Happiness Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day

This exercise can be one of the most important deliberate actions you will ever take for yourself.

ooks, movies, shows, blog posts, conversations (I actually write those gems down) and even social media.

And I saved it all. Much of it is all over the place, but most of it is sitting somewhere in the dark corners of my faithful Evernote (Evernote and I go way back to 2011).

Anyway, that introduction was necessary because what I am going to share is not mine, I picked it up along the way and saved it.

I used it for years (on and off) so much, it actually feels like it IS mine. It is an important part of my "Life Handbook" where I can look at it on a daily basis.

(I think that I received these questions as a ‘thank you’ for participating in a year-long happiness survey for academic research back in 2009... but I could be wrong)

Can you think of a way to ask yourself (and answer), verbally, in your head or in writing, these questions on a daily basis?

Whenever I can, I write the answers down. As usual, committing it to paper gives it more weight.

Everything we know about happiness seems to be contained right here in these questions, don't you think?

I hope you find this exercise as useful as I do. Enjoy.

Daily Happiness Questions

• Did I do my best to prioritize—but not pursue—happiness?

• Did I do my best to be self-compassionate (but not self-indulgent or self-pitying) when I failed at something?

• Did I do my best to be grateful for the good things that came my way?

• Did I do my best to pursue flow and steer myself towards doing something meaningful and engaging as opposed to seeking superiority?

• Did I do my best to not be needy or avoidant?

• Did I do my best to not be a taker or matcher, but rather, a Giver?

• Did I do my best to practice kindness and generosity in “otherish” vs. “selfless” ways?

• Did I do my best to not be overly controlling of others or of outcomes

• Did I do my best to take personal responsibility for my happiness (i.e., seek internal control)?

• Did I do my best to lead a healthy lifestyle (i.e. eat right, move more and sleep better)?

• Did I do my best to exercise “smart trust” (trust others more if low on trust)?

• Did I do my best to be forgiving of others?

• Did I do my best to look for positive consequences of even negative events?

• Did I do my best to practice mindfulness?

• Did I do my best to not go out of my way to show that I am right?

From experience, making an effort to answer these questions daily will raise your awareness to your happiness pitfalls. Most importantly, you will realize that all of them are within your power to change, and as you answer the questions daily, you will see your attitude towards them changing as well.

This exercise can be one of the most important deliberate actions you will ever take for yourself.