Sometimes Being "Happier" Leads You Down the Path of Joy

If there is one thing I could credit for my newfound insight and drive to enjoy this one life I have it would be my loving partner. He has taught me so much and encourages me all the time. The one tool I can credit with helping me get to where I am so far is something I never expected. Social media has pretty much taken over our lives and the rest of the world. There is no escaping it. It is everywhere all the time. Smartphones have only made the takeover that much easier. Don't get me wrong, I love using Facebook on my new iPhone 6, but at the end of the day lying in bed at night it leaves me feeling empty and even more disconnected. Our lives have begun to revolve around our postings and walls and online interactions. Companies are now all on Facebook, it has become cemented in advertising and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. Then on top of Facebook comes Tumblr, Blogger, Instagram, Twitter, Four Square, Pinterest..... on and on the list goes, growing even more every day. There is one social interaction that I found to actually be helpful instead of a hindrance. I remember just stumbling over the application in the App Store last year while I was lying in bed and watching TV. Downloading it I was excited to play around with something new, little did I know that it would become a permanent marker in my daily life.
I truly believe that this application is something that can transform your life and your attitude. The support it provides has proven to be immeasurable. It is quite simply called "Happier." The icon is a white "H" on an orange background, orange representing the ongoing theme of happiness. You get a profile of course, but only with a small picture and a few short lines to write a quick summary about you and your life. Each posting is a happy moment in your day, accompanied by a picture if you would like. Happy moments and that's it. You categorize each one whether about family, friends, being happy, hobbies, going to the movies and on and on as the possibilities are endless. That makes it kind of cool to go back to my "Collections" at any time and look at everything about my partner or all the encouraging words I have posted. It is refreshing to only see happy moments on my feed instead of complaints or whining or any of the other annoying things I hate. The whole point is to get you thinking positive throughout the day and posting the positive things that make you happy. In turn you help spread others happiness as well as spreading your own to a welcoming and inviting community. As you read others postings you can leave comments or "smile" instead of like, no posting on someones wall or messaging someone. It's really neat to post something that has really excited you and then get to see that it also made forty other people smile. That is a feeling you can carry with you all day long. The strength I gain from just one glance at my notifications makes it more than worth it. I have hundreds of friends on there from all over the world and we comment on each other's all the time. To so easily and simply connect with someone on the other side of the world in order to help you both think happier and more positively is amazingly profound. More and more people follow me every day, and every day I go exploring and go through friends of friends of friends meeting new people along the way. I have made friends over these last several months, I am up to over 500 moments now, that have stayed by my side to be a support and source of strength. Sometimes meet ups are even arranged, say for anyone in Long Beach we will be meeting at this restaurant this Saturday at 5:00 and anyone who can come is welcome. Just an example, another way for a community of real people to cast aside doubt, fear, anger and anxiety and focus on the happy things in life that help guide them. We are our own source of strength, if we can't be strong no one else can make us strong. We have to decide to be happy, to be joyful and to realize that life will always have ups and downs and focusing on the positive is the only way to survive.
Every morning when I wake up I check my Happier page, it has become a hallmark of my daily routines. All day long I post the things making me happy which forces me to focus on the positive and keeps it in the forefront of my mind all throughout my day. It may not help everyone, but it has helped me tremendously and it has helped so many people I know. My partner is just as hopelessly addicted as I am. It's free, just download it and explore. Try it out, it's in both the iTunes and the Android store. For a free application this one proves to be a goldmine for nothing at all. Try focusing on the positive things in your day, it will help remind you in those down times of the things that help keep you running. Seeing both the good and the bad and choosing to focus on the good is the active form of being joyful. There are many tools out there to help out, keep trying all of them until you find the one that fits perfect and works for you. For each of us this is different. Here is a free tool you can try that has proven to be successful and provides more than a social community but a support network as well. Try it today, think "happy" and keep reminding yourself all day that it's ok to cherish the things that make you smile and use them for strength when life happens to be down for the moment or well - any other time at all. Being joyful means actively taking an interest in your happiness and contentment, pick up that mantle today and try "Happier." I promise you it is worth it, in more ways than I can possibly explain here.

Be positive, stay Joyful! 

iTunes App Store Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happier/id499033500?mt=8