Don’t worry, be happy on International Day of Happiness

ARE you happy? What is happiness? To mark International Day of Happiness (20 March), everyone is reminded to try and be happy. It is not about achieving major goals, but more a daily personal attitude to appreciate yourself and the environment around you.

So how can you help achieve a greater sense of well-being and happiness?

Be grateful. Try and be positive and thankful for what you have and stop complaining.

Avoid comparisons. Stop comparing yourself with others as this wastes time and energy, simply focus on yourself. Social media can often create false impressions of how much better other people’s lives may seem.

Be kind. You will be amazed at how good you will feel if you give a little something to others.

Take time out. Try and set aside a little bit of time each week to do the things you really enjoy doing, not what you have to do, whether that be simply reading a book, going for a swim or spending time with family.

Practice meditation. This is will give a sense of calmness and tranquillity and help regulate stresses and negative emotions.

Acceptance. Whilst we can also make changes and improvements to our lives, it is also important to accept that there are some things we cannot change. Accept it and move on.

International Day of Happiness is celebrated every March after being officially recognised and established by the UN in 2012. The UN General Assembly decreed this day to emphasise the importance of happiness in the life of human beings.

Spain is currently ranked 34th in the list of 155 ‘happiest’ countries according to the World Happiness Report of 2017.

The top positions are occupied by the Nordic countries, with Norway at the top followed by Denmark and Iceland. Spain received a score of 6.403 out of 10.