Ever wondered if and how you can become a HAPPY person?

Before I can describe what happy people do differently it is important to understand what happiness is. Happiness is a mental state that needs to be attained, an emotional state that needs to be cultivated as constantly as day and night. It encompasses our habits, choices, believes, actions, knowledge, understanding, experience and reward systems. Our love not only for ourselves, family and friends, but for others, especially the others who happens to reside outside our comfort zone. The depth, breadth and height our happiness can reach is in direct proportion to the degree in which we can let go and give, but not of our possessions, but of ourselves.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but an attempt to indicate what happy people do differently.

1.) Happy people actively seek happiness.

They get to a turning point in their lives, for some early on and for others much later, when they take stock of their lives and make a conscious decision to actively seek a state of mind that gives them freedom. Freedom from whatever held them back and cost them to be unhappy over the years. Hence happiness flows from unhappiness like a river that flows from an ocean and seek it's own path. Seeking a change in their mental state.

2) Health is a top priority.

Happy people realize that you can only feel good and or happy if you are healthy. They actively engage in sport, exercise, yoga or other activities that makes them feel more energized and balanced. Some have a complete change in lifestyle i.e. in what they eat and drink, how they manage stress and the amount of rest they give their bodies in order for it to recuperate. They instinctively know that a healthy mind needs a healthy body.

3) Focus on their habits

Your behaviors stem from your habits. The only way in which to control your behavior is to control your habits. If you watch a person who always seem to be in a happy mood you tend to notice their habits. They tend to forgive quickly and not to hold grudges, treat others with respect and kindness. They tend to view their problems as challenges and they don't sweat the small stuff. Making excuses, living in the past and comparing themselves to others are not on their list of habits. Instead they take time to listen and to understand, to meditate and to free their minds. Honesty is one of their best habits and they view dishonesty as the the main road to unhappiness.

4) Optimism

One of the best ways in which to identify or distinguish a happy person is in their optimism. Their positive attitude that comes naturally in all situations. It is like they are prepared for whatever presents itself. Because they avoid over-thinking and realize that failure is an opportunity to grow instead of an opportunity to sulk.

5) Practice acts of kindness.

Happy people are happy because they share and give freely without expecting anything in return. They are grateful for what they have and never compare themselves to others. They always speak well of others and steer away from gossip. They accept things that cannot be changed and change the things that they can, not only for themselves, but in a selfless manner to benefit others.

6) Material wealth does not direct their path

They understand that material wealth is important to make a living, but not to define your life. They view material wealth as a tool to be used to further whatever cause they support which in return increase their happiness.

7) Spirituality is important

Wisdom and understanding normally flows from their spiritual connectedness to something higher then themselves. Something that makes them interconnected with the world and people around them. They are recharged and reinvigorated by their believes. They are directed and in a sense protected by it. They meditate on their believes day and night and in essence that is where their happiness flow from... freely!