There are a lot of reasons that we fall into a rut where our outlook doesn’t seem very bright. It might be because you were in relationship that recently ended or things have just gotten so complicated in your life. Perhaps your job is overwhelming you or you can’t seem to find work-life balance. Or maybe your life seems a little boring, and it feels that there should be more to life than what you are experiencing.

There are thousands of occurrences that can happen in our lives, which contribute to losing the feeling of happiness. Speaking from experience, I know how this feels. It begins to seem easier to see what isn’t going right rather than what is going right. It is easy to get stuck in the feeling of “why does this happen to me.” Your situation may feel a bit hopeless, but you can change this reality. There are actions you can do starting today that can help you regain your happiness.

What would you do if I told you there were 7 simple solutions on how to be happy again?  You’d probably be excited and relieved. Here’s the great news! I can offer you those 7 simple solutions to help you experience happiness again right now. You deserve it, and I know you need it. It’s time for me to help guide you on how to achieve it.

Solution #1: Choose to be happy again. You may be thinking, “Really?” Choosing to be happy is really a solution to help me find happiness? Think of all the negative thoughts you have when you are not happy. Think of how these thoughts consume you and dictate your mood. For example, “This is just my luck” or “I’m not good enough.”

All thoughts have power and energy, and happy thoughts will make you feel better.  Think about what you have to be grateful for such as special memories and achievements in your life. Try replacing those negative thoughts with positive empowering thoughts, and allow these thoughts to be fuel that will feed the happiness fire inside of you.

You can bring more positivity OR negativity into your day depending on the thoughts and energy you put out into the world. If you are more optimisticand affirm more positive thoughts, you will find that good things happen more often. If you are pessimistic and often affirm negative thoughts, you will often find more obstacles in your path.

Solution #2:  Embrace forgiveness. Clinging on to negative emotions of how you were wronged in some way, how you want to seek revenge or how you wronged another person, makes for a challenging wall to try and scale. If you hold onto the negative emotions, you will never get over that wall; you will stay stuck. However, forgiveness is the solution that will make that wall crumble, and it allow you to embrace happiness that is waiting on the other side.

Solution #3:  Have an attitude of gratitude. Regardless of the challenges we experience, there is always something to be grateful for in our lives. Examine your life; look at your surroundings, experiences of the day, and look inside of yourself. Once you figure out what you have to give thanks for, express gratitude in abundance. Wake up being grateful, think about and express gratitude throughout the day, and go to bed realizing it, and you’ll find happiness seeping into your life.

Solution #4:  Do not let money have power over your happiness. Often, we feel that money is the source of everything including happiness. The fact is that money can’t buy you happiness. It can buy you many things such as cars, houses, nice shoes, jewelry and so on, but it cannot buy you happiness. Sometimes the material items we purchase act as Band-Aids to conceal our deeper issues. I am not saying money is not important because we all know it is.

What I am saying is that money should not come first. It can be second, third, fourth or even later depending on your priorities. Is your health important? Is quality time with your family important? Is being less stressed important? Decide what is truly important to you, and ensure that those areas are your highest priority. Work on being happy again, and then let money fall into the rank and file behind what brings you that happiness.

I believe that money can’t buy happiness, but happy people can do great things with money.

Solution #5:  Recognize when negative thoughts and feelings are brewing inside of you. Being aware of negativity in our minds and thoughts is an important step to addressing them proactively, which will bring about greater happiness. Create positive thoughts to replace negative thoughts that tend to reoccur. For example, replace this negative thought, “It is hard for me to make friends” with this positive thought, “I am an interesting person and people are drawn to me.” It may seem a little silly if you have never tried this, but this stuff works. Telling yourself positive thoughts will help you have more self-confidence and attract more positive energy.

You can also find a trigger that will help snap you out of your negative thoughts before they take control of you—this could be breathing exercises, snapping a rubber band on your wrist or any other clever idea that works for you!

Solution #6:  Do something meaningful. Feeling that we are making a difference in other people’s lives can lead us to discover an almost indescribable type of happiness.  Consider volunteering. I suggest this because it works! Depending on your interests, you can work dedicate time to help children, senior citizens, animals, clean up nature, etc. Making a difference in the world one life at a time is happiness in itself!

Solution #7:  Find genuine friendship. Don’t try to find happiness in the number of friends you have, but rather in the quality of your friendships! One genuine and true friend is better than ten average ones—I suggest you let this be your guiding principle.

Where do you find genuine friendships? Sometimes, these are the people that have been part of your life for a long time, and other times, you can find these genuine friendships through spiritual communities or during your volunteer experiences. The key is to cultivate friendships that lift you up in positive and loving ways, instead of bringing you down in negative and hurtful ways.

Try implementing one or more of these solutions into your life. I know you can be happy again or increase your current level of happiness.