There are very few things you need for a happy summer as a child. After a year-long wait, the summer vacation would bring about freedom, happiness, and adventure. As adults, however, finding happiness during the summer months can be challenging – despite being vacation season! While there are a lot of elements that should ensure a good mood, warm weather and sunny days don’t always cut it. After all, happiness is something that requires a little more work during adulthood. Nevertheless, it is an achievable goal.
Luckily for all of us, there are quite a few things we can do in order to improve our mood and facilitate feelings of happiness during the summer months. From meditation to making a few décor changes, there are plenty of things we can do that we can do to make ourselves happier. If you want to add more joy to your life this summer, check out our 6 things you need for a happy summer below!
6 Things You Need For A Happy Summer:
1) Nothing screams ‘Happy Summer!’ like bold colors:
It is a proven fact that colors have a huge effect on our mood. After all, there are dozens of books out there about the psychology of color. Colors influence the way we perceive situations and can alter our moods dramatically. So, in order to keep ourselves in a good mood this summer, we should opt for green and yellow hues. Other colors such as neon orange, azure orange, and bright pink can also work wonders on our mood.
The idea behind bright colors is that they facilitate happiness and a feeling of youth. You can implement more color in your life either via clothes or by opting for bolder throw pillows, for example. Of course, we recommend you do both!
2) Flowers, flowers, flowers:
Much like colors, the environment holds a lot of influence over our mood as well. While color does play a role here as well, what’s important here is quantity. Think lush landscapes, rich in foliage. Indeed, from palm tree leaves to beautiful violets all the way to plain, green bushes, nature triggers a lot of happy emotions and prolongs feelings of life satisfaction.
If you have a garden or live next to a really nice park, go outside and smell the roses! On your way home, pick up some flowers from a flower shop and place them in vases throughout your home and watch your mood elevate! Surrounding yourself with life will certainly put you in a good mood!
3) Meditation:
An often-times overlooked aspect of happiness and inner peace is meditation. Most people run away from it because they believe it involves sitting in an uncomfortable position for an hour while trying to think about nothing. In truth, meditation is a great way to attract more happiness in your life. You can also practice it in whatever position and for however long you want.
Whether it means a short session of yoga by the pool in the early AM or a classic meditation session, it doesn’t matter. Out of all the things you need for a happy summer, meditation should rank high on your list because it literally rewires your brain, relaxes your body and promotes overall well-being.
4) De-clutter your house and life:
They say happiness is a state of mind. What they don’t say is that it’s also a state of your home and life. Hot, crazy weather can really make you irritated and exhausted. These feelings triple when you have an untidy house, filled with clutter. Emotional or psychological clutter is also a sure-fire way of missing out on happiness and inner peace.
In short, all of these things take up mental and physical space and will ultimately weight you down. So go ahead and get rid of everything that doesn’t serve a purpose in your life anymore. Make room for happiness!
5) Aromatherapy:
Besides colors, the strongest stimulus on our psyche is smell. You may not realize it but most of your memories are tied to the sense of smell. Smell has the power to unlock long-forgotten memories, bring bouts of nostalgia and make you euphoric. While recreating the scent of times gone by is almost impossible, using aromatherapy to stimulate your psyche positively is not.
In this regard, scented candles or essential oils can be very useful. No matter what you choose, candles or oils, the mechanics of it are quite simple. Scent triggers memories which, in turn, trigger emotions. If you’re a fan of lemongrass, then use a product that produces said scent.
TIP: You can also introduce summer-specific fruits in your diet. Mangos, pineapples, watermelons all have beautiful scents that instantly get you in a summer mood.
6) Light:
Out of all the things you need for a happy summer, perhaps none is more important than natural light exposure. As adults, we tend to spend a lot of time in front of screens and under artificial light at work. Also, more often than not, we get home so tired, the last thing we want to do is go outside. This means we spend too much time under artificial light.
It is known that artificial light exposure messes up with our circadian rhythm, making us prone to insomnia, which, in turn, promotes depression. The fix? Get more sunlight! Whether at work or at home, make sure there’s plenty of natural sunlight coming in!
Hopefully, our 6 things you need for a happy summer will help you experience more happiness this summer. During adulthood, inner peace and happiness take a little more work, but they are attainable. From making sure you get enough sunlight exposure to wearing bold colors and meditating, there are many ways of bringing more happiness into your life!