Signs to Know if You're Truly Deeply Happy ...

1. You Avoid Reckless Thrills

One of the signs you’re truly happy is that you do not feel the need to take reckless risks in your life to feel a rush or have a quick fix of adrenaline. People who are content with reality are grounded and can center themselves in a much happier place than those that are constantly on the lookout for cheap thrills. Long-term happiness is much more rewarding than short-term rushes.

2. You Have Happy Friends

You don’t have to consult a scientific study to realize that if you are a part of a happy friendship group, then you are much more likely to be a happier person yourself. For those who do like a touch of statistic to their facts, it is estimated that each truly happy close friend that you have in your life can increase your own happiness by around 9%.

3. You Trust Yourself

People who are constantly second guessing themselves and doubting their own decisions and judgment tend to experience mood swings and self-esteem imbalances. Getting to a place where you are comfortable in your own skin and confident in your decision-making is the sign of a person who is happy and content within themselves.

4. You Sleep Well

A healthy and regular sleeping pattern of anything between six and eight hours a night is one of the key signs of a truly happy person. Unhappiness can really hinder our ability to sleep whereas low stress levels promote a relaxed mind and suitable environment for the kind of soothing rest that is really needed. If you enjoy a good night’s sleep all the time, then you can consider yourself truly happy.

5. You Exercise Daily

According to a study conducted at the University of North Texas, people who engage in a regular, daily routine of moderate exercise are much more likely to be of a happier disposition. This is due to the powerful endorphins that are released through exercise, and it is these endorphins that have been proven to decrease depression in both genders.

6. You Live in the Now

One of the main reasons for general unhappiness in people is their tendency to allow their minds to wonder toward the future: more specifically in a pessimistic view about what could go wrong or worrying about what might be next. Happier individuals sometimes put their jolly state of mind down to staying in the present and not worrying about situations that they cannot control and situations that have not yet even happened. Concentrate on what you can be involved with for a better state of mind.

7. You Can Bounce Back Quickly

It is a fact that everybody, even the happiest among us, has to deal with bad news and bad situations at some point in their lives. The sign of a truly happy person, though, is the ability to be able to bounce back from this bad period in a natural and sensibly paced way. Being able to return to contentment after a period of despair is a happy person’s greatest characteristic.

8. You’re Truly Grateful for What You Have

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have – you simply appreciate it all. Its value is in what it means to you and how it fits in your life and you don’t consider how it shows off your success or failure to the world. You know the value of life’s simple pleasures, as well as the luxuries, and you make the most of your resources.

9. You Smile – inside and out

You don’t necessarily walk around with a permanent inane grin on your face, but smiles come easily. You have a naturally sunny disposition because you know your own world is a happy place.

I personally think many of us today don’t class ourselves as happy because we simply set our expectations too high. That doesn’t mean we should abandon ambition and dreams but that along the way, we appreciate where we’ve come from, where we are and where we’re going.

What signs you’re truly happy do you measure yourself by?