new habit a day can pay off in big ways.
“Simple lifestyle changes can have a profound influence on our mental health,” explains Joshua Hicks, Ph.D., professor, department of psychological and brain sciences, Texas A&M University. (If you are experiencing signs of clinical depression, make an appointment ASAP with your health care provider to discuss talk therapy and/or medication to treat it.)
Here, one tip a day for the next four weeks for adding genuine moments of joy to your life.
Week 1: Focus on Personal Growth
1. Create a Mini Bucket List
Think of something you’d love to do, that you can reasonably achieve in the next few weeks or months (learn to crochet? run a 5K?). “Having goals and feeling a sense of accomplishment” creates a sense of pride that is one of the “main factors that have been shown to contribute to happiness,” says Sari Chait, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist. These goals can be big or small—just be sure it’s meaningful to you and not just something you’ve seen on TikTok.
2. Bump Up the Challenge
If you love crosswords, buy a book of really hard ones. Enjoy yoga? Pick a new pose to master. Ho calls doing an activity that you are capable of but also challenges you “getting into flow.” The activity should be fun and interesting, as opposed to something where you may seek external validation or reward.
3. Write Out a Daily Plan
Jotting down a list each morning of what you plan to achieve that day, and a realistic schedule for doing each item on the list “will make the task feel more meaningful and give you more motivation to pursue your daily goals.”
This list can include humdrum tasks like “pick up milk,” and “call mom to confirm holiday plans,” as well as a few just-for-you tasks, such as “do an at-home facial,” and “bring treats to my neighbor’s new rescue dog.”
4. Check In With Your Values
One of the best ways to ensure growth is to check in with your personal values. Taking a few minutes in the morning to list your top values (such as integrity, spirituality, loyalty, or kindness) and evaluating if you are honoring them helps provide clarity to your day-to-day and allows you to connect with yourself.
5. Practice Decision-Making
If you have trouble making decisions, you may feel unsettled or unclear on your life path or day-to-day routine. “Values-based decision making” can help, Ho says.
Consider a few things going on in your life in which you have to make a decision based on two or more options, and ask yourself which choice honors your values (such as the ones you identified above) more.
6. Do a Happiness Inventory Check
Big goals are great, but check in today to see if working toward those goals is still making you happy. “Self-awareness and even energy awareness are two intentional pathways to authentic happiness,” Chianti Lomax, a certified personal and executive coach and author of Evolving While Black: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Transformation On Your Own Terms explains.
She adds that it’s important to monitor what’s impacting your happiness on a regular basis. “Make a list of five things that energized you and five things that drained your energy over the past month,” she suggests.
After you have your list, Lomax says you should then ask yourself the following questions about each item: Is this thing within my control? If it is, how can I create more of it in my days or how can I minimize this in my days? She also suggests inviting a trusted friend to hold you accountable for the changes you wish to create.
7. Explore New Places
Traveling can bring you great joy and broaden your horizons, but you don’t have to spend a fortune on airfare or use up all your PTO to do it. Instead, satisfy your wanderlust by checking out new adventures in your own community. Hit up a restaurant with a cuisine you’ve never tried before, or explore a quirky museum or jazz club in the nearest small city.
Week 2: Take Care of Your Mind and Body
1. Practice Gratitude
No matter what is going on in your day, there is always something small you can be grateful for: The taste of a perfectly ripe peach, the feel of clean sheets on your bed, a smile from the adorable child next door.
Practicing gratitude “can lead to people feeling more positive emotions and feeling an increase in motivation to engage in their life and make healthy choices,” Chait explains. She suggests maintaining a gratitude journal where you can jot down things both big and small that you feel grateful for every morning or evening.
2. Create a Morning Routine
If your mornings tend to be a chaotic whirl of scarfing down a granola bar or energy drink before rushing to work, coming up with a “mind-body morning routine” can help set you up for success each day and create a more positive mindset, Ho explains.
Some morning routine ideas include a stretching routine, reading an inspirational quote, and setting your intentions for the day.
3. Make a Joy List
Ho suggests making a “joy list” of activities that make you smile, and committing to doing one of these every day. By having a dedicated list of things that make you happy (like getting an iced mocha at your favorite coffee shop, FaceTiming with your niece, or doing a home manicure), you will always have something to fall back on as a pick-me-up on a bad day or something to begin each day with a more positive outlook.
4. Exercise on the Majority of Days
We know that exercise is good for our bodies, but it’s also good for our minds and mood. “Research has consistently shown that exercise helps improve mental health by releasing endorphins, which affect mood, and leading to a sense of success and improved confidence,” Chait explains. Pick something you love and will go back to, like walking with a friend, dancing in your bedroom, or taking a yoga class in person or online.
5. Drink Up
Dehydration can negatively impact your mood and cognitive processes, research finds. So while drinking enough water might not seem like a top priority, if you’re looking to be happier… it definitely should be. Feel free to switch things up with lemon water, seltzer, or home-brewed herbal tea.
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6. Rest
Getting a good night’s sleep is directly connected to our happiness levels, points out Kristin Papa, L.C.S.W., psychotherapist and owner and founder of Living Openhearted Therapy and Wellness.
Working on your sleep hygiene can help: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends, make sure your bedroom is cool and dark, and stop scrolling your phone or laptop at least an hour before bed.
7. Limit Screen Time
We all know the dangers of “doom scrolling,” but even just watching cute animal videos and makeup tutorials and checking out your friends’ endless pictures of their feet on vacation can suck up hours of your time before you know it. Install an app on your phone to limit screen time, and you’ll find so much more time in your day to do the things that actually give you joy.
Week 3: Connect With People—Not the Internet
1. Reach Out to a Friend
Hicks recommends you make checking in with friends and loved ones a top priority. “A simple positive interaction with another human being does wonders for our mental health and well-being,” he says.
A cup of coffee with an old friend, a catch-up session with a cousin over Zoom, or making new connections by joining a class or club in your community is something you can do to reap those social benefits.
2. Embrace Alone Time
Connecting with others is crucial, but connecting with ourselves is another important aspect of wellness. Knowing how to be alone with yourself is important, so take the time you need to recharge your social battery and reconnect with yourself.
3. Set Healthy Boundaries
If you’re always saying yes to that needy friend who trash talks everyone else in your life, or you wind up spending one too many Saturday nights with that friend who always insists on staying out until you feel fried, learn how to say no. Boundaries are key for establishing healthy relationships and for avoiding the trap of depleting all your own energy and joy in the service of someone else.
4. Find a New Hobby
Interested in trying pickleball, singing in a choir, or finally learning how to play bridge? It’s a great way to connect with yourself and meet new people.
“Hobbies help us relax and help mitigate boredom and other things that are antithetical to happiness,” Hicks explains. “Interacting with people who make us feel authentic is very important for our experience of meaningfulness.”
5. Volunteer
The reward we get from helping others through volunteering often leads to an increase in happiness. “Helping someone else leads to increased positive emotions,” Chait explains. “Volunteering also often includes some amount of social interaction which has been shown to be a strong contributor to happiness.”
Volunteering also offers the opportunity to try new things—like working with animals or children—and offers the opportunity to learn new skills.
6. Give Compliments
Giving compliments is a powerful tool for increasing happiness and fostering a positive mindset. Consider actively engaging in dishing out compliments, so that you can not only cultivate a habit of seeking out the positives in people and situations, but also so you start to notice some of the positives in your own life.
7. Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Performing acts of kindness for others can result in a chain reaction of joy. Treat someone to coffee, help a stranger with their grocery bags, or leave a kind message for a colleague.
Week 4: Learn to Manage Stress
1. Be Kind to Yourself
Personal growth and maintaining healthy habits take work—and it’s perfectly fine to fall short sometimes. “Cut yourself some slack when you fail,” Hicks says. “Try not to ruminate over lapses of self-control. As long as you commit to practicing it, you will get better.”
2. Take a Deep Breath
Deep breathing is a great way to reduce stress and center yourself so that you can continue moving forward with your goals. “When you engage in deep belly breathing, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system and your body starts to relax,” Nicole Issa, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist and founder of PVD Psychological Associates, explains. Try these mindful breathing exercises.
3. Embrace Nature
Being outdoors can boost your happiness big time. “When we are in nature we tend to forget about ourselves and our problems,” Hicks says. “Something about this process not only helps us de-stress, but taking a step back from our problems can sometimes help us see them in a different light.” A simple walk in the park, visiting a nearby trail, or even taking your lunch break outside can give you a jolt of joy.
4. Practice Mindfulness
Try out “practical mindfulness,” Ho suggests. Take something you do every day—making coffee, showering, brushing your teeth—and practice being present in the moment, and savoring it for exactly what that moment is.
You can focus on the smell of the coffee, the feel of the hot water on your skin, or the minty taste of the toothpaste, for example. This type of mindfulness can help you take on the rest of your day with a calm, positive headspace.
5. Walk as You Meditate
Ho suggests trying a walking meditation, which helps you stay mindful and active at the same time. Go for a walk and “narrate your surroundings to yourself so that you can be focused on the environment and what’s going on, noticing the little details as opposed to being lost in your thoughts,” she explains.
6. Think Like a Kid
Honestly, adulting is hard. When we connect with simple delights like a child does, Papa says we can often rediscover small joys in everyday life. “When we allow ourselves to use a curious mindset and slow down to observe our environment, we can cultivate a deeper appreciation for aspects of our day that have become ‘normal,’” she explains.
Whether that means delving back into a childhood hobby like reading about dinosaurs before bed, or just stopping to savor a good piece of chocolate between meetings, allowing ourselves to embrace the simple joys can have a major impact.
7. Find a Therapist
Going to therapy is often one of the best things a person can do for their overall wellness. “If you find that you can’t get out of your rut, committing to see a professional is a great option,” Hicks says. “Sometimes it just takes advice from an expert to give us insight and get us back on the right track.”
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