6 habits of happy people – is organizing one?
Reading time – 10 minutes
How old were you when you realized it was okay to copy other people? We’re not talking about copying the answers in your math class. We are referring to imitating others to produce a desired result. We are first exposed to this shortcut to productivity when we are children.
To use a common experience many people are familiar with, let’s look at riding a bicycle for the first time. Did you jump on it and give it a go? You probably didn’t. You had a sibling or an adult help you. They gave you pointers and told you what to do. Perhaps you started with training wheels, which made you comfortable and confident enough to try two wheels.
Whatever the process was, you learned to copy the successful behaviours of other people to produce an intended result. You mimicked what experienced bicycle riders did so you could successfully ride a bike.
You can do the same thing if you want more happiness and contentment. Here are six habits perpetually happy people use to keep smiles on their faces and cheerfulness in their hearts. Just do what they do.
1 – Be Proactive
Don’t expect the world to make you smile. Smile on your own. Don’t take happiness for granted. If you sit back and wait for the world or the people in it to make you smile and feel joy and delight, you might be waiting a long.
You are the only person in the world in charge of your feelings. You can create happiness by seeking it out and doing things you know make you smile. The happiest people are those who make an effort to create happiness. Prioritize happiness, and it’ll start showing up more frequently in your life.
Tidying up so you can find what you want, when you want it, use it to accomplish your task and know where to put it away relieves, stress, tension and frustration. It also uses less energy to complete your work, leaving more energy, physical and emotional, for other parts of your life. Feeling less anxious and overwhelmed makes room in your life for happiness and joy because you have time to spend on the important things, health, relationships and personal growth. Read more about creating joy in your home and creating a happiness shrine.
2 – Live in the Present Moment
You have memories of your past experiences and probably plan for the future. That’s great, but your entire life is nothing but moments.
Accept your past. It’s gone, and you can’t do anything about it. It would help if you also understood that the future is uncertain. You have absolutely no control over the future, even if you might convince yourself to the contrary.
That means that worrying about what you’ve done and what will happen in the future is pointless.
Ss Mark Twain said, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.” Live in the present moment. It’s the only time you are actually existing. Embrace now and fully experience your life at this moment.
Do the things in your home represent where you are now in your life or that you are moving forward or are they holding back in the past? The fear of decluttering items you no longer need, use or love can hold you back in the past. Things aren’t always meant to stay forever sometimes they need to move on and find another home. How would you feel if all of the things in your life you knew to be useful and bring you joy?
3 – Practice Gratitude
Start regularly appreciating what you have. Constantly trying to make yourself happy by purchasing items and chasing experiences will never get the job done. Happiness comes from the inside. It begins with being grateful for all the positive things in your life.
The universe has a wonderful way of rewarding you with more positive experiences when you take the time to be genuinely grateful for who you are and what you have.
Do you have a mindset of lack of abundance? Work on your mindset to understand your beliefs and why it is hard to feel joy with what you have. Organize your life by establishing routines based on showing gratitude, and sharing small acts of kindness. Learn to avoid the triggers that cause you to go shopping to buy more things that clutter your home in the hope of gaining happiness through material possessions.
4 – Do you have a fixed or a growth mindset?
Adopting a fixed mindset makes you believe you get what you get. You were given certain skills and abilities, and that’s it. Whatever you have is all you’re ever going to get. This means that you can’t grow in any way.
The person with a fixed mindset believes everything about his life is fixed and he can’t make any significant change.
He adopts a wait-and-see attitude to determine if life will make him happy, sad, or somewhere between those two emotions.
A growth mindset allows you to be happy by making changes.
People who are happy most of the time embrace a growth mindset. They believe that whatever happens, they are capable of improving their situation. They may not have been born with the talents, skills, or intelligence level of others, but they know they can take action to change their situation.
This growth mindset also allows for change if a person is unhappy. Happy people understand that unhappiness, frustration, and stress are situations that they can change. They can do things to remove those emotions from their lives. They have fun and put a smile on their faces because they take action to make that happen.
5 – The boomerang effect
Act positively first before you expect positive things to happen to you. You might find that your selfless giving isn’t immediately returned. Stick with it. Call it the world, the universe, or fate; whatever it is, it will eventually start filling your life with positive energy and happiness if you get the ball rolling first.
The boomerang effect of happiness requires you to act before it reacts in kind.
You have to throw that boomerang of happiness out into the world before it returns to you. The sooner you cast positive actions and mindsets upon the waters, the sooner a tidal wave of happiness, joy, and delight will overcome you.
6- Is organizing one?
Having an organized life allows you to spend time and energy on the important tasks in your life, health, relationships, goals and family.
When you are no longer overwhelmed:
- by stuff and taking care of it,
- busy schedules that have no time for relaxation and
- a mind full of thoughts that leave you no time for reflection
you will feel less stressed and anxious. You will be able to build the life you want that will bring you happiness.
Don’t stop there. When you see someone smiling, and it looks genuine, ask them their secret. Spend more time around people who are joyful. You will undoubtedly pick up more tips and practices that happy people use to go through life with a smile rather than a frown. Embrace the fact that you can take action to change anything in your life, including your level of happiness.
How do you create a life full of happiness and joy?
I like what you said about not giving up, Julie. I believe that what you put out into the world comes back to you – your boomerang effect. Put out hard work and a positivie attitude and you will absolutely reap the reward.
Well said Diane. My mom was very and I decided to have positive thoughts and work hard at carrying on. Although she passed away it help me and others around me to cope with the situation.
I especially liked the concept of a fixed or growth mindset. This is especially something to keep in mind when things have gone south. Knowing that you can make changes that will enhance your life is powerful. I have always felt this, but you have stated it very succinctly.
Yes I agree that being able to move in a new direstion when you see it is the best thing to do and let go of the old way is difficult. When you see how the change has helped to make you a more positive and happy person it is worth the effort.
Organizing my own stuff definitely calms me down and makes me feel more in control. Helping other people organize makes me feel like I am contributing in some small way to making life better for someone else.
I love that point about the growth mindset. We may not realize how important this is. If we believe that there is no true possibility for change, we are unlikely to experience it. I tend to be an optimistic realist. I am aware of real life limitations, but I always seem room for improvement. 🙂
I do enjoy looking around and considering what is working well for others. Why not learn from the wisdom of others. I especially like learning from what they do, as opposed to what they say.
I like learning from others too. They have taken time to figure it out and why not use my time to discover something else instead of assuming I could do it better than them. I think I am also an optismistic realist. I can see the limitations of a situation and then decide what needs to happen. That is what makes life fun for me, finding a way to improve or completely change the situation and go in a new way.
Happiness isn’t a given. It requires energy, attitude, and cultivation. You shared wonderful ways to bring more joy and happiness into your life.
Some of the things that help increase my joy and happiness are spending time in nature. Walking outside by the river or in the woods increases my endorphins, which are the happiness hormones. Focusing on activities I enjoy, such as kayaking, staying connected with family and friends, and engaging in meaningful work, also adds to the joys of life.
Writing, taking photos, tending to the garden, leisurely sipping coffee or tea, getting into a cozy bed at night, meditating in the morning, doing yoga, traveling, hosting parties and gatherings are all things that increase the happiness quotient.
We can’t be happy all of the time. It’s also important to honor and experience the low moments. Taking care of yourself during the down periods and recognizing that they will pass is another way to boost happiness. You can contrast the harder times and appreciate even more how it feels when your mood has shifted.
from your list of activities I see that you find happiness in small things you don’t nned the big expensive items, trips or fame. I think that is the key to being happy appreciating a lot of small things, nature, relationships, time with yourself and accomplishments. You can always find something that will bring you joy. You don’t have to wait for joy in something very big that only happens occassionally. As you say when you can find happiness in many places it makes it easier to find a way out of the down times.
I’ve learned that you’re much more likely to be happy if you expect to be happy. If you walk around thinking that your life is awful, it will be!
I keep a journal where I jot down good things that happen each day. I can mention bad things too, but it has to be in a positive way, e.g. This happened, but it was a great learning experience for me.
Decluttering and organizing definitely make me happy!
Attitude is the key to many things in life including happiness. If you expect happiness you can find it in many small things. These small things add up to a great life. Journaling does not bring me happiness. Instead at the end of a day do a mental recap of all the things I accomplished big and small and that puts a smile on my face before bed.
This is one of my favorite topics, and you’ve captured it beautifully! The way you tied organizing into emotional well-being and happiness is so powerful. I especially loved how you highlighted the mindset shift—from being overwhelmed to being intentional. As a professional organizer, I see firsthand how clarity in our physical space ripples into mental peace and joy. Thank you for showing how being proactive, present, and grateful are not just habits of happy people—they’re foundational steps, and organizing plays a quiet but mighty role in supporting all of them!
Florena thank you for that lovely comment. I concur with you completely.
These are all apt points. I’m naturally a proactive person, definitely have a growth mindset, and I think I do practice a mindset of gratitude (though often for the things I don’t want that I don’t have, rather than for the things I do have). I’m trying to learn to practice “pre-emptive gratitude,” the concept of feeling gratitude in advance, as if I already had what I wanted. It’s a challenge!
Some of the rest are hard for me. I tend to live in the past and the future, the latter being advantageous is that I can predict the inconvenience of being disorganized and so I do as much as possible in the present to make the future more appealing. I will have to take Mark Twain’s great quote to heart, though, as I admit I am a worrier, though I think I do use it to push myself to take precautions rather than to just fuss.
All excellent advice for achieving more happiness; I can see how all of these approaches (and especially organizing) improves one’s chance at a happy life.
Thankyou for your comment and sharing about yourself. It is interesting how you said thinking about the futre can show you what you need to do in the present to make your future appealing. I think I do that too. I will do something now or in a specific way because if things don’t go well it is much easier to fix. It might take time in the present that I think I don’t have but if I don’t do it then in the future it will take a lot more time. Putting things away after your done using them, making a packing list to reuse for the next trip, keeping a list of when bills need to be paid avoids interest charges and so on. These habits all bring happiness because it keeps my life simple and I can use my time for physical activities that I love increasing my happiness.