Another thing that helps keep me happy is to look at things that are cute and to laugh a LOT. I believe that laughter and humility is one of the best ways to keep a positive and energetic outlook on life. This is something that I've noticed is hard for a lot of people to do. I've noticed that a lot of people almost look for things to get mad at or to hold a grudge on. They play the victim of any situation and end up making themselves feel oppressed just to be able to feel mad. It's a way to pin their anger or sadness on someone else, and I'm here to say that it needs to stop. Not only is blame, resentment, and hate toxic for your spirit and overall well being, it causes a negative energy towards others and it's not okay. My biggest advice for those people is to let go. I know it's hard to do that sometimes. There are a lot of rude people out in the world and it's easy to become offended or upset because of what they say or do. But in order to keep your happiness, you need to let it go. The less you care, the happier you are. I'm not saying to completely disregard anything that makes you unhappy,(that would just be childish) but to find less things that upset you. Pick your battles, and stop playing the victim card. It is so unbelievably easy to ignore something that is bothering you, and I can promise you that. Stop getting offended. As I said, the world is filled with rude people, and they will speak their mind. But it's the way you react that keeps those people going. They're looking for a reaction, and if you act on what they say or do without logically thinking it through, you're giving them what they want. And I understand that it's human nature to be unsatisfied, as I said in my last blog post, but your happiness depends on your actions, not everybody else's. That's why I'm a big fan of humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. And if somebody actually does cross the line, I let them know; not with anger or yelling, but logically explaining to them where they crossed the line. If the situation doesn't resolve, I walk away from it. But in the mean time, I keep life happy and light. I joke around, and I find the light in situations. I avoid confrontation and I avoid being rude. i surround myself with people that lift my energy and spirits up, not people who weigh me down. I can promise you that just by picking your battles and letting more things go, by not letting your emotions get in the way of everything and thinking through every situation logically, you will be a happier person, and you will want others to be happy. Life is too short to be angry at everybody. Laugh a little. 

There are several things that have changed the way I perceive life and the way I attain happiness. One thing is a blog someone had me read called "12 Things Happy People Do Differently".  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-sokol-/things-happy-people-do_b_3869793.html

After reading this list of 12 things, I began to realize how easy it is to be happy. This blog provides a brief explanation of each of the steps, and it has a logical understanding that goes along with each of them. I began sharing this blog with other people when I found myself in a discussion where they felt lost or unsure on how to reach happiness. As someone who likes to help others as much as I can, I tell them about this blog. I was so set on how useful it is, I even wrote all of them down and I have them hanging in my vanity mirror just to make sure to know them every day. 

Another thing that helped me a lot was a song. There are SO many songs that help me stay happy (including the one I'm listening to right now called Sing A Song by Earth Wind and Fire). But this song didn't necessarily make me happy, it just made me realize that I need to appreciate every moment I have. This song is Time by Pink Floyd. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL3AgkwbYgo

The lyrics of this song are basically saying that we wait too long to start living our lives or to be happy, while we end up wasting all that time. There's a line "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking, racing around to come up behind you again", which I interpret as saying that we always look for something to make us happy. We tell ourselves "oh, when it's my birthday I'll be happy", or "when I have a car is when I'll be happy". We're constantly placing happiness somewhere in front of us, but when we finally reach that moment when we tell ourselves we will be happy, we once again look for something else. It's kind of an endless cycle, but I think it's human nature to never be satisfied. So listening to this song, and truly understanding its lyrics made me realize that I need to start being happy now. I can't waste my life away wishing for something else to happen. Each moment is passing us by and if we don't take advantage of every one of those moments, we end up wasting it all. And if you waste your life away, that means that you never truly lived. My advice: live each moment for what it's worth, and stop waiting to be happy. Be happy now. 

One thing that is important to your overall health is fitness. Being physically active for at least 30 hours a day, four days a week, keeps you in shape. Working out increases the strength and durance of your muscles. Something I would like to emphasize as important is your goals when it comes to physical fitness. In today's society, there is a big struggle with women being skinny and men being buff. These types of bodies seem to control the media, causing people to wish for those  bodies. What you need to know is that everybody's body is different. You need to set goals for yourself, not for what you see on everyone else. For example, my goal with physical fitness, is to be able to run faster and longer, as well as increase the strength of my muscles. My goal has never been a weight issue, because that's not what I think is important. The plus side of being active is that there are so many ways to do it! Go for a walk, ride a bike, go dancing, but whatever it is you do, make sure to keep in mind that you are doing yourself a favor. A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and before you know it, your body will have more energy, and you'll be happier. Working out increases endorphins, which make you happy, not to mention how much fun you'll have while doing it, and how happy you'll be when you see results.

Before I continue to share what makes me happy, I would like to address the title of my blog. "What Do You Love? A Blog About Happiness" needs to be broken down into two parts. The second part is quite self explanatory, being that this blog is about happiness. What I wanted to clarify was the first part, "What Do You Love?". This is a question I ask my self as often as I can throughout my day, and I do my best to answer it. Why do I do this? I do this because I am forcing myself to activate the positive force of love. There is a book that I've read recently that changed my life. It's a book called The Power by Rhonda Byrne. In this book, Rhonda discusses the "power" behind the law of attraction. The law of attraction is discussed in her first book The Secret. The main idea behind the law of attraction is that like attracts like. For example: positive thoughts attract positive things, whereas negative thoughts attract negative things. The Power gives advice on how to use the positive force of love to attract positive things into your life. So by thinking of the things I love, I am attracting more love to me. It has been an amazing transformation in my life! I now find myself happier more often. There are so many things to fall in love with every day, you just  have to open your eyes. Once you've found things that you love, hopefully you'll realize that you're happy. So next time you're feeling down, think to yourself, "What do you love?".

I would first like to share how important I believe music is when it comes to happiness. There is an increasing amount of data from studies that proves music to be beneficial to your mood and overall health. Music Therapy is an entire medical field dedicated to treating patients with music. The benefits of listening to music include increased happiness, focus, verbal memory, and creativity, all of which affect the health of the brain and the body. But you don't need to go pay a crazy co-pay at a Music Therapist to make yourself happier, and that's one of the awesome things about music! You can increase your mood just by putting on a happy tune, and the trick is to have it actually be a happy tune, or a tune with some substance. Listen to something that when it comes on, you want to crank up the volume and dance your life away! Listen to something that has that one line that hits your heart strings and plays your soul with the melody. I challenge you to go out and find something that you've never heard before, but something that you like. Far too often, I notice people listening to stuff they don't even like, just because it's on the Top 40 charts. Personally, I listen to all sorts of different genres of music from the 20's on up (I won't list the stuff I listen to, because the list would be way too long). The important thing to me, is that it makes me happy. Music is a great way to let go and to breathe. And if you think about it, it makes sense. We've all seen that cheesy 80's movie montage where people are working hard, but it seems like they're having fun because of the tune that's playing in the background. It's no coincidence that they look like they're happy, it's because they are! Music producers spent time finding the perfect soundtrack for these staged lives, and now you can have that job for your own life. Go out and find something to put a little pep in your step and a smile on your face. I promise you that music could have such a big impact on your life. I know it has made a big one in my life.

This blog is a collection of my observations on happiness. I will be giving advice and providing links to other blogs and resources that I've found to be helpful. I've made this blog because I find peace in helping others feel better in any way I can. The topics will include things such as social relationships, personal conflict, fitness, music, and more. My hope is that someone out there will look to this blog and say that is has been helpful to them through their trials. So if you find this blog to be helpful, I have fulfilled my duty. If not, I will provide links to other places that may be able to help, ones that have certainly helped me.