1.) Be Appreciative

This is my first pick due to personal experience. There's something about being thankful that shifts your awareness. Only after a short time practicing appreciation, you soon find yourself very consciously shifting your attention, scanning the horizon for even the seemingly trivial to be thankful for. What you focus on expands, and as you focus your attention on the things you love, the things that are useful to your well being, the things that bring joy into your life, your life completely evolves into a vision of allure. That attention gives light and water to those seeds, allowing a seemingly small thing to blossom into something beautiful as we find in nature regarding the seed and the rose. We often times find ourselves moving so fast through life, trying to make it to that next check point that we forget to pause and see how many things are making our lives so much better, easier, and worthwhile while simultaneously attributing to our overall happiness.

2.) Give

Give whatever it is you can. You can give a smile to a stranger passing you by as you walk from place to place. You could make a lunch goodie-bag for someone less fortunate or homeless. You could buy the person behind you their coffee next time you're at Starbucks. You could volunteer at a retirement community or your local hospital. The possibilities to give are endless. The thing about giving is that, to what degree you give, you will see that same degree of love returned to you at some point in your life-probably when you need it the most! Giving also illustrates your openness to the Universe; the act of giving opens your heart to receive as well, giving and receiving are two of the same thing and as you open yourself to one aspect, so do you open yourself to the other. Plus it feels really good and that feeling is always contagious.

3.) Smile More

Smiling releases endorphins and serotonin so, this one should be the easiest practice to make you happy. Watch funny movies, recite affirmations of gratefulness while smiling, do something every day that you know will make you smile. Smiling is easy, fun, and it makes those around you more at ease.

4.) Reach Out

Make sure you keep those who you "love" in your life close to you. Anything can happen at any day or at any time and you never know when the last time you may talk to someone will be. Reaching out also makes the person on the other end of that line feel special-you taking the time to simply "drop a line" goes a long way. Your phone call, email, or text message might just change that persons entire day. Life moves fast, people move away, but love transcends both space and time. With the technological advances in the 21st century, saying "hi, how have you been?" is as easy as blinking your eyes.

5.) Let Go

Let go of guilt, let go of regret, let go out hate, let go of the past, let go of anything that doesn't benefit you and your well being. Take a deep breath in...and let it all out. The present is all that we have, when we find our focus on the past we negate the beauty presenting itself, which often lies right in front of our eyes. As people we hold on to so much- we regret things often, and we hold grudges commonly. Our clenched fists only hurt ourselves not another. The coolest thing about letting go is that you make room for something new to come into your life. Everyone likes the new and shiny right? So let go of the old and cruddy!