Remember the good times (as well as the challenges you’ve overcome).
Spending just a little time watching old videos and looking through photos can boost your happiness by bringing to mind the positive memories you’ve built. Focus on the good. DO NOT spend time wallowing in memories that still cause you pain or distress. Balancing negative feelings with more positive feelings can help you feel happier, more hopeful, and more emotionally resilient.
Taking time to recall and acknowledge the difficult times you’ve been through can enhance your feelings of hope and self-efficacy (the feeling that you have power over your own life and what you do matters). After all, if you could get through one difficulty, you can certainly get through another with greater ease because of all you’ve learned. And soon enough, it’s easy to believe that whatever life throws at you, you’ll be able to rise to the challenge and overcome.
You can send someone else a nice little boost by sending them a photo or video of a happy shared experience to remind them of it. Let them know you still appreciate the fond memories and were thinking of them. It’s a simple, sure way to connect and bring a smile to someone else’s face.
Just be sure not to spend too much time focusing on the past. Go make new happy memories today, too!