Happiness is an important part of life — no less than anger, sadness, and fear. But how do you know if you're happy? Are you as happy as most people? If you have lots of money or a fancy title at work, shouldn't that be enough to make you happy? Discover how balancing your life is one way to achieve overall happiness.

Some people simply can’t comprehend the psychological benefit that comes from doing absolutely nothing, but it can make you a happier person. When you think of nothing, this means nothing that’s productive, that is, in a material or tangible sense like building things or making money. On the other hand, when you do nothing, you produce a state of relaxation.

Perhaps you want to be happier this coming year. Being happier is a common New Year’s resolution. Although happiness is not entirely a state of mind, positive thinking can help make you a happier person. Here are ten thoughts that lead to happiness: Life is ahead of you — and that’s where your focus should be: People who are weighed down by the past are rarely happy.

You have to work to achieve happiness — the greater and more consistent the effort, the greater the eventual reward. Here are ten simple, effective strategies that, if you make them part of your daily routine, will help you reach your goal of a life full of positive emotion.Think of these important points as prescriptions, think of them as the ten secrets to a happy life, think of them as the Ten Commandments of Happiness, think of them anyway you like — just make sure you turn thinking into action!

Family happiness requires balance. There is a movie that shows how a mother bear gives her total attention to her cubs for one year…and then abruptly chases them up a tree, leaving them to survive on their own. Humans take a little longer to make sure their offspring can live on their own (autonomy) and with others (interdependence).

Daily confessions can be a good start toward being happy. Psychology in general concerns itself with how and what human beings think, how they feel, and how and why they behave the way they do. Positive psychology does the same thing — only it focuses on positive thoughts, positive emotions, and positive ways of acting toward others.

If you want to be happy with what you do, try to be a productive employee. Everything you do at work falls into one of two categories — productive or counterproductive. How effective you are as an employee is determined by the balance between the two. If you spend far too much time trying to look busy when you’re not, avoiding returning phone calls to someone you should, and arguing with coworkers, your work will suffer.

Flow is the ability to become deeply engrossed in something and losing your worries in the process. Flow is an important stepping stone to happiness. But how do you achieve it? Try this step-by-step process that will help you get involved in something so deeply that nothing else will seem to matter. Step 1: Identify your sources of flow Flow is the end result when you apply a set of skills to a challenging situation.

It’s not easy to revise your life and move into a positive, more satisfying, happier future. Major life challenges involving trauma and loss disrupt your life and force you to redirect your energies, interests, and commitments. But how do you do that? These steps can get you moving in the right direction: Create a positive mindset by sitting quietly with your eyes closed while opening your mind to the possibility of hope, optimism, and creative behavioral change.