The article tells us about 8 easy steps in order to be happy...today!1. Stop believing your bullshit.
All that stuff you tell yourself about how you are a commitment phobe or a coward or lazy or not creative or unlucky? Stop it. It's bullshit, and deep down you know it. Let it go. Be who you are beneath the bullshit.
2. Be happy now.
Not because of some shiny happy Oprah crap. But because we can choose to appreciate what is in our lives instead of being angry or regretful about what we lack.
3. Look at the stars.
It won't fix the economy. It won't stop wars. It won't give you flat abs, or better sex or even help you figure out your relationship and what you want to do with your life. But it's important. It helps you remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe.
4. Let people in.
Tell people that you trust when you need help, or you're depressed -- or you're happy and you want to share it with them. Acknowledge that you care about them and let yourself feel it. Go all in -- it's worth it.
5. Stop with the crazy making.
Don't take things personally. Most of the time, other people's choices and attitudes have absolutely nothing to do with you. Unless you've been behaving like a jerk, in which case...
6. Learn to apologize.
Not the ridiculous, self-deprecating apologizing for who you are and for existing that some people seem to do (what's up with that, anyway?). The ability to sincerely apologize -- without ever interjecting the word "but" -- is an essential skill for living around other human beings.
7. Practice gratitude.
Practice it out loud to the people around you. Practice it silently when you bless your food. Practice it often. Gratitude is not a first world only virtue. Gratitude is the most basic way to connect with that sense of being an integral part of the vastness of the universe.
8. Be kind.
Kurt Vonnegut said it best "There's only one rule that I know of, babies -- 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.'"
Kindness costs us nothing and pays exponential dividends. I can't save the whole world.
But I can be kind.
