Happiness is what basically everyone craves, and although we live in a busy world with loads of activities to indulge in that could go on to hinder us from having enough time to partake what makes one happy, that makes the pursuit of happiness seem like an impossible goal. However, through the years, I've come to realize that by incorporating some essential ideas into our daily lives, we thereby create a way through which excitement and fulfillment would take permanent residents into our lives. Using my life as a focal point, I'll love to share some simple yet powerful concepts that have impacted my life positively, and I hope it does the same for yours.

Before I dive into these powerful concepts that have helped me and that I hope you'll integrate into your life to attain this pursuit, first I'll love to briefly tell you about my life in the past. Prior to this very moment, I'm the opposite of who I'm presently. Through the years, I've come to be a victim of disappointment in different walks of life, such as in relationships, careers, academics, and the like, and all of this has made me live a life enveloped by anger, despise, and pain.

As we all know, it's basically impossible for happiness to abide in a place where all of these things reside, and as I've lived my life, I can't help but have issues with basically everything that comes into contact with me, because via those hurts and pains, I built a wall around my heart to shield myself from further disappointment. But as time goes on, I come to realize that I'm approaching this issue wrongly. Although I was able to prevent more hurt via that act, I still couldn't attain a state of happiness, and that's because by shielding against the bad, I'm also unknowingly locking those with good intentions out of my life as well.

But after sitting myself down one faithful day, I realized I needed a change; otherwise, my life would go on to be a miserable one, and so I decided to incorporate a change, of which I'm not really certain of how to go about it. But after speaking with one of my mentors, he was able to give me some mind-blowing advice and tips that reshape my life from being boring and miserable to exciting and fulfilling, and that's exactly what I'll be sharing with you below:

• Cultivate a heart of gratitude: By cultivating a heart of gratitude, we're indirectly paving the way for happiness in our lives. The thing is, rather than letting the reality of our pains eat us up, instead, we should reflect on the good things we're thankful for in our lives, and such things could be as simple as having a good friend, one achievement, good health, and the like. Having enough time to reflect and be grateful for our blessings is a way to flush out sadness and make room for happiness. I've seen things work firsthand, and I can categorically tell you that it isn't a fluke.

• Building meaningful connections: After the advice from my mentor back then, one thing I realized is that I've surrounded myself with the wrong set of individuals, and this was one reason I couldn't get off those moments easily, but as I made a U-turn in this, beginning by cutting off some individuals from my life and filtering those who came in, through that I've been able to surround myself with the right set of people with whom we have things in common, and with that we went on to share moments of laughter, tears, and experiences, and all of this put together is what enriches my life and makes it more meaningful as I bond with these people.

• Practicing mindfulness: I've come to realize that living in the moment is one of the essential keys to living a happy life. I mean, in the past, I've always been lost in thoughts, remorseful about the past, and wishing I could turn back the hands of time to avoid some situations, but as time goes on, I realised such only pleagued my life with sadness, so I started living a mindful lifestyle, that's focused on the present moment. I've come to realize that I can derive happiness from as little as working in my garden, drinking a cup of tea, or gazing into the beauty of nature. In a nutshell, it shows that we can find joy and excitement in our lives through simple acts when we live in the present.

• Prioritize self-care: Although it's the last one I'll be talking about, still, it's one of the most important pathways to living a life that enriches our wellbeing and fosters happiness, and for me personally, on a daily basis, I've made it a point of duty to make sure I at least indulge in activities I love and enjoy doing. Indulging in such activities is literally a pathway to a happy life. Other ways of maintaining self-care could be exercise, nurturing our body, soul, and spirits, meditation, and much more. If you give this a chance and incorporate it into your lives, I can assure you that happiness will gradually become permanent residents of your life.

Other concept we can incorporate into our daily lives to foster an atmosphere of happiness is discovering our purpose and walking towards it, reflecting on our goals, values, and the like, regardless of whether it's in our career or other aspects, giving room for this thought and working towards achieving it can bring about happiness to your life just as it does to mine.

As we all know, happiness isn't a destination that we must arrive at; instead, it's built and discovered in our day-to-day activities, and with that ideology, incorporating all of the above-listed concepts will not only make you live a happy life but also make your world a safe heaven that fosters excitement that is contagious to those around us.

That's all my way of incorporating these activities into my life to brood happiness, and I'm hoping someone finds this helpful in doing the same in their lives. Do have a wonderful day and stay blessed.

_{NOTE: Both photos are mine.}