--- title: How to Be Happier: 4 Ways of Choosing description: What makes you happy? Reflect on what you’ve done today. What do your behaviors say about your approach to happiness? These are the question I... canonical: https://time.com/2974086/how-to-be-happier/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-18T11:00:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:38.681Z og:title: 4 Ways of Choosing Happiness from Within og:description: What makes you happy? Reflect on what you’ve done today. What do your behaviors say about your approach to happiness? These are the question I... og:url: https://time.com/2974086/how-to-be-happier/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ccc302836fadbc4/69869c02cd684885ff095b03/lonely-bored.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5134 og:image:height: 2888 og:image:alt: 180585609 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 4 Ways of Choosing Happiness from Within twitter:description: What makes you happy? Reflect on what you’ve done today. What do your behaviors say about your approach to happiness? These are the question I... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ccc302836fadbc4/69869c02cd684885ff095b03/lonely-bored.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 4 Ways of Choosing Happiness from Within > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Javy W. Galindo](https://time.com/author/javy-w-galindo/)  ## Javy W. Galindo Jul 18, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Woman Looking Outside Through Bedroom Curtains Woman Looking Outside Through Bedroom Curtains Cavan Images/Getty Images  by [Javy W. Galindo](https://time.com/author/javy-w-galindo/)  ## Javy W. Galindo Jul 18, 2014 11:00 AM UTC _What makes you happy?_ Reflect on what you’ve done today. _What do your behaviors say about your approach to happiness?_ These are the question I usually ask students on the first day of my psychology courses. Often, their responses sound something like this: food, shopping, a new car, a better job, money, sex, an honest spouse, and nice teachers. For many, this is a very familiar list as it represents a very common approach to happiness. All of these answers refer to something _outside_ of us. Hence, the common approach is to change the external conditions of our lives, and we end up treating happiness like buried treasure: something that we have to find, attain, and pursue. However, this may not be a very effective approach. It might be hard to believe, but studies indicate that the circumstances of our lives only account for approximately 10% of our long-term happiness. Sure, we may get a happiness high after buying the new shoes or electronic device, but (as your closet may attest to) that high does not last very long. Instead of enhancing our happiness, the common approach may be a detriment, since shortly after attaining our pursuits we may begin craving even more of it in order to recreate our previous emotional boost. We can become trapped in what positive psychologists (those who study human happiness) refer to as the _hedonic treadmill_—the non-stop desire for more or greater pleasures: the bigger house, bank account, sound system, etc… It’s no wonder some of us never feel truly fulfilled. If we think getting _more_ will make us happy, we can never be happy, since there’s always _more_ to be had. This is not to say that we shouldn’t strive to improve our lives. It’s only saying that if we believe our happiness is solely dependent on crossing the finish line, it may be impossible to have a happy life if we continually push that line further out with each step. Instead of the conditions of our lives, research indicates that our long-term level of happiness is more influenced by _how_ we choose to think and _what_ we choose to think about. So based on this research, instead of searching for happiness on the outside, what can we do to choose happiness from within? **Don’t be Your Own Worst Enemy** While some of our suffering is the result of unpleasant experiences, if you take an emotional inventory of your day, you may notice that much of your suffering is actually self-induced—judgments about oneself or others, replaying unpleasant past experiences, or fixating on possible problems that have yet to occur. Even when rain does ruin your party, how much of your suffering is the result of you prolonging the misery with your own negative judgments about the experience? So choosing happiness from within includes choosing the contents of your own mind, directing your attention away from exaggerated negative assessments and imagined conflicts and towards more neutral or joyful thoughts. **Practice Gratitude** Due to our bias to focus on past failings, we often fail to give all the positive events in our lives their just due. In order to compensate, we can choose to dedicate some time to remembering what has gone well for us. Make it a habit to reflect on your day and take a short account of what experiences you may have taken for granted. **Savor Pleasant Experiences** How frequently do you choose to savor an experience? Did you actually savor your warm shower this morning or your most recent meal, or did the experience just pass you by? While gratitude helps to refocus our perception of our past, choosing to savor pleasant experiences gives us a way to appreciate that which that fills our present, thereby building our repertoire of positive memories. **Exercise Optimism** We don’t know the future. So, why choose to only focus on negative possibilities when neutral or positive events are often _more_ likely? Instead, make an effort to exercise optimism. Choose to imagine what could go right with tomorrow and anticipate positive occurrences since we can often miss them if we aren’t open to seeing them. Choosing to be optimistic is not only more realistic, but it can invigorate our lives as we become more aware of the wonderful possibilities that lay before us. These choices are not always easy since we are going against some natural tendencies, including our tendency to search outside ourselves for a happy life. It’s a difficult habit to break since at every turn advertisements advocate “happiness from without” rather than the less profitable “happiness from within” approach. Yet, through practice, choosing happiness can also become habit. Through practice we can more deeply realize that happiness is not the result of _what we_ _bring_ into our life, but the consequence of _how we_ _choose to experience_ our life. Javy W. Galindo is currently a popular Humanities and Social Science professor at John F. Kennedy University and De Anza College, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. His latest book, based on his graduate course on the psychology of happiness, is entitled _Authentic Happiness in Seven Emails: A philosopher’s simple guide to the psychology of joy, satisfaction, and a meaningful life_. Javy is also the author of _The Power of Thinking Differently: An imaginative guide to creativity, change, and the discovery of new ideas_. 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