Living a good life is what most people desire. People want to be happy, healthy, and live a life that’s filled with great moments and people. Maybe you’re currently feeling frustrated in your situation or going through a difficult time. It’s important to remember that all moments pass. Bad moments pass. Painful moments pass. Even happy moments pass. But there is a way to live a life that’s filled with more good than bad. And in this article, we’ll share our 15 good life tips on how to live a good life.
How to Live a Good Life: 15 Good Life Tips
#1. Find Joy in Little Moments
One of the keys to a good life is to find joy in the simplest moments. Maybe you watched someone unwrap a birthday present and their eyes lit up. And you find yourself smiling at their excitement and happiness. Or you go for a stroll by the lake and you find yourself living presently. Completely in awe at birds chirping. Watching families playing together. Gentle waves rolling in. And you take that deep breath of air and suddenly remember you’re alive. To live a good life, you need to realize that happiness isn’t a big moment that suddenly comes to you one day when the stars align. It comes in and out of your life through some of the simplest moments. So be open to finding joy in these little moments if you want to have a good life.
#2. Be Kind to Others
One of the good life tips you’ll need to follow is to be kind to others. By being kind to others, it’s far more likely that people will be kind to you. Thus, allowing you to live a good life. Sometimes, people take out their frustrations out on other people which causes more issues down the road. However, if you go out of your way to wish someone a happy birthday or say kind words to someone in need, you’ll be remembered as a kind person. Do acts of kindness so that you put more good into the world. The more good there is in the world, the more good you’ll also benefit from, even if indirectly.
#3. Set Goals to Achieve
Living a good life doesn’t come without a bit of work. The best way to live a good life is to set goals for yourself. What do you hope to accomplish in your life? In your career? In your relationships? What kind of person do you hope to evolve into? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself each day. You should write in a journal to help keep you on track of your goals. Looking over your goals each day. Say them out loud. Brainwash yourself into committing to your goals. By achieving your goals you inch closer to living the good life you want.
#4. Prioritize Your Values
What values do you cherish? Do you love family more than anything? Are you obsessed with eliminating poverty? Do you believe everyone should have clean drinking water? The values you believe in should become priorities if you want to have a good life. If you run a business, your values should be the focus of your business. If you value family more than anything, you might choose to plan annual family events and make a conscious effort to visit loved ones on special occasions. If you focus on your values, you can live a good life.
#5. Marry Someone You’re Compatible With
One of the good life tips that’s an absolute game-changer is to marry someone you’re compatible with. Sometimes, people marry someone they’re attracted to or share passionate relationships with. However, these are often the relationships that break down. For example, those who are passionately in love will also passionately hate each other when arguments arise. Instead, the person you marry should be someone who shares a similar lifestyle as you. Someone who shares similar values as you. Someone you see eye to eye with. You don’t need to be clones of each other to make it work. But you need to be similar when it comes to your values, goals, and how you live your lives.
#6. Practice Meditation
The secret to living a good life is to practice meditation. Meditation can help alleviate so much stress from your life. It can give you a sense of clarity when things seem unclear. It can help you focus – on your goals, on yourself, on your relationships. There are many benefits of meditation that can help you live a good life. Finding 10 to 20 minutes each day to practice meditation can help you become more patient during difficult times. Thus, if you want to live a good life, meditate.
#7. Express Gratitude
One of the best good life tips is to express gratitude. You’ll really appreciate how good your life is when you recognize all the things you’re grateful for. You can check out this gratitude list if you need ideas of things to be grateful for. You might invest in a gratitude journal where each day you write down the things that happened that day that you’re grateful for. Maybe you met someone new who was amazing. Maybe someone was kind to you. Maybe you went for a walk and were grateful for that big, deep breath of air. Or you remember that right now you’re reading this and you can see, understand, and read which makes you feel a sense of joy. Thus, living the good life.
#8. Know How to Take Care of Yourself
If you want to live a good life, you need to know how to take care of yourself. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t know how to take care of themselves. And then, one day when someone dies or files for divorce, they realize that they don’t have the tools they need to succeed in life. They feel helpless. Some go on welfare because they’ve never taken care of themselves before so they fall apart. To live a good life, you need to know how to take care of your finances, how to make money, take care of your health (mental and physical), and so much more. If you’re married, both partners should know how to pay bills in case the unexpected happens.
#9. Take A Lot of Photos of Loved Ones
One of the most underrated things you can do is take a lot of photos. Any time you go to a family event, take pictures of everyone there. If you get married, invest in a photobooth so all your guests can take photos of themselves. Today, it may seem like everyone is obsessed with their own selfies. But what you don’t realize is that one day when you lose a loved one, you’ll cherish all the photos you have with and of them. Whenever someone in my family dies, I always send a message to family members with photos of them with that person. And they’re always so unhappy and surprised to find out that they have photos with random cousins or aunts and uncles. It’s little things like this that help you live a good life.
#10. Do At Least One Solo Trip
Doing at least one solo trip is one of the good life tips you’ll enjoy. Sometimes escaping your entire world and trekking off on your own can help you remember who you are, what you stand for, and most importantly remind you that you’re alive. The trip should be a vacation (not a business trip they’re definitely not the same thing). You should go somewhere you’ve always wanted to go. Meet random people on the other side of the world. Explore places like an adventurer. When it rains, dance in it. When it’s dark look up at the stars. You’ll feel a sense of wonder and contentment. And most importantly, a sense of pride from doing something brave all by yourself. Plus, those solo trips are good for the soul.
#11. Try New Things
If you want to know how to live a good life, the secret lies in trying new things. If you’re currently unhappy in life, you should probably do the exact opposite of what you’re doing now. Maybe you always hide indoors because you’re depressed. But getting out of the house and into nature will be good for you. It’s not a cure but people are meant to get out in nature. If you’ve always thought a hobby wouldn’t be fun, you should reconsider it and try it anyways. You’d be surprised at how much you can learn about yourself by doing something new. Sometimes we try new things that look cool and realize we actually don’t enjoy those things. And other times we avoid things that once we try it we’re surprised at how we didn’t try it sooner.
#12. Look For the Good
Those who want to live a good life should always set out to look for the good. In even the most horrible situations, good will always come out of it. When I was sexually assaulted, I thought to myself “nothing good could come from this.” But I was wrong. I got help from a social worker. And she taught me skills that I hadn’t learned anywhere else. She taught me how to gain respect. She taught me how to choose a loving partner. And while it didn’t happen right away, eventually I fell in love and married a loving man. And we have a peaceful and loving relationship. At that time, many years ago, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But bad events always lead to good events. You just don’t always know what it’ll be right away.
#13. Look at All You’ve Accomplished
People who live good lives often make note of all their accomplishments. They might keep a box of notable accomplishments. Or maybe they take pictures of their accomplishments. Maybe you include your accomplishments in a journal. But those who live a good life regularly set out to accomplish things. And they celebrate their accomplishments regularly. Even the little wins can be a huge milestone worthy of celebrating so don’t discount yourself. Always remember how far you’ve come. Remember where you were a few years ago when you were going through a tough time, you eventually bounced back from that. And if you’re going through a tough time now, you’ll bounce back from this too. Even if it seems highly unlikely right now. You’re stronger than you know.
#14. Don’t Hold Yourself Back
Those who live a good life have one big thing in common, they never hold themselves back. They feel comfortable being themselves at all times. They have a ‘this is me, take it or leave it” attitude. Hiding yourself behind a superficial wall will only make you feel miserable. If you want to live a good life, you need to feel confident in yourself. You need to stand up for yourself. And most importantly, you just need to be yourself. That’s what life is really about. Letting your true colors shine through. The world needs you just as you are. Don’t underestimate how important you are to those who are looking for a person just like you.
#15. Release Your Emotions
One of the best ways to live a good life is to regularly release your emotions. Sometimes, we hold back negative feelings inside of us and that causes us to take it out on those we love. Making us and everyone else around us miserable. Instead, we must find positive ways to release those negative emotions. If we feel angry, we can sign up for a martial art so we can punch that anger out. If we’re frustrated, we can go for a run to clear our head while releasing the tension in our bodies through physical exertion. If we’re sad, we might turn to writing to release our emotions out of our minds and into the world to help others who feel the same way.
Conclusion
In your quest to discover how to good life, you’ll find that practicing meditation, expressing gratitude, being kind to others, and prioritizing your values, can help you live the life you want. The good life tips are meant as a guide. There may be other things you value or prioritize to help you live a good life that’s catered more to your personality. You might pick and choose a few items from this list but you’re also free to come up with other good life ideas. May you look back on your life years from now and realize you lived a good life.
