Here's a way to increase your happiness right now! We are going to focus on loving where you are right now. You have so much to be grateful for.

What is in your life right now? A home, food, a job, a friend? Say to yourself, "I love my car, I love my hair, I love my home, I love my clothes." Whatever is in your life that you can be grateful for will help you see how blessed you really are!

Now say, "I love my life, I love my life!" If you don't completely believe yourself, keep saying it and write it down 30 times a day until you've rewritten this belief into your subconscious. 

Having a pet can provide helpful and healing health benefits. While it seems like a no-brainer that coming  home after a hard day to a loving creature who thinks the sun rises and sets based on your command is incredibly heart warming, there are a surprising amount of studies that show the scientific reason for  this. The unconditional love Whiskers and Fido provide us can help those of us with self-esteem issues, and logging tummy-rubs and cuddle time can lower our blood pressure and reduce stress. 

When we spend time with our pets, our body releases the calming hormone oxytocin, which can counteract stress hormone cortisol. It's no wonder we feel calmer when we see those furry faces! We knew they were good for our hearts, who knew they were so good for our health? 

Want to create more joy in your life? It's time to stop looking outside of yourself and get into the time tested practice of meditation. 

Many of us seek joy through thrills that create adrenaline whether they are a beautiful sunset shared with a special person, a wave caught just at the right moment, or a celebration of a long-term goal that we reach. However, the adrenaline that these highs and lows provide us are few and far between and can often lead us waiting for joyful moments and chasing joy as if it were something in the future.

Meditation allows us to reshape our perspective of the source of joy to something more constant and easy to attain. In meditation, we become aware of our eternal spirit, beyond the mind. We see that the love we bring to each day, each person, each moment in interaction with ourself or another human or animal has the potential to lift us up just by being kind and loving. 

The joy that comes from meditation is that we will be able to hear the inner voice of the soul that can redirect us to the truth that joy can be experienced no matter where we are in our lives, no matter what we have and no matter who we are with, even if it's just ourselves.

Setting and achieving regular short-term and long-term goals can have a positive impact on your mental health, but do you know how? Personal goals provide motivation and a sense of purpose. Achieving your goals gives you a sense of accomplishment and self-worth, leading to good mental health. 

Set SMART goals. Write down goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-oriented. With the use of the SMART method, you have a higher chance of accomplishing your goals. You are in control of your life!

An interesting new finding tied to anxiety, stress and sleep deprivation is called 'FOMO,' or, the Fear of Missing Out. This type of anxiety is seen in people who feel so uncomfortable without their smartphones and electronic devices, they start to stress out about missing what's going on. While we all like to keep in touch, this is seen more in those who are tied 24/7/365 to their communication devices, desperate to be in the know and included as much as possible. 

While keeping that blue light going right before bed can contribute to trouble falling asleep, it has obvious other risks attributed to it. If you identify with this and feel genuinely concerned about your addiction to your devices, have a chat with your doctor. If you've just been a little more obsessed than usual, and are noticing your attachment taking you away from normal activities you enjoy, practice shutting down for a few hours a day, and especially before bed!

Feeling more on edge than usual? Some of us feel a weird combination of lethargy, low mood and reduced ability to handle normal stress in certain months of the year. This is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, thought to be brought on by lower levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects our moods and higher levels of melatonin, which also affects our mood and sleeping patterns.

Melatonin is produced when we have increased exposure to darkness, as we do when the days shorten in winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder is thought to be a reaction to a combination of both, leaving us with a lowered capacity to handle stress and increased likelihood of mood swings and low periods. There are many ways to treat this, including Himalayan Salt Lamps, phototherapy, increased exercise and vitamin D supplements as a few examples. Once you are aware that you suffer from it, you can work on preventing it in the first place!