steps to being happy

1. Choose your friends carefully. Nearly everyone needs someone who cares for them and treats them well. The mistake people make about making friends is that they make it with people who never really care about them. If you have friends who are treating you badly, then ditch them and find friends that do care about you. If you can't find any friends like that in your current circumstances, then look elsewhere.
2. Get a job you love. Human instinct is to work towards something meaningful. If you have a job you hate or dislike, seriously consider changing your job, or even changing careers, as difficult as that may be. Having a job that makes you look forward to your day when you wake up in the morning is critical to a happy, fulfilled life.
3. Family is one of the most important parts of our lives. You'll need a strong relationship with your family, and that includes trust. If you are in an abusive family, you must find a way out. If you want a stronger relationship with your family, you're going to need to be honest with them. Tell your family about your life and don't insult them - it hurts them just as much as it hurts you to be insulted.
4. If - and this is an important if - you feel like you need a boyfriend or girlfriend to make you happy, then find one who shares your interests and values. Get involved with activities that reflect who you are, and get to know people who like the things you do. Don't rule out the Internet as a place to find a significant other, just get to know them over the phone or through a few months of emails before agreeing to a meeting in person.
5. Volunteer at a hospital or be a part of a program, which take care of patients in some way. When you leave the hospital, you will be so much happier knowing what you have.
6. Stress can cause many mental, physical, and spiritual problems in your life. One of the major causes of stress is worrying about things that are out of your control. Learn to recognize these things and if you can truly do nothing about them, then just let them go.
7. Get in touch with yourself through journaling. Ask yourself lots of questions about how you think and feel about everything going on in your life (i.e. your job, marriage, friends, self image, etc...) and let yourself be as honest as possible (no censorship!). The goal is to open up completely to yourself and learn to be your best friend by knowing that the truth (to yourself) will set you free from fear! The more honest you are with yourself, the better your relationship will be with you. Practice self-acceptance no matter what. Intimacy begins with you!
8. Think of all the things you have to be happy about, and don't think about the past. We cannot change the past, but we can enjoy today, and look to the future.
9. Look around you and learn to experience the beauty of nature. Notice the new green leaf, the small flowers, the wide expanse of sky above you.
10. Wish the best for others and mean it. It is so easy to be jealous and petty and forget to celebrate the good fortune of your coworkers, friends and family. How can you be happy with your own life if you do not wish for others to be happy as well? Relax, there is plenty of good fortune to go around.
11. Keep learning, whether it is a new hobby or a new dance, just keep learning something that interests you. It is exciting to paint the first stroke on canvas, and equally exciting to write the first page of a book. Just find a new interest and go for it!! It will give you something to keep you occupied, and a new outlook on life.

Tips
• Listen to the music that makes you feel good. When you wake up put on some uplifting/upbeat music.
• Never do something you're not comfortable with. Don't accept being bullied, harassed or pressured. You'll respect yourself for sticking to your guns, and that self-respect will make you happy.
• Be honest with yourself. Is there something that is keeping you from being happy -- an addiction, an insecurity? Do something about it!
• Find the joy in giving a helping hand to someone in need...and don't do it for your ego or to feel superior, do it to expand joy and love in the hearts of others.
• Smile! It's contagious and takes less effort than frowning.
• Stop stressing about money or things out of your control.
• Get plenty of sleep every night. That whole "you can sleep when you die" thing is not all it's cracked up to be. Respect the fact that there are only so many hours available each day and don't try to cram more things into your schedule at the expense of your health.
• When you receive a compliment from others, accept it and say "thank you". Don't undermine yourself by avoiding taking credit for the things you've done well.
• Get healthy or stay healthy by eating right and exercising.
• The true key to happiness is learning to be happy with what you already have.
• Never ever compare your life with that of the others. There is a different plan for every single person on this earth.
• Stop and examine problems before getting upset. Ask yourself: "Will this matter to me in 5 minutes/hours/days?", "If I worry about this or get angry, will it solve the problem or cause more problems?", "How can I deal with the situation without being upset, worried and angry?". Generally speaking, the most upsetting issues are those generated from anger over a relatively trivial problem. How many times a week do you hear the phrase "I forgot what I was angry about"?
• Pay your bills on time, and be in the habit of keeping an orderly home (not pristine, just organized). Your finances and living conditions are two things you can choose to control and keep stress free. Live within your budget and keep your paperwork current!
• Treat yourself to something special once in a while, not because you 'need' it, but just because you 'want' it.
• Take things easy and always tell yourself all problems can be solved.
• Stop worrying. Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it gets you nowhere.
• If possible, try and constantly keep calm and content. Meditating, prayer, relaxing music, a leisurely bath all help to de-stress you. You are rarely really happy when stressed.
• If everyone was happy all the time, the word "happy" wouldn't even exist. So when you're feeling down, remember that you'd never know what it's like to be happy if you didn't have those moments.
• If you are "stuck" dwelling on something negative from your past, try seeing a therapist who will help you sort through your past and your feelings about it. Or find someone that you trust and who will not judge you. By talking about your experience with someone, you may gain a new perspective that will help you make sense of what happened, so that you can let it go and move on to better and brighter things!

Warnings
• You can't be truly happy unless you think positive thoughts.
• If you can't be happy from within, and be satisfied with what you have or who you are, then you will never be truly happy with anyone else.
• You can only temporarily buy happiness.
• Do not spend your money only for necessities. We need to satisfy our self desires or get frustrated and angry. Treat yourself to something special on occasion and be content and happy.

source:http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Happy