{"id":40204,"date":"2021-06-17T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T13:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=40204"},"modified":"2021-06-28T10:09:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T14:09:59","slug":"live-a-happy-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Would you say you are happy in your life? What are some things you can do to cultivate a happier, more joyful outlook?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort to cultivate a mindset of ongoing happiness. It won&#8217;t happen overnight, but it&#8217;s definitely under your control to a great extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without further ado, here are five simple practices to help you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-live-a-fulfilling-life\/\">live a happy life<\/a>, no matter the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cultivating Happiness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/tools-of-titans-tim-ferriss\/\">Tools of Titans<\/a><\/em>, entrepreneur and lifestyle guru Tim Ferriss shares advice from interviews with 101 top-performing people from Olympic athletes to ultra-successful entrepreneurs. When he asked them about their take on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-have-a-happy-life\/\">how to live a happy life<\/a>, many gave similar answers. Here are some of the most common themes that came up in the titans&#8217; interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <strong>Be Grateful for Things<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most common themes from titans through the entire book was being grateful for life and what it\u2019s given so far. Far from being the cutthroat, take-no-prisoners stereotype of success, the titans tended to reflect on their lives and be thankful for where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a summary of how people feel gratitude:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Tony Robbins believes gratitude prevents you from feeling anger or fear. He starts off his morning by meditating on what he\u2019s grateful for.<\/li><li>Tim Ferriss recommends naming 3 new things you\u2019re grateful for in an end-of-day 5-minute journal. Instead of repeating the same things like your health, consider small things, like an old relationship that really helped you, something great that you saw happen, or something simple that you can see.<\/li><li>Tim Ferriss also keeps a \u201cJar of Awesome.\u201d He adds an entry on a slip on a slip of paper whenever something cool happens in a day, and he opens one when he needs an emotional boost. These little wins are easy to forget.<\/li><li>Author Seth Godin: Why fixate on all the times someone betrayed or rejected you? It makes more sense to keep track of all the times it worked, all the times you took a risk and it worked out. You can control your own narrative, and there isn\u2019t much benefit to being angry and negative all the time.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jocko-willink-navy-seal\/\">Navy SEAL Jocko Willink<\/a> reads about human suffering, like the My Lai massacre, to be grateful for what he has. Similarly, Youtuber Casey Neistat recommends reading <em>Little Dieter Needs to Fly<\/em>, a book about a Vietnam prisoner of war that will make you appreciate your cushy life.<\/li><li>Founder of the Spartan Race, Joe de Sena was inspired to start it after getting fed up with Wall Street. He wanted to suffer in nature and return to a time when he\u2019d just want water, food, and shelter, which would make all his other needs pale in comparison.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Being grateful for past successes helps you acknowledge that you <em>are<\/em> capable, instead of fixating on your many failures. This avoids the paralysis from feeling you\u2019re not good at anything.<\/li><li>If you\u2019re afraid of taking a certain action, reflecting on similar past actions helps you realize the outcome will be good, and it won\u2019t be as painful as you think it is.<\/li><li>Being grateful for other people inspires a cooperative spirit. You often need other people for success, and thanking past connections helps you seek more connection.<\/li><li>Neurologically, feeling good about memories positively reinforces the behavioral circuits that produced those memories. For instance, you might be grateful for that one time you reached out to a long lost friend and had a great weekend together, which will encourage you to behave that way again in the future.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. <strong>Getting Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re in the thick of it, your problems can be all-consuming. Take some time to get perspective\u2014in the grand scheme of things, your problems today probably aren\u2019t a big deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Physician BJ Miller gets perspective by looking at the sky. He contemplates how the light from stars that reaches him is ancient, and that by the time he sees the star it may no longer exist. This puts all his little mundane worries into perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/remember-you-must-die\/\">Memento mori<\/a><\/em><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> multiple titans use a calendar to count down the number of days they have left to live. The number is frighteningly small\u2014someone at age 30 has somewhere around 20,000 days remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>(Shortform note: Writer <a href=\"http:\/\/waitbutwhy.com\/2015\/12\/the-tail-end.html\">Tim Urban<\/a> wrote a popular article noting that by the time you leave your parents\u2019 house for college, you\u2019ve already used up 93% of your in-person parent time.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing that all things, good and bad, are temporary can help you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-overcome-disappointment-in-life\/\">overcome difficulties<\/a>. The book offers a few phrases to remember this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cThis too shall pass\u201d\u2014a Persian adage that applies to both good and bad.<\/li><li>Chris Sacca: \u201cTonight, I will be in my bed.\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cJust note gone\u201d\u2014a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mindfulness-activities\/\">mindfulness practice<\/a> that trains you to notice when something you experience is no more. This can be a breath, a thought, or an emotion. When you learn that all sensations are transitory, then you can overcome even great difficulty and pain, knowing that eventually they too will be gone.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-connect-with-people\/\">Connecting with others<\/a> can also put your challenges into perspective: Author Sebastian Junger notes that <strong>a feeling of belonging seems to improve mental health<\/strong>. Disasters like 9\/11 decrease suicide, violent crime, and symptoms of mental illness. The reason could be that feeling a sense of collective belonging weakens people\u2019s normal psychological terrors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. <strong>Meditation and Mindfulness<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tim Ferriss says most of his interviewees practice some sort of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eckhart-tolle-meditation-mindfulness\/\">meditation<\/a> or mindfulness practice. This reduces anxiety, increases happiness, and makes you more aware of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t have to do it every day. Arnold Schwarzenegger meditated regularly for a year in his early life, and, even though he\u2019s stopped, he continues to see benefits. When presented with problems, he can focus, calm down, disconnect his mind, and tackle each problem one at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A similar behavior is working while listening to a single musical track or album on repeat. This puts your mind into a trance-like state of focus and is similar to mindfulness practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. <strong>Empathy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A common emotional irritant is other people. We nurse our grievances with other people and keep reliving how they\u2019ve wronged us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is often a biased, inaccurate view. <strong>Once you empathize with the other person, you\u2019ll likely stop hating them so much.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Philosopher Alain de Botton: When dealing with someone who\u2019s upset, ask yourself whether the person has been deprived of basic primal needs. Maybe they haven\u2019t slept well or eaten recently, or they have other problems on their mind. You don\u2019t see a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-deal-with-a-crying-baby\/\">crying baby<\/a> and think, \u201cthat baby hates me and wants to ruin me.\u201d<\/li><li>It\u2019s silly to blame someone for not understanding you. Most people don\u2019t understand <em>themselves<\/em> to begin with, and they have a hard time communicating themselves to other people. Plus, you can probably explain yourself better.<\/li><li>Chef and author of <em>Modernist Cuisine<\/em> Chris Young: When you give feedback to someone, empathize with their situation. Are you being unfair because you know something they don\u2019t or have a greater scope of understanding?&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Empathy has practical benefits. Tech investor Chris Sacca argues that empathy helps you develop better products and solutions for people, since you can see the world through their eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. <strong>Dealing With Negative Emotions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anxiety<\/strong>. Tim Ferriss poses a question in many of his interviews: \u201cWhat would you tell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-inner-child\/\">your younger self<\/a>?\u201d The most common response was \u201crelax, don\u2019t get anxious\u2014everything will work out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-ego\/\">Your ego<\/a> invites suffering. Tony Robbins suggests that suffering comes from focusing on yourself and your own feelings. If you\u2019re worried about your kids, it\u2019s because you feel you\u2019ve failed your kids, not because you\u2019re genuinely worried about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For anything in life, you have three options: change it, accept it, or leave it.<\/strong> It\u2019s not good to want one option but not act on it\u2014like wishing you would change it but not doing anything to change it, or wishing you would leave it but not leaving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stress. <\/strong>Multiple titans have tremendous pressure to perform under the moment\u2014in a sports match, with a critical <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/common-business-problems\/\">business problem<\/a>, or in warfare. They\u2019ve developed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-break-negative-thought-patterns\/\">thought patterns<\/a> to keep them calm in high-intensity situations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Navy SEALs have a saying about leadership: \u201cCalm is contagious.\u201d People mimic your behavior. If you stay calm, they\u2019ll be calm too. If you panic, they\u2019ll panic too.<\/li><li>In his response to crises, Matt Mullenweg exemplifies \u201cgetting upset won\u2019t help things.\u201d<\/li><li>LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is known for being imperturbable. He\u2019s responded to direct insults with, \u201cI\u2019m perfectly willing to accept that.\u201d<\/li><li>Chef Sam Kass: Most of success in the kitchen is staying calm. If you\u2019re calm you can figure most things out. If not, things fall apart.<\/li><li>A titan told a story about meeting boxer Evander Holyfield before one of his big fights. The titan was worried that he was imposing on his pre-fight prep, but Holyfield waved it off. He knew he had done everything he could before the fight to be ready for the fight, and the minutes before a fight wouldn\u2019t change anything.<\/li><li>Comedian Whitney Cummings had a similar idea before her stand-up performances. She had already put in the hard work 3 months ago; all she was doing the night of a performance was showing up.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Haters<\/strong>. When you try to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/steps-to-achieve-your-goals\/\">reach your goals<\/a>, people will try to drag you down. 10% of people will take anything personally. Expect it and treat it like math\u2014the more presence you have, the more people who will appear to criticize you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To disarm your critics, pre-empt their criticism. Address counterarguments in your work, or be self-deprecating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Tim Ferriss calls himself a \u201cprofessional dilettante\u201d to disarm critics who might have otherwise called him such.<\/li><li>To deal with hecklers, comedian Margaret Cho goes the empathy route, trying to understand sincerely why this person is disrupting a performance everyone has paid for and agreed to sit for. Turn the spotlight on them and give them a lot of time. Ask the person the person is with, \u201cIs this person usually like this?\u201d Ask the people around her, \u201cwas she like this before the show?\u201d This not only induces shame but might lead to a real genuine connection.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For the thoughtful critics, take time to address them to show you don\u2019t take yourself too seriously. This will decrease the number of real haters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anger<\/strong>. A Buddhist saying: \u201cHolding onto anger is like holding a hot coal while waiting to throw it at someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When feeling anger, don\u2019t suppress it or swat it away. Acknowledge it explicitly. This helps to dissolve the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Choose not to indulge in conflict. Don\u2019t be around people who are constantly in conflict\u2014people who fight with others regularly will eventually fight with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cynicism<\/strong>. Media host Jason Silva notes that being cynical or jaded is like being dead. Nothing impresses you, you feel like you\u2019ve seen everything before, and you see the world through dark lenses.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Would you say you are happy in your life? What are some things you can do to cultivate a happier, more joyful outlook? Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort to cultivate a mindset of ongoing happiness. It won&#8217;t happen overnight, but it&#8217;s definitely under your control to a great extent. Without further ado, here are five simple practices to help you live a happy life, no matter the circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,43],"tags":[399],"class_list":["post-40204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-self-improvement","tag-tools-of-titans","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here&#039;re five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here&#039;re five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\"},\"wordCount\":1862,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Tools of Titans\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\",\"name\":\"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here're five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg\",\"width\":1220,\"height\":650},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life - Shortform Books","description":"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here're five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life","og_description":"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here're five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1220,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life","datePublished":"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/"},"wordCount":1862,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","keywords":["Tools of Titans"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/","name":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-17T13:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-28T14:09:59+00:00","description":"We all want to live a happy life but, like anything, it takes effort. Here're five simple practices to tune your mind to a happier frequency.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","width":1220,"height":650},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/live-a-happy-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/happy-emoji-baloons.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40204"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40647,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40204\/revisions\/40647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}