5 Things You Can Do TODAY To Get Happier!

Studies show that money can buy happiness, but only until the point where you have enough to cover expenses for food, shelter, health care, and transportation. After that, more money brings diminishing returns. So, where to put your energy and resources if you want to maximize your happiness?

1. INVEST IN YOUR HEALTH - Health is a prerequisite to happiness. In other words, You can't be happy if you're unhealthy. Eating wisely and moving naturally are the best way to get fit

2. CREATE QUALITY FRIENDSHIPS - When it comes to a social network, quality is more important the quantity. Having two good friends who care about you - whether your chips are up or down - is more important than a huge network. We often forget that friends rarely come on their own accord: they require effort, time and nurturing.

3. EXPLORE YOUR RELIGION - World surveys show that religious people are more happy than non-religious people. Religious people are more likely to have a strong social network and to be at peace with their lives and mortality. What to do: if you have a religion, make and effort to reconnect with it. If not, visit four new religous communities in the next three months and see if any of them align with your values.

4. SPEND MORE TIME WITH YOUR HOBBY - Build a model, knit a sweater, climb a cliff, cook a gourmet meal. The point is to spend time engaged in activities wherein you are optimally challenged, you get immediate feedback, you lose sense of time and you do it because it's intrinsically rewarding. Psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi identifies this state as the state of flow. It is perhaps the best way to achieve authentic sustainable happiness.

5. IF YOU'RE UNHAPPY, MOVE - Where you live has a bigger impact on your happiness than your marital status, income, or even education level. If you are not happy where you are, consider moving. World-wide studies show that the happiest places on earth are not tropical islands but place where you feel secure, people around you have the same level of status as you do and it's easy to find a job that is interesting.

Dan Buettner is a world explorer who for the past seven years has been studying the longest lived regions in the world, or Blue Zones. Buettner's work on longevity and happiness has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America and 20/20. His new book The Blue Zone will be released by National Geographic in March of 2008.

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