Episode 7: 7 tips on how to live a happy life
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Hi, thank you for listening to Chasing Life, a podcast aimed to help encourage you to chase a positive, healthy, and fulfilling life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I'm so grateful you decided to join me. I'm a single 30-something dog mom, runner, and higher educational professional.

After struggling with a quarter-life crisis where I learned a lot about myself, I pursued and earned my MBA, got the good job, bought a house, but still struggle with fulfillment and continue to chase goals in running my career and life. I feel called to share what I've learned and continue to learn in the hopes that my story and tips will help make an impact on your day and help you feel less alone. Let's chase life together.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. I'm your host Sarah and today I'm going to share with you seven tips on how to live a happy life. Number one, be grateful. Love the life you have and it will get even better. Gratitude, the simple act of being thankful, registers as optimism in your brain. Every time you have thoughts or express words of gratitude, you're predisposing your brain to choose optimistic thoughts more frequently.

To help create an attitude of gratitude, keep a gratitude journal, a special notebook where you spend several minutes every day writing down things you're grateful for. You'll probably find this practice trains you to be on the lookout for things to write down, and you may surprise yourself by discovering just how much you have to be thankful for.

Number two, exercise. The health benefits of exercise are numerous, but let's talk about those endorphins. As Elle Woods says, endorphins make you happy and happy people don't kill their husbands.

Endorphins are released during both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, creating a powerful effect on mood. An endorphin rush can feel euphoric, but it also has lasting effects. According to research from the University of Vermont, the mood benefits of just 20 minutes of exercise can last for up to 12 hours.

number three be kind to others altruism not only takes your mind off your own troubles it also feels good to give acts of kindness release a gratifying flood of dopamine into your brain giving you an instant sense of reward

Look for opportunities to volunteer in your local community or simply help out folks in need when the opportunity arises. Even when you're busy, kind gestures like sending a thank you card, paying for a stranger's coffee, or donating to your favorite charity don't take much time. Kindness can even be as simple as a smile. Studies have shown that even fake smiles legitimately improve mood. Number four, surround yourself with friends and loved ones.

Friends don't only make us happier, according to scientists, they help us live longer. Oxytocin, the hormone of love, floods your brain and body when you're in close proximity to the ones you love. Having close friends may increase your life expectancy as much as quitting smoking. Plus, friends make your life a lot more fun. We all get to be busy, and to live a happy life, it's important to make time for the people that matter to you.

5. Get enough sleep. Being chronically sleep deprived can throw off your serotonin balance, a critical hormone for happiness. Maintaining a regular sleep pattern, going to sleep and getting up at roughly the same time each day sets your internal circadian rhythm which helps to regulate a number of hormones.

When you sleep, your organs recuperate, your cells regenerate, your thoughts suspend, and when you wake up, you're literally a new person. That means you can leave behind whatever was troubling you about your day and start over with a clean slate in the morning.

Number six, notice your thought patterns and change the negative ones. You've heard you are what you eat, but how about you are what you think? You simply won't be happy if the conversation going on in your head is all about everything that's going wrong. Complaints, worry, and criticism, whether spoken out loud or simply uttered internally, become habits when they're frequent enough. Changing the habit of negative thinking is probably the most

Important step to create joy in your personal life. Number seven, meditate. When you're alert but relaxed, your brain can slip into soothing alpha waves like a mini massage for your brain. Meditation may have numerous health benefits ranging from reduced stress to slow aging and yes, increased happiness.

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you did, please take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on social media and tag me at SarahChasingLife. I hope you have a great week. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Even better, take a screenshot and tag me in your Instagram stories at SarahChasingLife.