Title: How to Be Happy: 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person
Headings: Choosing To Be Happy
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Choosing To Be Happy
Strategies for Happiness: 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person
Happiness Strategy # 1: Don't Worry, Choose Happy

Content: Happiness Strategy #7: Engage in Meaningful Activities
People are seldom happier, says psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, than when they're in the "flow." This is a state in which your mind becomes thoroughly absorbed in a meaningful task that challenges your abilities. Yet, he has found that the most common leisure time activity -- watching TV -- produces some of the lowest levels of happiness. To get more out of life, we need to put more into it, says Csikszentmihalyi. " Active leisure that helps a person grow does not come easily," he writes in Finding Flow. " Each of the flow-producing activities requires an initial investment of attention before it begins to be enjoyable." So it turns out that happiness can be a matter of choice -- not just luck. Some people are lucky enough to possess genes that foster happiness. However, certain thought patterns and interpersonal skills definitely help people become an "epicure of experience," says David Lykken, whose name, in Norwegian, means "the happiness."