We all strive for happiness, but daily life and outside rewards often stay in the way.
It is true, that true happiness comes from the inside, but how does it grow?

We have read all journals, findings and experts for you to summarize the best ways to lead a meaningful and happy life. Starting with gratitude, to leading a healthy lifestyle and never letting fear dictate your fate, here are the ground "rules":

1. Gratitude is key

This is something commonly known and yet not so commonly applied.
Being grateful for what you have and experience is the best practice for inner happiness, as well as to receiving more.

Gratitude allows you to see the good things in your life (and yes, there's always something good, even if it's something small, like your cat).
By being more consciously aware of what you already have, your view of the world starts improving, making you more positive towards life and the world. This then makes it easier for you to see and create new choices and possibilities to keep improving your life.

Our advice here, wether you believe it or not: Start a gratitude journal.
A gratitude journal every day, before you go to bed will slowly start changing your life and mindset. 
If you don't believe us, just try it out.

2. Pay it forward - Share the good things and be kind

You get what you give.
Wether you believe in karma or not, the fact is that helping other and being kind for others also improves your life.
Even better, it improves many lives. And it has a domino effect. When someone else is happy and received kindness, that person will likely do the same. 
At some point, it will get back to you.

Also, call us wildly optimistic, but the thought of the world having a kindness chain reaction makes us all happy and bubbly.

Our tip to you: Have a day a month in which you actively set out to do something nice for someone. Wether it's a compliment or leaving a coin in a soda machine.

3. Accept what you cannot change (and let go of the what ifs)

A tough one. 
Maybe one of the toughest.
But not impossible!

An effective recipe for being unhappy and angry is concentrating your thoughts and even efforts on something completely outside of your control.

We hate to break it to you, but you cannot change the past, you cannot magically change people or their brains and you cannot bend reality. You are not Dr. Strange.

We might be wired to ruminate about all of the "if only I had..." and "what if she had..." or forcing to change people who will never see your point of view anyway. The key to inner peace and joy is being aware of what you can and cannot change.

The things you can change, go for it.
The things you cannot change, don't even waste thinking about them. Just mold yourself around them the best way you can. Bruce Lee said it best: Be water my friend!

Our tip to you: Create a list of the things you can't change today. By consiciously acknowledging them, it will make it easier to adapt.

4. Take timeouts

It's always funny how things children hate, are what we most need as adults. And no, we are not talking about Broccoli (but take it as a sign to go out and buy some).

No matter how busy, no matter how crazy, sometimes you need to distance yourself from everything.
Take a step back, so that you can look at life as a movie. Change environment, be. by yourself. 
By taking a step back and distancing yourself, you will be able to see the big picture of things, which will allow you to find better options, changes and possibilities. It will allow you to see doors, you couldn't see otherwise because they were melting in the background.

A timeout also helps you getting back to yourself and gathering your thoughts. It is very easy to lose yourself throughout this crazy daily life. So a timeout allows you to get back to you, the real you and see if you are where you really want to be.

Our tip to you: Block some time in you calendar (monthly, quarterly, what you can) for a timeout. Don't add anything to that day(s).
You can plan for your time out to be at home alone, to spend time in nature or a nice hotel.

5. Eat healthy

Well, what has food to do with happiness and fulfillment?
A lot.

The common saying "you are what you eat" is more true than we actually think.
That's because food has a deep impact on your body and your brain. There are some nutrients that fill your brain with serotonin and make you feel good. There are others that do the exact opposite.

Same applies to your body. Some food makes you sick, some food makes you healthy and give you energy to take on the day.

Remember the last time you were so sick you couldn't really move or do anything? And now remember the last time you felt great and energized. Didn't you feel like you could take the world?

That's how healthy food makes you feel.
There are so many things to live and to experience, a healthy body and a happy mindset are key to start living to the fullest.

So start working on your meal plan and your snacks. Junk food may feel good on the short term, but on the long term it will only slow you down and make you unhappy. What do you prefer? Short burst of enjoyment, but unfulfilled life filled with regrets of things you didn't do? Or long term happiness from a fulfilled life you are proud of?

Our tip for you: Sugar and processed fats act in our brain like a drug. Sometimes it's difficult to leave them out just because of that. But that also means, that you are not in control, the drug is. Are sugar and processed fats really so much stronger than you, that you want to give them control? Absolutely not!
Every time you feel like eating junk, don't lie to yourself. Just say "I can eat it, but I chose not to, because I control my life".

6. Make exercise part of your routine

Healthy food's best friend is exercise.
Both go hand in hand to a healthy, energetic life and joyful, positive brain.

We all know that exercise is important. The mistake we usually make, is to see it as an extra we can add to our life to improve it.
But exercise is not an add-on to improvement. Exercise is part of life. At least part of an awesome life.

This means that is should be as much priority as food and sleep.
We are not saying you have to go and run a marathon every day. But we are saying that moving your body for at least 30 minute a day in a way that increases your heartbeat needs to be part of your daily life.

You can go out for a short run, take a long walk, dance around the house, do some cardio, do some muscle training at home, go to yoga with a friend....
Whatever you do, make it part of your daily habits. Not as an option.

Our tip to you: Habits are created by repetition. Chose a moment in your daily routine in which you could fit your exercise of choice and commit to doing it every day, whatever happens, for at least 3 months.
Once it's a set routine, it will get easier to do it because it will become part of your daily life.

7. Don't let fear stop you

If your life were a move, fear would be the villain.
Or at the very least your cryptonite. 

Fear is a natural instinct we have to make sure our species survives.
Unfortunately, it's part of our reptilian brain, which basically means fear is an old plug-in with tons of bugs.
Sometimes it works great, sometimes it's just in the way.

Since it's a deeply embedded plug-in, you cannot turn it off (and you shouldn't. If you see a serial killer coming to you with an axe, do run!), but you should be able to detect when it's useful and when it's faulty.

So get to know your fear. 
Every time you feel scared, sit with it, dig into it and ask yourself why. Understanding and knowing your fear is what will allow you to find the strength to go past it and do it anyway.

Why is this important?
Well, we don't want to sound dramatic, but form all the people who die, basically every single one dies with regrets of some sort. (And yes, there are studies about this).
And we don't need to be dying to have regrets. We all have accumulated some already throughout our journey.

The question is, if you want to die with many or with little regrets.
You have this one life, you should be able to do stuff. Otherwise, you are not living life, you are just watching it.

Out tip to you: If fear is keeping you from doing something, create the worst case scenario. Sometimes, by imagining the worst case that could happen, we feel a little bit better and gain confidence to move forward.

8. Ignore other people's opinion

Ugh, people.
Sometimes they can be a real pain.
A fire proof way to be unhappy is trying to make everybody happy.

We will make it short here. It is easier to talk about another person, than about yourself. That doesn't mean you know better.

Our tip to you: Have one or two friends you know you can count of for real feedback. As for the rest of the world, hear what they say, acknowledge they know nothing and move on.

9. Keep learning 

Learning is just the best in so many ways.
Our brains are amazing machines capable of creating new neural pathways all of the time. Learning has many upsides and no downsides: It trains your brain, preventing to develop diseases like Alzheimers or Parkinson. It makes you growth as a person and human being. It gives you new tools to improve your life, your business or your mind. It makes you more interesting.
Do we really need to go on?

Our tip to you: Set a goal for each quarter to learn something new.
Which brings us to....

10. Improve yourself with new habits and skills

You are already awesome as you are. No doubt about it.
But can you be even more awesome? Yes, you can!

The best part of learning is that you can use it to keep improving yourself. 
So these goals we just told you about for every quarter, set them and commit to them. Is there a skill you wanted to learn, but never got to? A language? A musical instrument? A sport?
Or maybe you want to improve your life by creating a new habit. Like meditating every morning. 

Improving yourself will increment your sense of purpose and your confidence. It's a fool proof way to increase your happiness, well-being and your life.

11. Do social things

Nothing uncommon for our social butterflies out here, but it also applies to you introverts ;)

We are social animals and we need social interaction to survive. This is true for all of us, even for the most hard core introverts out there.
Our brains create happy hormones, when we have positive social interactions and we need those happy hormones.

Does that mean you have to go to a party? Not at all.
But if social interactions are difficult for you, try to select just one or two people you can meet in private on a regular basis. 
Or sign up to a hobby or activity where you will meet people that are similar to you.

12. Chase your dreams and find meaning

Our dreams are what give us purpose and motivation to keep going. 
Remember we we talked about regrets when we die? Well, not pursuing your dreams is the biggest of all.

Whatever your dreams are, however big or small, easy or difficult, go out and get them! 
Find purpose in your dreams. Find purpose in your life. A sense of purpose gets us going.

And remember: a healthy body and mind are essential in order to go ahead and fight for what you want!

13. Positive self-talk

"Duh, I'm so stupid!"
Have you ever said that to yourself?
If you're human, you probably have!

When we think about it, we are really mean to ourselves. 
We would never talk to a dear friend like we talk to ourselves. We are the most important person in our lives and yet we are the meanest to ourselves.

Try to switch the negative self-talk for positive self-talk.
If you do a mistake or forget something, try to go for "I will pay better attention next time!".

We don't notice it, but how we talk to ourselves has an effect and impact on our brain structure and state of mind. Try to consciously be aware of your self-talk to improve it. Your life will improve, too!

14. Experience the now

If this sound zen to you, it's because it is!

To quote a very wise animal from Kung-Fu Panda: "The past is history, the future is a mystery and the now is a gift. That's why it's called the present".

Mindfulness, or the art of consciously living in the now, has been proven to improve your life and state of mind. It improves your awareness of what you are doing and what is happening. It also helps you to be more grateful.

Our tip: Start with some daily meditation if you don't do it yet.
Meditation is the best way to experience the now and increase your inner happiness.

15. Have a hobby and try new things

Having a hobby improves your life in many ways, because it puts your mind in the flow, it makes you learn and grow and, in many cases, it also allows you to socialize with other people.

A hobby enriches your life, so if you don't have one yet, try out many things until you find what's right for you!

Apart from your hobby, it is always good to try out new things, because it makes you grow.

After all, in order to lead a full life, we need to fill it.
And what better way than to fill it with experiences!