8 Positive Habits for a Better Quality of Life

What is a habit? How do good and bad habits affect our level of contentment? And what 8 positive habits lead to an increase in our overall satisfaction?

What Is a Habit and How a Common Activity Turns into a Habit?

Let’s take any activity into consideration — from lying on the couch to filling to-do list in the morning. Perform this activity regularly. Ideally, do it every day. After some time, we find that we no longer have to think about the activity. The activity is engraved in our mind. At this moment, this common activity becomes a habit.

Why Do We Do Good and Bad Habits?

Being ignorant, I would tell you: “Leave all your bad habits and replace them with the positive ones. That’s the path to true happiness.” It’s not that easy. First, we have to think which of our habits are bad and which are good. Who determines that? And why is it that most of us decide for this or that?

Whether it’s positive or negative habits, we do all these regular activities for one simple reason — we do not feel happy. We may even be stressed or depressed. Then the habit is something we’ve learned to do to get out of these negative states. It’s our subconscious reaction to difficult situations.

How Do We Deal with the Same Problem by Opposite Habits

We are overly stressed out of everyday deadlines. Our clients and customers push us from one side and our management from the other. Everyone is complaining. They try to use a carrot on a stick to meet the originally planned term. Our heads begin to fill with negative thoughts. We switch from one task to the next without a vision of completing. Tasks are accumulating and we are clear that we will not finish them on time. It is too much for us. We have no other choice, but to find some way how to take a rest and relax.

At once, we go out in front of the work building, on the fresh air, and we light up a cigarette. Temporary relief comes immediately. Nicotine penetrates our body and brings a sense of relaxation with it. Seeing other people, the whole feeling only intensifies.

We hold the negative feeling in ourselves all week. At the end of it, we are like zombies. We are a time bomb, which will explode on any other negative subject given. Then Friday comes, the beginning of the weekend and our deliverance. We go to the bar or to the disco, where we get wasted. All our worries are forgotten. Our body relaxes and we can enjoy a great evening.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Will Durant

In the morning, we go for a short walk into nature. The smell of trees and the sound of the animals make us calm. To take this soothing atmosphere even further, we stop, sit on a bench and begin to breathe deeply. Peace permeates our whole body.

During the day we find a moment for increased physical activity, where we use the negative energy accumulated throughout the day. Whether it’s swimming, lifting weights, or yoga, our body is gradually releasing negative energy during physical exercise. Finally, we get into a state of complete relaxation. The body starts to release endorphins and we enjoy this blissful feeling.

The Difference Between Good and Bad Habits

From my own experience, I can say that I have changed the following negative habits: playing computer games, drinking alcohol, eating unhealthy food and lacking fresh air for the following positive habits: spending more time with friends, drinking water, a healthy balanced diet, and a daily dose of fresh air.

Where does this change of habits lead me to? Can I be happy all day long? Although till this day I have removed most of my negative habits from my life and replaced them with the positive ones, I have to admit that I did not get enlightened.

So what is the difference between good and bad habits when both counterparts solve the same problem? Focusing on contentment, the main difference is that positive habits increase our overall level of contentment. Our life energy. In contrast, negative habits reduce our levels of contentment. Our life will still be like a swing. Either up or down. Instead of rocking a few centimeters above the ground, we can swing at the level of clouds.

Habits affecting the level of satisfaction.

The number of our positive + and negative – habits shapes our overall level of contentment.

8 Positive Habits to Increase Our Total Level of Contentment

The recipe for swinging in the clouds is simple. Learn the most positive habits and forget about the negative ones. But what kind of positive habits should we begin with?

Dr. Roger Walsh, in his Lifestyle and Mental Health survey, outlines the following 8 positive habits that, when adopted, will make our lives overall happier:

1) Exercise

Let’s move more. Leave the car at home once. Do not go directly home by public transport. The distances within 10 minutes, walk by foot. Start regular exercise with your friends.

2) Healthy Diet

Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Is there something in your daily diet you could replace for a healthier alternative? Try to replace sweetened drinks for water, fast food for homemade food, or french fries for potatoes.

3) Time in Nature

Regularly visit nature. Let’s find a time to stop at a local park or forest on the way home from work or from school.

4) Contribution and Service

Help your surroundings. Take responsibility for space you live in and keep it clean. Take care of the people who share it with you.

5) Relationships

Spend more time with your family, friends and other people around you. Let’s join an association. Support the local community.

6) Recreation and Enjoyable Activities

Make a campfire as back in the day and sing together in the moonlight. Let’s play some social game. Take a colored pencil in your hand and leave your creativity free rein.

7) Relaxation and Stress Management

Find a moment every day when you can relax. You do not necessarily have to meditate. It is enough to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and while exhaling imagine that all your troubles dissolve.

8) Religious and Spiritual Involvement

Focus inward. The values that matter. And if you do not know how to do it, there’s nothing easier than getting to read, watch videos, or go among people who practice spirituality or religion.

Up to the Positive Habits

Our habits shape us, either we do them consciously or unconsciously. It’s up to us whether we’ll be glowing during the day, or lightning and clouds will fly around us.

When I first saw the list of eight positive habits from Dr. Walsh I stopped for a moment, and then I said: “Wow, what a great list. I would not come with any better. A few hobbies I have not adopted yet, so up on them!”

And what about you? What do you think of the following eight habits: exercise, healthy diet, time in nature, service to others, good relationships, recreation, relaxation, and spirituality? Are you also interested in them? And how many of them have you already acquired?

Can you think of other positive habits that were not mentioned and are your own? Share them with me and let’s go together to meet new positive habits and increase levels of contentment.

This is the fifth article in the series:

The beginning of my journey

8 Positive Habits That Will Change Your Life Quality