Ever wondered how to feel happier? It turns out there are tried and tested ways to increase your happiness baseline. So, even if you’re struggling with your mental health, there are things you can do to improve how you feel.

If you aren’t feeling happy very often, it can be hard to feel hopeful. And that’s fine. It’s important to recognise how you feel, validate your feelings, and know that it’s OK not to feel OK.

The techniques below aren’t about ‘becoming happy.’ Think of them more as ways to help you feel a little bit better, whether that’s feeling happy or not. They’re based on research that has shown we can do small things everyday to train our brains to look for positives, rather than automatically jumping to the negatives. Our brains are adaptable in this way.

Check out the 8 ways to feel happier below and perhaps pick one to try and see if it helps you.

Meditation is a way of calming the body and mind to help you experience peace and stillness. There are different ways to meditate either with a guide or on your own. Techniques include visualisations, body scanning, reflections, and loving kindness.

For years I’ve avoided meditation because I believed it meant you had to completely empty your mind from all your thoughts. When I tried that, I found it impossible, and that left me feeling frustrated.

However, I realise now that I was wrong. Meditation isn’t about ‘not thinking of anything’. It’s about noticing what you are thinking about, letting your thoughts come and go, and being non-judgemental.

Anna Pearson, a Mindset and Meditation Coach says: “A daily practise of meditation brings you back to you. It helps you to get to know your mind and your body by simply cultivating awareness within yourself. In a world of ‘doing’ we need to come back to just being, come back to the present moment and feel your power. Your happiness is right there inside each breath.”

You can find Anna on Instagram @findyourflowwithanna.

There are lots of resources to help you learn more about meditation. Check out Headspace and mindful.org to get you started.

Mindfulness is about being fully aware and emersed in the present moment. It’s about noticing your thoughts and feelings, sounds, sights and other senses around you. According to Dr Patrizia Collard (2014) the benefits of mindfulness include:

• Increased calm and relaxation
• Higher energy levels and enthusiasm for living
• Increased self-confidence and self-acceptance
• Lower risk of stress, anxiety, depression, and immune deficiency
• More compassion for ourselves, others, and our planet.

Mindfulness can be simple. Next time you go for a walk, rather than using your phone or worrying about work, focus on what you can see and hear instead. Perhaps you’ll hear birdsong or notice the colour of the leaves. Just the other day I went for a mindful walk in the woods early in the morning. The birdsong was so vibrant, and I even noticed a tree stump that looked like a polar bear (I thought so anyway)!

Often, it’s not actually the present moment that’s causing us distress – it’s our anticipation and inaccurate fortune-telling about the future. Sound familiar? I do this often! Rarely do we stop and notice these negative patterns.

Tolle (1999) said: “Like a butterfly flittering from one flower to another, the mind engages past experiences or… anticipates what is to come. Seldom do we find ourselves resting in the oceanic depth of the here and now. For it is here – in the Now – where we find out Ture Self, which lies being our physical body, shifting emotions, and chattering mind.”  

Physical exercise not only builds our strength and fitness, but it also releases ‘feel-good’ endorphins which can help us feel happier and less stressed.

Rachel, Pilates Teacher and Founder of Raise Pilates; www.raisepilates.com says: “‘Change happens through movement, and movement heals’ wrote Joseph Pilates about his method for body, mind, and spirit and I have the pleasure of witnessing this daily. As a Pilates teacher, I see shoulders unravel, spines lengthen, smiles brighten and real self-gratitude. Those that give themselves the time to move get the dopamine and endorphin hit, as well as the physical perks. Even on the days you don’t want to move, be accountable to yourself; the benefits far outweigh any negatives.”

So, if you haven’t exercised for a while and you’re feeling a bit stiff, why not start by going for a brisk walk today?

Writing or saying daily gratitude’s – acknowledging things to be thankful for – can help our brains scan for positives and help us feel happier and more optimistic.

Writing gratitude’s is something I’ve started doing myself. I’ve noticed that my automatic thoughts are becoming more positive. Also, when I do have a negative thought about a situation, I’m able to notice it and challenge myself to think differently. Previously, I wouldn’t have had this conscious awareness of what I was doing.

Remember, our brain only has a limited capacity, so why wouldn’t you fill it with more positivity and less negativity? And if you doubt the benefits of gratitude’s, research has also shown that “it’s not that people are only grateful because they are happier, … gratitude has proven to be a significant cause of positive outcomes” (Achor, 2010).

Why not give it a go for a month and see how you feel? Buy a lovely notebook and write 3 gratitude’s at the end of every day.

Regular journaling is a great way to re-live positive experiences. Just like writing gratitude’s, journaling is a way of helping your brain scan for positive experiences that have happened to you. Journaling is also a useful way to get your worries or negative thoughts out of your head.

Why not give it a go for a month and see how you feel? Buy a lovely notebook and keep a journal to help re-live experiences that made you feel happy.

Psychologist and leading expert in the field of happiness, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2002), talks about the importance of finding and experiencing your flow, such as “situations [and experiences] in which attention can be freely invested to achieve a person’s goal.”

Flow is doing something you love and that you can completely immerse yourself in – almost as if you completely lose track of time. It’s characterised by a feeling of being appropriately challenged, so you’re not bored but the task isn’t not too hard either.

What hobbies or interests do you have that make you completely and utterly absorbed? Perhaps it’s reading, painting, playing sport, work you love, listening to music.

According to research carried out by happiness expert Sonja Lyubomirsky (2007), deliberate and conscious acts of kindness for friends and strangers for one day each week can help you feel happier.

What one random act of kindness could you do for a loved one or stranger today?

According to Shawn Achor (2010), an expert in the field of Positive Psychology, merely thinking about our future rewards can increase our happiness as much as the reward itself. Lockdown has made making plans with loved ones difficult but there are still things we can do.

Why not book something today? Whether it’s a socially distanced walk with a friend, an online Pilates class, date night with your partner, or a video call with your best friend, it might be the pick-me-up you need.

Reflexology is a complementary health therapy that can improve your overall wellbeing and help you feel deeply relaxed. It’s based on the theory that different points on your feet and hands link on an energetic level with organs, nerves and glands in your body. Reflexologists stimulate these reflex points to help release any energy blockages by applying a comfortable pressure using their thumbs and fingers.

Reflexology aims to support your body’s own healing processes by rebalancing any areas of tension by stimulating and encouraging energy and blood flow throughout the body. It’s believed that when our energy can run freely throughout our body, we’re more likely to feel well and healthy.

I’m constantly amazed by the good reflexology can do for my client’s general health and wellbeing. They always seem to leave smiling and with a sense of calm and positivity. I think this is because regular treatments are something they look forward to, and the treatment itself is an opportunity to be mindful and totally relaxed.

Most of all, I’ve noticed that reflexology seems to inspire my clients to take better care of themselves and their lifestyle. My hunch is that this is because reflexology helps them to feel more in-tune with their mind and body. In turn, this helps them to notice what their wellbeing needs are.

Bear in mind that reflexology isn’t used to diagnose or cure illnesses and it shouldn’t be used as an alternative to seeking medical help. If you’re feeling unwell or have any medical concerns, consult your GP or healthcare professional.

It turns out that there are ways we can increase our personal levels of happiness. So, whether you’re already feeling quite happy, or whether you’re struggling at the moment, there are things you can do to improve how you feel.

Simple daily techniques that encourage a positive mindset can help us feel happier because they adjust how our brain interprets the world. They help us to search more easily for the positives rather than the negatives.

Daily techniques you can try are:

• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Exercise
• Gratitude’s
• Journaling
• Find your flow
• Acts of kindness
• Have something to look forward to

To find out more about how reflexology could help you feel happier, please get in touch with Alexandra.

Anna Pearson, Mindset and Meditation Coach – find on Instagram @findyourflowwithanna

Rachel, Pilates Teacher and Founder of Raise Pilates – find at www.raisepilates.com

Collard, Dr. P., (2014), ‘The Little Book of Mindfulness,’ Hachette, UK.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., (2002), ‘Flow: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness,’ Rider.

Lyubomirsky, S., (2007), ‘The How of Happiness,’ Penguin, New York.

Tolle, E., (1999), ‘The Power of Now,’ Yellow Kite, London.