How to Increase Serenity

This video is amazing and everything it says it’s so true. Serenity comes from within ourselves but there are things we can do in everyday life to help us reach that serenity. Here’s my input on the steps stated in the video:

Step 1: Laugh as often as you can.
Laughter is crucial in all our lives. Having a good sense of humor about everything around us allows you to appreciate life much more. Through laughter we notice the small nuances that make our lives much sweeter, we relieve tension, and we look at the world with different eyes when we are in a state of laughter. Laughter is always the best medicine; it can make any grim situation into a happy one.

Step 2: Find time for friends and family.
Talking or hanging out with friends or family is a great stress reliever. When we see the ones that we love in our lives, our mood tends to lighten up, we tend to relax and have a care-free good time. Maintaining healthy social relationships is crucial in living a happy life, some things in life are too difficult to go through on alone and sometimes we need people to gives us a boost in the positive direction.

Step 3: Take charge of your life.
Sometimes we let things to keep bothering us in life. Whether it’s a troubled relationship with a friend or family member, or you are unhappy due to your surroundings, or frustrated by work; we all need to take charge and commit to change any unhappy circumstances. And by taking charge I don’t mean fighting your current circumstances but rather gathering confidence to smoothly surpass them.

Step 4: Start a career doing something you love.
Sometimes we get stuck in committing a huge portion of our lives in doing something that truly doesn’t fulfill our passions. When we are in that position, we have to change those circumstances and do something that we love. We have to spend the majority of our time doing something we find truly passionate to do. When find that thing that we can give all our passion to do, we will be much more productive and happier.

Step 5: Be a couch potato without guilt.
This step is very straight-forward. We all need to time to relax by ourselves and TV, or watching a movie, or reading a book will provide that well-needed relaxation. So relaxing by doing something that requires little or no work is something we all need and should do.

Step 6: Get more sleep.
Sleep is the most important thing we need in our lives. It’s crucial for our health, crucial for our emotions, crucial for our overall well-being. Sleeping is the best way to relax and meditate. Getting healthy amounts of sleep will help us be more alert and enthusiastic throughout the day.

Step 7: Go Outside.
Going outside and reconnecting with nature is an amazing relaxant. The sun provides us with energy and the nature around us provides us with calm. Just sitting outside and simply appreciating nature would make anybody smile and feel happier.

Step 8: Go with the flow.
I can write pages amongst pages about this topic. Going with flow with everything we encounter in life is crucial to live a happier life. Going with the flow is having patience and calm and taking things step by step. Enjoying everything that happens to us and letting the things that make us unhappy just flow right by us will certainly guarantee serenity.

Step 9: Having a gratitude journal.
The video is right that writing all the things you are grateful for brings more happiness into our life. But I would like to take it a step further, not all of us express ourselves through writing, so I say express your gratitude in anything you do best. If you are very good at drawing, then draw what you are grateful for, if you are good at making music, then write music of the things you are grateful for, if you are good at sculpting, then sculpt the things you are grateful for, or anything else. As long as you express, almost a daily basis in some way or some format, the things you are grateful for, then more happiness will enter our lives.

“God grant me the serenity; to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” - Reinhold Niebuhr