Happiness is not something that is achieved, it is a state of mind. Like many things in life, to be happy you need to nurture your happiness and constantly feed positive thoughts for your mental health. To be happy you need to begin with yourself and make necessary changes in life that help grow happiness and not hinder it. There are times in life where happiness is hidden under many layers of deep sadness. These times can take months, even years to finally work your way through everything. Take each day, one at a time, remembering how important your happiness is for your physical and mental health. If you want to be happy, truly happy then here are 8 things you can eliminate from your life to help you achieve a happier state of mind:

1. Start eliminating your fears

Stop letting the fear of what could happen prevent you from making anything happen. When you start to eliminate your fears, you open up all the possibilities for your dreams to actually come true. Fear is not real, it is simply the thoughts you maintain. You control your fears, so start letting them go.

2. Remove negative self-talk

Why is it often the person we should love the most, we treat the worst? What you say to yourself will either ‘lift you up‘ or ‘bring you down’. You cannot escape your own thoughts, so start to make them positive ones.

3. Stop making excuses

The excuses will always be there to hide behind, unfortunately, life will not. If you really want something, you will find a way to make it happen. If you don’t, you will make excuses. Excuses are not productive, they only hold you back.

4. Complaining will get you nowhere

Complaining about something that has happened does not change the outcome. Complaining generates negative emotions and wastes a lot of time you could actually be making a difference.

5. Put an end to your past

The past cannot be changed, cannot be forgotten and cannot be erased. The energy wasted in the past serves no purpose and could be used to creating the future of your dreams.

6. Stop blaming others

You are responsible for your own mistakes, no one else. Mistakes are something you own and the perfect opportunity to learn. Get off the blaming merry-go-round and take responsibility for your own actions.

7. Give up the need for control

Let go of the control, it is exhausting. Allow things to happen without feeling the need to control every action.

8. Remove the desire to criticise

No one will ever know what another person is going through. Take the energy used to criticise others and use it to improve yourself instead.