1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Stress Management

How To Be Happy: Step By Step Guide To Being Happy

By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com

Updated: October 11, 2009

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

3 of 5

Look At Your Attitude: Do Your Thoughts Make You Happy?

Optimism is linked with happy people. ©iStockPhoto.com

As mentioned in the earlier section, lifestyle features have a significant impact on personal happiness levels, but a significant piece of the equation is one’s attitude toward life. It’s probably no secret that optimists tend to be happier people, but you may not realize that there’s more to optimism than ‘putting on a happy face or ‘looking on the bright side’. There are specific traits of optimists, pleasantly distorted ways of thinking, that bring optimists more success, greater health, increased life satisfaction, and other goodies on a regular basis. Cultivating the mind of an optimist can not only mean cultivating happiness, regardless of your circumstance, but it can actually bring more things into your life to be happy about. (Not sure if you’re an optimist or a pessimist? This Optimism Self Test can tell you, and provide resources; many people have been surprised by their results, so I highly recommend this enlightening self assessment tool.)

In addition to optimism, happy people tend to have an internal locus of control; simply put, they tend to believe that they are the masters of their fate, rather than the victims of circumstance. When you view the stressors of your life as a challenge rather than a threat, you tend to come up with more effective solutions and feel more exhilarated (rather than drained) as you tackle these circumstances. (Read this article for more on cultivating an internal locus of control.)

Sure, exercise and eating well are important elements of a healthy lifestyle -- but so is having fun.

Explore Stress Management
About.com Special Features

Learn how you can reduce your your numbers with these nutrition and exercise tips. More >

Keep yourself, and your family, happy and healthy this fall with these tips. More >

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Stress Management
  4. Low-Stress Lifestyle
  5. Happiness and Positivity
  6. Think Happy Thoughts: Do Your Thinking Patterns Make You Happy? - Do Your Thought Patterns Promote Stress?

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.