Do you feel it is so hard to be happy recently?

Although happiness can sometimes be elusive or unattainable, it does not mean that it is an impossible journey or goal. On the contrary, if you persevere, happiness may be waiting for you at the next corner. Or, it may be simpler than that. Happiness may always be with you-you may not have taken the time to realize that it is much simpler than you once believed.

Are you still looking for happiness? Maybe you need to learn some tips to make you feel happy again.

01. Ask When You Stopped Being Happy

If you want to be happy again, it suggests that you were happy at some point in the past. The first step to finding that happiness again is to ask when and why you stopped feeling happy.

Ask some questions for yourself:

• Was it a particular event that jolted your mind out of a relatively upbeat mindset?

• Did you experience a loss of some sort?

The death of a loved one, a breakup, finding yourself out of work – these are just some of the things that can steal happiness away and make it hard to find again. In many such circumstances, you'll have to properly grieve the loss. There is no time limit on this. It might take weeks. It might take months. It might even take years before you can regularly experience those happy moments once more.

Chances are you will work your way through various stages of grief until you have reached a point where the loss no longer dominates your thinking. Even then it might not totally disappear. But it will fall into the background and allow you to focus on the positive times.

02. Recall Positive Memories

In order to be happy again, it is important that you do not make it your only meaningful goal. Although you can do something to create more happy moments, you cannot and will not always succeed. In an Australian study of over 300 young adults, it was shown that those who recalled memories about problem-solving (a time when you successfully managed a challenge) or about identity (something that shaped you to become the person you are today) showed decreased negative emotions and increased positive emotions, respectively.

These findings suggest that simply thinking back to a time in your life when you were overcoming a challenge or to a time when you went through a significant life experience that changed you for the better could be effective in boosting your mood, and therefore, your happiness. However, if you focus too much on happiness as a result, you will usually find it more difficult to achieve that result. Sometimes the act of striving to be happy is itself a hindrance to happiness.

03. Don't Compare with Others

Although ambition is great, jealousy will only make you unhappy. Compared with others has its limitations. We may focus too much on the lives of others and forget our own journey. Everyone's situation is different. Comparing yourself to others will lead you to emptiness and pain. Although other people's lives may seem perfect from the outside, there is a hidden story that we don't know. Although it helps to learn from them, too much competition can destroy your inner peace. Focus on your dreams and goals, and enjoy your achievements and success. Taste them instead of competing.

04. Confirm Goals or Self-Transcendence

You have to identify what things you currently enjoy and what you might potentially enjoy given the opportunity. One good way to identify what you do and do not enjoy right now is to spend 5 minutes at the end of each day thinking about what you've done during that day.

For each thing that you've done, ask yourself whether you'd want to do it again tomorrow. If you would, it's something that has provided at least some level of happiness. If you would not, perhaps you can avoid doing this thing again in the future. The beauty of this end-of-day assessment is that you can try new things and then decide how much you'd like to do them again.

What's gone is gone and to ruminate on the future only invites added stress and worry. Live in the present moment and enjoy it while you can. There is much to be gained with your focus on the present moment, such as taking in the beauty of life and reducing stress.