13 characteristics of a happy person

Do you look at someone, or come across someone and see them reflecting happiness? Do you wonder what makes them such a happy person?

Are they born a happy person or did they make themselves a happy person?

I would say, both.

Because happiness is our inherent nature, which got lost mid-way, but by developing and cultivating it, we can again come back to our true nature of happiness.

Hence we ARE born happy people, for you always see a baby happy.

But as we grow up, we need to cultivate happiness and keep happiness remain with us through our behaviour, our character and our way of life.

In this post, I write about the 13 main characteristics of a happy person.

We all have the capability to be happy and build these characteristics in us.

Characteristics of a happy person

Table of Contents

1. They are happy being themselves

The first main characteristic of a happy person is that they are happy being themselves.

They don’t want to be anybody else other than their own true self.

They know that being themselves is the greatest gift they can give to the world because nobody can be who they are.

So this makes them avoid comparisons with others and instead embrace every other person as who they are.

Yes, I think this is the first main characteristic of a happy person.

They love themselves and they know that just being themselves is the greatest superpower they have. It eases them and this way they let go of a lot of tension by trying to be, trying to look, or trying to portray as being someone they are not.

They are happy being themselves and this makes them happy.

P.S Some solo date ideas to love yourself more

2. They work on themselves

Happy people are happy because they seek to improve themselves.

They care about improving themselves and care about taking care of themselves first because only then can they show up for the world wonderfully.

And happy people work on themselves with a lot of self-compassion.

They are not self-critical when they’re working on themselves and finding flaws.

Instead, they give love and compassion to those areas of themselves, which need more work, and this lets them ease up and love themselves more.

They seek to change and improve themselves, but they do this without any attachment to how they should be.

They accept themselves as who they are while they work on being their truest versions of themselves because in being themselves, they are the most confident, loving and real versions of themselves.

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3. They nurture their relationships

Happy people have strong loving relationships and this keeps them grounded.

They give time to their relationships and are a good friend, a good wife, a good mother, a good father and a good husband.

They don’t just focus on work, but put their family above all else.

They don’t take their roles and responsibilities as a burden and instead fulfil them with their heart.

They give happiness to their relationships and seek to spend quality moments with their loved ones and this, in turn, brings them happiness.

Because, how can you love someone if you’re not there?

They know that that the easiest way to be happy is to make your loved ones happy.

4. They are thankful

Happy people are thankful people.

They have become aware of their complaints and have gotten rid of them deliberately and slowly.

They are thankful in the middle of doing things while they spend time with their loved ones, while they take a bath, while they cook, while they do their chores, while they’re spending relaxing time to themselves because they know that they are getting to do it while they are alive.

They are thankful also because they are mindful, and this helps them be happy easily without the grand stuff, without the need for the extraordinary.

Thankfulness and gratitude have become their way of life and it’s easy to be happy when you’re not complaining and accepting everything as they are.

Here is why thankfulness is mindfulness

And if you want to be one happy person too, join my 21-Day Gratitude Challenge where you’ll receive one gratitude challenge every day for the next 21 days to help you make gratitude a way of life.

5. They feed their mind with good things

I have not seen one happy person who did not feed their mind with good stuff on a consistent basis.

All happy people feed their minds with good things.

The mind is a garden and we are its gardener.

Happy people are happy because they try to be good gardeners of their minds.

They have a habit of reading good books, following good blogs, listening to good podcasts or watching good YouTube channels that inspire them in some way.

This keeps their mind healthy and happy and their garden of mind blossoms into happiness, prosperity and ease.

6. Happy people protect their peace

For a happy person, their peace is the most important thing and they protect it over anything.

If anything is costing them their peace, then it’s too expensive.

So they try to be as honest as possible in everything they do.

They don’t lie, they don’t cheat, and they live authentically, sincerely and without any deceit.

Deceit and lie would be too much work. One has to keep thinking about what one said and keep worrying if the other person finds out.

Being true and honest is time-saving and energy-saving.

There is no need to worry as long as you’re on the right path. This keeps happy people free from worries and anxiety.

7. They are not people pleasers

People pleasing is what keeps one unhappy because people pleasing only happens when you try to do something or act like someone you’re not or pretend you agree with something you don’t agree with.

Happy people have given up on people pleasing and are just themselves.

They don’t worry about what other people think and work on their self-worth and self-esteem.

P.S How to stop people pleasing and still be nice

8. They are sincere in what they do

A main characteristic of a happy person is sincerity.

As adults, we tend to spend a major part of our time at our workplace, and if we’re not happy with what we do, then we can’t be happy.

Happy people are happy with their work and have work that satisfies them.

Or even if right now they are working at a job that is not their dream job, they still try to do that job with sincerity and without complaints because they know that it is not permanent, so until they reach their dream job, they strive to give their best and work sincerely.

Having worked sincerely satisfies them and it keeps them happy.

9. They don’t take life too seriously

Happy people don’t take life too seriously for they know that in the long term, the thing that they might be stressing over won’t matter at all.

They do things with sincerity and give their best, but still, they don’t take their job too seriously, they don’t take what others think too seriously, they don’t take their relationships too seriously and they don’t take life too seriously.

One way they do this is by zooming out instead of zooming in on every tiny detail.

They go by the proverb, ‘This too shall pass’ and enjoy life as it is.

It’s impossible to be sad if you start looking at the grand nature of things and yourself as just a tiny human being capable of making mistakes.

They accept themselves, love themselves, are kind to themselves and also kind to life.

10. They are not judgemental

Happy people live and let live.

Of course, they are humans too and they do slip up sometimes, but for a major part, they strive to not be judgemental and to not involve in gossip.

They protect their peace by not reacting to what other people said, did or didn’t do.

If they find themselves judging someone, they quickly become aware of it and withdraw from judging the situation.

Similarly, they also don’t judge the things that are happening around them thinking about what should have or could have been.

Instead, they have learned to surrender and let go and this keeps them free of anxiety, tension and worries.

Here, dear reader, surrendering does not mean giving up.

Surrendering instead means letting it be as it is without the need to try to control things.

Surrendering means giving up the need of how you want things to be and instead accepting things as they are and flowing as a river.

11. They look for the bright side

In absolutely any given situation, there are two sides to how things can be.

You can ruin a perfectly beautiful moment by thinking of how this could all go away and how good things actually don’t last, or you could be thankful for the moment and expect even more beautiful moments to come and for it to grow.

Happy people have trained themselves to look for the bright side of things.

They don’t let their past feelings define their future experiences.

They expect good things and good things to come to them.

They also help others see the bright side of situations when they see someone struggling.

They are happy for another person’s happiness and are always looking to see the sunny side.

12. They are curious

A happy person is also a curious person, or should I say, a curious person is a happy person.

So much of our happiness can come from just being curious about the right things.

Happy people are happy because they are still friends with curiosity.

They ask questions, ‘What would happen if I lived this way?’

“How would I feel if I just sit for 10 minutes of meditation?”

“Can I give up this negative habit for one week?”

“How would I be if I read for 1 hour daily?”

“Can I learn this new thing?”

“How would I feel if I spend some time on a hobby?”

And so this way living in curiosity, they are happy and live an interesting life.

Here is one of my episode on Curiosity from my podcast, ‘Heart of Living’

13. They look for the teaching

Lastly, Happy people look for teaching in all of their experiences whether good or bad.

They are continuously asking, “Is there anything to learn?”

“What is this experience wanting to teach me?”

And invariably, a teaching, a truth, a light comes from their heart.

Looking for the teaching helps them open themselves up instead of letting it close them.

They open up to being more loving, compassionate and free instead of letting it make them bitter, resentful and someone who is always expecting bad things to happen.

They let every experience evolve and expand them instead of it letting them shrink their heart.

So these were the main characteristics of a happy person

We are all born with happiness planted in our hearts, but because we fail to water it, our true characteristic of happiness lies hidden and dormant.

We all deserve to be happy and we all have the capability to be happy because happiness is our true character.

In fact, we are born here to reveal our true character of happiness, joyfulness and lightness.

We just need to remove all the barriers and obstacles that lie in our way.

And when we start to do that, we find that none of the obstacles are on the outside.

We find that all the barriers to happiness are actually within our own reactions, perceptions, thoughts and our need to control.

Once you slowly try to remove its root from your heart, you will no longer even have to overcome it.

Happiness is your true character. Strive to build these characteristics and your true nature will shine through and people will ask you, ‘How you became a happy person?’

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Hello, I'm Vishaka!

13 characteristics of a happy person