10 Ways to Be Happier in the New Year ...

While most of us have no problem identifying the things we hate about ourselves, the things we want to change, so many of us could be happier if we learned to also acknowledge the things that make us wonderful. It's time to resolve to look for, and admit, the things we love about ourselves.

Back to the things we don't like about ourselves: wallowing won't help. If you don't like being petty and mean, resolve to change. If you're tired of being jealous, then stop. Like any other resolution, a “how to be happier” resolution will take work, so be prepared... but the first step in real change is to acknowledge what you don't like, and resolve to work on it.

It's time to get rid of the negative people in your life. Who has time for back-biting, mean frenemies when you have so many positive, loving friends to spend time with? Ditch the drama, flip the frenemies, and move on and be happier in 2012.

Sure, regular exercise will make you slimmer, and help you fit nicely in your skinny jeans, but it will also help you be happier. How? It relieves stress and can even help you clear your mind and figure out how to address or solve problems. Amazing!

Make time for personal reflection and meditation this year, and you're bound to be happier. You don't have to officially meditate, just take ten or twenty minutes every day or so to clear your mind, without distractions — no cell phone, no TV, no BF or kids running around.

Reflection is one thing, looking in the rear-view is another. There is absolutely, positively NOTHING you can do to change or “fix” the past, so stop dwelling on it. Spend that time and energy looking at the present, and you'll have hit on a major way how to be happier.

… and the opposite is true as well. Don't spend too much time looking too far into the future, either, or you'll end up stressing and/or missing the joy that's around you now. I can tell you with complete certainty from personal experience that there are so many life-changing things that can happen in a day, a week, and month, that trying to plan out your life for the next two years is a waste of time. Yes, it's a good idea to have a rough plan. But leave room for all of the millions of variables that can change in even the smallest increment of time.

No matter how miserable and wretched your life may seem (I've been there!), we all have something, no matter how small, to be thankful for. Concentrate on that, and make your gratitude material. Tell someone you love them, and show them you appreciate them. Celebrate your good health by working to keep it. You get the idea — be grateful and be happier!

All relationships take work — marriages, friendships, parenthood. Spend time this year developing and maintaining them, and you'll be happier — and so will those you're involved in a relationship with.

With the global economic crisis going on the past few years,

Doing a few of these will help you be happier, but can you imagine how marvelously, delightfully happy you'll be if you try and do all of them? Which of these ways will you try and be happier? Or is there something else you'd suggest, something that's helped you in your quest to be happy? Please share!

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