As a creative therapist and Reiki teacher, I often get asked what the best way to keep yourself happy is. I’ve done a lot of research on wellbeing over the years, both through my studies and through the subjective experience of my own shadow self. We all have our low vibration days and that’s something that’s natural and healthy to experience. In fact that makes us human! The real difference, I’ve found, is how long it takes us to bounce back from those experiences.
So how does a person get high on life? Is it possible to experience an undercurrent of joy, love and peace every day, even with all of life’s obstacles and lemons hurled onto our path? As with everything, we resonate energetically with the world around us and a big part of the key to happiness is in keeping that vibration high. Below, I’ve listed some of the best ways you can create some good habits in life in order to maintain a high vibration for yourself.
1. Music: Listen to songs which resonate happiness. Studies have found that plant health declines around rock music and thrives with classical, but everyone is different. My happy vibration is African music, Northern Soul or House beats! Never underestimate the power of a positive playlist to pick you up when your energy dips.
2. Altruism: Be a good person. Be of service to the world around you and do good things for others as much as you can. That good inner glow? That is how life encourages the progression of social evolution through altruism.
3. Friendship: Spend time with other high vibration friends. The ones who inspire, who can see the best in others and find the positives. Cut out those who talk negatively about people. You don’t need that low vibration in your life. Studies have found that our brain waves change and sync with people we spend most of our time with. You become the top 5 people you surround yourself with, so choose your tribe carefully.
4. Attachments: Develop awareness of them and cut down on any addictions (anything you start craving in order to be happy). Whether it’s coffee, drugs, smoking, sex, shopping, social media, relationships or attention; moderation and being in control of your happiness without add-ons is a big part of maintaining a high vibration.
5. Meditation: Grounding just for 10 minutes a day. Say hello to the cosmos inside your mind and connect back with your core. That little buzz from the heart when you’re still and centred? High vibration!
6. Diet: Try to go vegetarian with your diet; fruit and veg are super high in vibration. The more of that, the better and you can often feel the difference straight away.
7. Movement: Dance and sing! Anything that connects you with your body through movement can bring about high vibration happiness, but sound is also important as it shifts and moves energy. Interestingly, the earths natural frequency resonates at 7.8 hz, which also happens to be the same as the sound OM, when hummed.
8. The planet: Connect back to nature. So many scientific studies have started coming in about the benefits of grounding (walking in nature barefoot), being around trees and the effects that walking by the sea has on our wellbeing. Sun gazing is also a powerful ancient art to raise your vibration, so try to dedicate a few hours a week to spending time with your planet.
9. Gratitude: There’s something very magical about the mirroring effect of our thoughts and the things we seem to attract into our lives. Giving thanks daily to the good things in your life will attract more of the same. Make this a part of your daily routine by writing 3 things down at the end of each day that you were grateful for and feel the high vibrations rising (and your life transforming in response to it.)
10. Empathy: View every interaction through the lens of compassion and understanding. If your heart doesn’t feel full when you’re interacting and speaking, you might be talking from your head too much. The heart has its own electromagnetic field, which is 5000x stronger than that of the brain. Try and recentre your focus back into it at all times. Important note – this also includes being compassionate in your thoughts towards yourself. Negative talk which includes emotions like judgement, jealousy and bitterness will flood you with low vibration energy, so try and shut those conversations down.
11. Mindfulness: We live in a beautiful world yet we so often take the details for granted. When you lock back into the present moment, the world seems to spring back to life. Sunlight looks magical. Stars make us want to fall to our knees. The rain feels refreshing on our skin and every smile between strangers becomes sacred. And how does the heart respond to such gratitude for life? That cosmic buzz of high vibration of course!
12. Awareness: Be aware of your thoughts, words and actions because they are a direct link to your perception and manifestation of reality. If you’re negative in your thoughts about others, it’s normally a mirror of your own creases or something you need to work on in yourself. When your thoughts are magical and kind, your life transforms to match the vibration and you start attracting beautiful things.
13. Shadow self work: I sometimes think therapy should be made mandatory for teenagers. Something we’re not told to do but of which is truly necessary is to regularly sit with our emotions and allow the wave of them to be observed, worked through and finally let go of. Old emotions are baggage and can feel heavy and low vibration to carry around when they’re not processed properly. This can be released through diary writing or expressively like art or talking and taking responsibility out loud for things you need to change and release.
14. Optimism: Finding the silver lining. This doesn’t mean denying life’s difficulties in a bubble of delusional ignorance. However, you can choose to react as a child would to any new complications or challenges. Difficulties in life can be seen as opportunities for growth, rather than negative hindrances. Instead, react with curiosity, adventure and exploration, rising to the challenge of jumping over hurdles rather than being knocked down by them.
15. Laughter: The power of learning to laugh at yourself! If the ego operates within a low frequency then its nemesis has to be the ability to laugh at ourselves and not take things too seriously.
16. Play: It’s a serious world out there yet so often we attribute playfulness as a quality only children should have. But imagine how much lighter the world would be if we started to hug a little more for fun! Make every mundane task into a game. Actively seek ways to be mischievous and have fun!
17. Meaning: Find your purpose. If you’re not leaving work with a buzz in your heart, you might be yet to find your calling. It’s easy to forget what really lights us up and sometimes it’s about looking back to the hobbies and things you enjoyed the most as a child. How does that translate to an adult career?
18. Embrace change: Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in situations because of a fear of the unknown. Sometimes if we feel low in vibration for a long period of time, it can be an indication that we need to leave something behind. Embrace the adventure ahead, even if it’s unfamiliar.
19. Become whole: Recognise the importance of befriending yourself first, which includes all the uglier stuff you need to work on. The ultimate clue is found when you consider how most of us spend years romantically searching for ‘the one’ and imagine that they’ll be a twin soul of our own. (You are ‘the one’ you’ve been searching for and the best thing about that is wherever you go, there you will be.)
20. Recharge: This very much ties in with the above point. Part of becoming whole is about learning to rely on yourself first and others second. Spend time with your own energy and get to know yourself. Learn how to be at peace with your own company because this is when you can truly amplify and recharge your own energy back into high vibration.
Kubi May is an artist, creative therapist and a Reiki teacher in Brighton. She runs workshops for Brighton Bohemians with Jasper Bhogal at Unity Studio. For more info see the Workshops page here.