To help improve life satisfaction, pick one or two of the following areas and find ways to incorporate them into your life. Reviews of research on happiness have summarized a variety of activities that contribute to sustainable increases in life satisfaction, including the following:
Express and experience gratitude
Gratitude involves acknowledgment of a gift and recognizing its value. It also includes appreciation for the intentions of the giver, and not taking things for granted. Gratitude correlates with increased energy, improved mood, reduction in stress hormones, and more.
—Common activities you can do to increase gratitude include creating a regular habit of discussing blessings (such as at dinnertime), keeping a gratitude list or journal, saying prayers of gratitude, or regularly expressing sincere appreciation to others.
Do acts of kindness
When you serve others, with a positive attitude, you will usually feel better about yourself, and your burdens will seem lighter. It is important to pace your efforts and look for a variety of ways you could serve. For example, in one study, participants who completed a variety of five different kind acts in one day, once a week, found it more enjoyable than doing one kind act daily that became routine or seemed like a requirement.
— One way to show kindness is to think of someone you know who could use a little more love in their life and brainstorm ideas for how you could bless them. You could pray for them and involve others in carrying out a plan to brighten their day.
Commit to goals
Goals can add meaning and control in your life. Satisfaction can come not only in your achievement of the goal but also in the aspiration and work that occurs along the way. Goals require having a vision, creating a plan, and putting that plan into action.
—To improve your success in achieving goals, consider the writing it down, putting it into your schedule; sharing it with others to create accountability, tracking your progress, and celebrating little successes along the way.
Practice religion & spirituality
Religious people are healthier mentally and physically and live longer. They are more resilient under stress, have more hope and meaning in life. They also tend to have more social support and report higher life satisfaction. Religion provides a relationship with God which provides comfort and meaning in troubled times and aids with self-esteem and feelings of being unconditionally valued.
—A good way to improve your spirituality is to develop private religious behaviors such as personal scripture study, pondering, and prayer. Attending religious gatherings and living according to your beliefs.
Take care of your health
Staying on top of your health can increase your overall sense of wellbeing. This includes having a good sleep pattern, eating nutritious foods, and engaging in physical activity and exercise. It also includes balancing work with recreation and taking time to rejuvenate and meditate.
—A great way to improve your health and wellbeing is to pick one area where you could improve and take simple steps toward creating positive behavior change.
Nurture relationships
One of the strongest findings is that happy people have better relationships and social support networks. Strong social networks not only provide support when you need help, but they also provide friendship and an opportunity to serve and help others.
—You can improve your relationships by: Spending dedicated time talking or doing shared activities; Expressing more positive than negative comments; Reacting with enthusiasm and interest when something good happens to others; Doing things to support others’ roles and dreams; Demonstrating loyalty, keeping secrets, and reciprocating favors.
Cultivate optimism
The way you think influences how you feel. For example, pessimistic people interpret a bad event as: permanent (it will never change), pervasive (it will ruin all aspects of my life), and personal (it is all my fault). Optimistic people, on the other hand, tend to view negative events as temporary (it won’t last forever), limited in scope (it won’t ruin all aspects of my life), and not all my fault (other factors may also be responsible). When compared to pessimists, optimistic people are happier, do better at school, sports, winning elections, getting promotions, succeeding in relationships, being resilient after negative events, living longer, and being healthier.
—You can cultivate optimism by noticing what you say to yourself when unwanted events happen and then purposely practicing looking at the event optimistically as mentioned above.
Savor life’s joys
Taking time to be in the moment can add joy to your day. For example, you can use your senses to feel the breeze, smell a rose, delight in a conversation, or see a sunset. Taking time to really experience your life as you are living it will help to enrich it. Additionally, you can pace specific delights to obtain maximal pleasure. For example, a chocolate sundae may be pleasurable once or twice a month, but not daily. You can also add variety to your day to reduce boredom.
—A typical savoring activity would be to take a few minutes to think about what you are seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling and then delight in being alive and having the opportunity to experience life. Another activity is to imagine a perfect day, write it down, and carry out the plan.
Adapted from an article written by Dean E. Barley Ph.D. Associate Director of Clinical Services BYU Comprehensive Clinic