In the cold winter months, amid the difficult realities many of us face every day, it can be hard to feel a zest for life. But while you may not be able to control the seasons or the challenges that arise, experts say you can work on adding fun to your life to help cope with the blues.
One key way to do this is through small moments every day—what some experts call “microbehaviors.”
While not a clinical term, a “microbehavior” is a small activity, exercise, or practice that is drawn from the scientific literature on so-called positive psychology interventions.
These microbehaviors are microbehaviors that have been shown to improve a certain skill, exercises, activities, or practices that are critical to experiencing more joy in life, or simply changing the proportions of what a person may experience on a given day is more conducive to happiness.
After practicing micro-happy behaviors for a week (i.e. 7 minutes a day for 7 days), people’s happiness, inner peace and happiness increased by 25.59%.
Below, experts share some examples of micro-happy behaviors and why to add them to your daily routine:
1. Dwell in awe.
One major micro-pleasure act is to put yourself in a position of awe. It’s the feeling we get when we’re faced with something huge and extraordinary that challenges our normal, day-to-day thinking.
This can include outdoor activities, sweeping ocean views or rolling hills. Research on awe shows that when people spend more time in immersive nature experiences or in highly creative environments with the emotional experience of awe, they gain benefits beyond being pleasurable.
Research shows that when people feel awe, it creates a sense of shared humanity that makes people more likely to be generous.
2. Celebrate someone else’s joy.
Listening to what experiences bring joy to those around you can be another small act of joy.
This comes from what is called in the scientific community the practice of capitalizing on positive events, where the idea is to start a conversation with another person about something that really happened in their life or something that they are proud of or something that inspires them.
To best feel this joy, ask detailed questions that consciously drive the conversation forward.
The key is to recognize the joy we get from connecting with other people around positive experiences and moments.
3. Make a gratitude list.
There’s a reason mental health experts often encourage gratitude lists.
We know that when people express gratitude, they feel less self-centered, they feel more warm, fuzzy, and optimistic, and they often connect it to the efforts and presence of other people in their lives.
The practice of gratitude is also one of the foundations of positive psychology.
There are a lot of things that draw our attention to the negative—and there are a lot of negative things in the world that we should be paying attention to—but make sure there’s a balance and also take the time to be grateful for those things that are going well.
Otherwise, it’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of bad news. This reinforces your natural negativity bias, a cycle of looking for all that is bad in the world.
4. Engage in random acts of kindness.
We encourage people to try a random act of kindness practice, so pick a specific day and imagine what you could do to bring some light to another person.
You can do this for strangers, neighbors, or close friends. An act of kindness can be anything from holding the door for someone at work, making banana bread for a neighbor, or donating to a cause you believe in.
If we set intentions and write these things down and then take action on a certain day, there’s a lot of evidence that these acts of kindness are just as valuable on a neurobiological level as getting a reward or benefit or gain for yourself.
5. Do a little self-reflection.
Another tiny act of joy? Reflect on how you can support or lift others up.
We often undermine our own abilities by telling ourselves that there is nothing we can do to help others, or that we are of no use—a flawed perspective.
People can often deal with a situation or contribute in some way, even if it doesn’t resolve the situation at hand, then in another way that might combat it.
This kind of mindful reflection can help shift your perspective and remind you that you can do good in the world.
6. Think about your values.
We feel better as people when we act in ways that are aligned with our values, in ways that are most meaningful and aligned with our sense of purpose.
It’s important to reflect on your values and write down what matters most to you. Maybe it’s spending time with family, practicing your religion, caring for animals in need or advocating for at-risk communities in your area—there’s no wrong answer here. Your values are unique to you.
Ultimately, do something that makes you feel like the work you’re doing or the efforts you’re putting out into the world are relevant to something outside of you, whether that’s spending time with other people or spending time with organizations that align. Match your interests or values. This will give you the greatest return for the time and effort you invest.
7. Prioritize your connection with other people.
If we had to reduce all of positive psychology to a single statistic, it’s really about the strength of our connections with other people.
Connect with as many people as possible. If you have to choose between spending extra hours working every night of the week or occasionally shutting down your laptop and finding some friends to hang out with and strengthen your connections with them, make sure you balance it so you can actually prioritize being with other people contact.
Additionally, your social connections will come in handy during your highs and lows.
Others help us extend our good days and optimize the happiness we derive from them. They also help us persevere through difficult times.
Focusing on seemingly small moments of joy is important for lifelong happiness.
Many times when people think about what will bring them joy or happiness, they think about one-time big things. This could mean saving up for a two-week vacation, buying a house, or getting a raise.
We assume we’re going to do this and then we’ll be happy, but actually, when you look at the research, you see this idea of hedonic adaptation. The idea is that no matter what we do one time, those things are exciting at first, but eventually they fade away because we humans are so adaptable. We quickly got used to our living environment.
But he points out that we can’t adapt to every aspect of life. One of them?The small, everyday chronic illnesses of life.
Now, this can be a two-way street – we don’t adapt to difficult co-workers, we don’t adapt to the daily stressful commute to work because these are long-standing and ever-changing. But, on the other hand, if we can make happiness a chronically changing living condition, over time the accumulation will become a joyful and happy lifestyle.
Once these actions that consistently bring joy, like holding the door for someone at the grocery store or smiling at a stranger, become part of your lifestyle, they lead to a sustained increase in our overall happiness and positive affect.
Life is not meant to be full of joy. But focusing on your joy throughout life can prepare you for the tough days.
The pursuit of happiness is not about being happy all the time, we go through highs and lows, and it is equally important to know how to pursue happiness and joy, but it is also important to know how to pursue happiness and joy, acknowledging that there will be some downturns along the way.