30 Ways To Find Out if a Person Is Really Happy and How You Can Too

As someone who would like to make the people around me happy, I had problems finding if someone is truly happy because people can lie. Behind those smiles, there might be something that bothers them. If you’re improving your emotional intelligence, learning to see it is essential since it builds empathy. Thus, how can we say that a person is really happy?

You can easily tell if someone is truly happy by looking at their smile. Happy people are smiling with their eyes squinting, lowered eyebrows, and eyelids. Furthermore, the sides of their lips rise symmetrically along with their smile, which are all involuntary movements. See Photo and Arrows for Illustration.

To make this more thorough, I listed 30 ways or signs to determine whether a person is truly happy. That way, you can look for these signs when interacting with people and find out if they are happy or not.

1. Happy People Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

I am currently reading the book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson.

In the book, he explained that we have a big tendency to react to small things leading to a more stressful and less happy life.

That idea got into me, and that’s also where I realized that happy people still have minor problems. But the difference is that they know how to appropriately react instead of overreacting.

For example, when driving, someone might swerve in the road, which can cause us to overreact and have a bad day.

The truth is the person might not even know who you are and might never know that they destroyed your mood.

The only one who got stressed out and got into a bad mood is you. These are small things that we can just let go of to have a happy life.

2. Happy People Are Impeccable in Their Words

I learned about this concept from the book “The Four Agreements.” by Don Miguel Ruiz.

In the book, he explained that wise people know how to be impeccable with their words.

Impeccable means “without any mistake.” It means that if you say that you’ll work on your goal today, then you’ll work on your dream today.

An example is how I told myself that I would finish this blog post today. No questions asked.

Being true or impeccable with your word teaches you responsibility and discipline.

The more you become disciplined, the more you’ll take care of things.

The more you take care of things, the fewer problems linger on your mind, leading to less stress.

3. Happy People Are Selfless in Nature

Happy people are generally selfless in nature because they think they already have everything they need. Thus, it is easier for them to give.

That’s why you’ll see many happy and satisfied people doing charity works, volunteering to help others, or offering their services to serve humanity.

The truth is, it is hard to do these things if you aren’t satisfied with your life.

A common logic of people is that they don’t think they can help others because they can’t help themselves.

The majority of the people that are serving others are happy.

Furthermore, charity works have been proven to make a person happier.

A research journal from Science Magazine hypothesized “that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness than spending money on oneself.”^[1]

Specifically, we hypothesized that spending money on other people may have a more positive impact on happiness than spending money on oneself.

ELIZABETH W. DUNN

Furthermore, a research study from Research of Ageing and Social Policy found out that adults who engaged in voluntary work were happier than those who didn’t do voluntary work.^[2]

With these two research papers, we can say that people who give are generally happier. Thus, a lot of selfless people are usually happy.

4. Happy People Serve Others

As already explained, self-less people are generally happier.

Thus, you can say that a person is really happy with their life by serving others.

This can be as easy as joining charitable works, volunteering to serve, or donating some of their money to charity.

It is hard to force a person to give if they think that they lack some basic needs.

5. Happy People Enjoy Laughter

One of the signs you will see on happy people is that they enjoy laughter.

They try to live their lives to their fullest by laughing and enjoying the company of others.

Happy people don’t need to force themselves to laugh. Instead, they are generally cheerful.

6. Happy People Always Do Their Best

People who always do their best get the best results.

Because of this, they achieve more success in life.

More success in life brings happiness as it helps make a person grateful and satisfied for each good thing they experience.

As an old saying goes: “You reap what you sow.”

And by always doing their best, they also get the best things life has to offer.

7. Happy People Take Care of Their Bodies

People who are happy with their lives take care of their bodies.

Since they are satisfied and grateful for their lives, they want to prolong their health and have enough energy to enjoy life.

On the contrary, unhappy people tend to forget about their health. Thus, they would most likely have lower energy levels and an unhealthy physique.

8. Happy People Are on the Looks for Opportunities

Since happy people are often hopeful, they always like to seek opportunities.

It can be a career change, or a new project, or even getting a new pet.

They seek opportunities to make their lives better or to accept new challenges.

In contrast, unhappy people also tend to lose hope. Thus, they don’t want anything new.

9. Happy People Makes Others Happy

With a cheerful smile, a happy person can make their environment a happier place.

They can quickly transfer mood to others. If someone is in a bad mood, it can cause others to be in a bad mood.

On the other hand, a happy person would light up the mood around them.

Most people who are happy with their life has this atmosphere around them.

However, this does not apply to all as some unhappy people are masking their sadness by trying to make their environment happy.

The difference is that happy people can effortlessly make their environment lighter than others who are just trying.

10. Happy People Like To Listen

Though this doesn’t always apply to everyone, many happy people like to listen to others.

They know the importance of listening as it is a core fundamental in building social skills.

Furthermore, it helps build a person’s empathy.

However, some people talk a lot when they’re happy.

This is especially true when they are excited about something that lights up their day.

But people who are satisfied with their lives tend to be happy simply because they are used to feeling normal.

Thus, even if nothing happened that day, they’re still happy and satisfied with it. So they prefer to listen instead.

This concept is called the midpoint theory and I discussed the topic in my other blog post on discussing the things that make a person truly happy. It is a good read, together with this blog post. Here is the link if you’re interested: What is a Truly Happy Person

11. Happy People Loves Deep Interactions

One thing you’ll see with happy people is that a lot of them appreciate deep talks.

They appreciate when someone opens up to them since it is a sign that they trust them.

Furthermore, deep interactions have more meaning compared to small talks.

Small talks are really helpful in starting any conversations, and they can form friendships but only to a certain extent.

Something common to genuinely happy people is their desire to have deeper relationships with people, and the way to turn relationships deeper is to start a deep conversation.

12. Happy People Have Routines

In Jordan Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life, he explained that happy people have their routines always in check.

The truth is, our brain is always looking for routines to follow. These patterns make our lives easier and less stressful.

The more routine we have, the fewer things we have to think about, and the fewer things we think about, the less stress we will have.

That’s why a lot of successful people also have their routines in check. The time they will eat, the time they will wake up, what they will do before bed, and the things they do upon waking up.

All of these are routines that make life simpler.

And the less complicated things are, the happier life is.

13. Happy People Don’t Expect Things

Unmet expectations are one of the leading causes for a person to have a dissatisfying life.

That’s why a lot of happy people try to stay away from expecting.

They don’t like to expect things. Sometimes, it is better for them to expect less or none at all.

That way, if somebody breaks their expectations, it wouldn’t have many impacts, and they won’t sweat the small stuff.

14. Happy People Are Grateful

One of the key traits of people who are happy with their lives is that they are also grateful.

They know that being happy is not about chasing happiness but being grateful and satisfied for the things they have.

Thus, they practice the act of gratitude every time something good happens to them, even the tiny things.

15. Happy People Value Their Time

A happy person will always value their time. They make sure that their time is well spent since they appreciate the gift of life.

It may sound cliche but hear me out.

When a person is unhappy, they tend to waste their time since they want to escape reality.

This can come as too much gaming, social media, sleeping, or whatever it is that lets them stay away from reality.

The opposite of that is a person who is grateful for each minute of life they have.

They will make sure that they achieve something every day and go to bed satisfied with their accomplishments, no matter how small.

16. Happy People See Good Things Around them

Happy people aren’t negative in nature. They know that negativity can spread through people.

That’s why they always try to see good things in people.

It doesn’t mean that they turn a blind eye to some negative traits. Turning a blind eye to negative traits is also wrong since that is being naive.

What this means is that they see the positive things and focus on them. They only mind the negative things which can impact their life.

They only choose the things they need to care about.

17. Happy People Live With Purpose

The most common reason why you’ll see happy people wake up every day with a light in their eyes is that they have a purpose.

It might be as simple as building a small shop or making something they love. It might even be a simple hobby such as finishing a puzzle, kit, or woodwork.

The point here is that they have a guide or purpose on what they need to do.

They don’t like living mindlessly and instead live their lives with absolute certainty.

18. Happy People Doesn’t Like Resentment

Resentment is something a happy person would try their best to avoid.

Resentment brings nothing but anger. The problem here is that keeping anger for the long term leads to too much stress.

That’s why it is essential to stay forgiving.

19. Happy People Know Their Boundaries

Happy people know their boundaries. They accept there are things they can’t control and are fine by it.

They also don’t feel entitled to things.

Remember that feeling entitled is a form of expectation that happy people are trying to stay away from.

Even if there are things they can’t control, they are fine by it and accept their limitations.

We are only humans, after all.

20. Happy People Handle and Resolve Conflicts

There are moments where we can resolve conflicts to make our lives happier, and it is important to know when to solve them.

Sometimes, some conflicts are small enough to neglect, but big conflicts are better solved than stay for the long term.

Happy people know this and would prefer to handle and solve difficult situations instead of prolonging the agony.

For example, a simple confrontation can be painful but can instantly improve relationships and removes the stress it can bring for the long term.

21. Happy People are Positive in Nature

It is common knowledge that negative atmosphere will bring a negative mood to people. Thus, it is important to stay positive, especially in difficult times.

That’s also why happy people like to hang around with positive people since they know that unhappiness can quickly spread through us.

22. Happy People are Always Smiling

Happy people are always known for lighting the mood of people.

The truth is what makes them light other’s moods is their smile.

A smile can make another person smile, much like laughing can make others laughing.

Sometimes, we laugh not because a joke is funny. Instead, we laugh because someone is also laughing.

Furthermore, it is our reflex to smile when we are happy thus, this is an easy way to see if a person is happy.

However, some people are only faking smiles. Thus, we need to know what a genuine smile looks like, which we will discuss in the next section.

23. Happy People Always Smile with their Eyes

As I explained at the start of the blog post, the easiest way to know if a person is happy is to check their smile.

We can differentiate a fake smile from a genuine smile by looking at the eyes and the lips.

You can identify a happy person if they smile with their eyes squinting, lowered eyebrows, lower eyelids, and sides of their lips rise along with the smile.

For reference, you can check the picture and the arrows in the image above.

24. Happy People are Confident

Even with their limitations, happy people are confident.

They know their boundaries, limitations and accept when they need help.

Because they accept their weaknesses, they are happier than others.

That’s also why even if people point out some things that are wrong with them, they accept their flaws and will end up smiling.

This attitude shows their confidence and trust in their abilities.

25. Happy People Can Admit if They’re Wrong

Same with being confident, a happy person would admit if they did something wrongs.

Since they fully understand their weaknesses, they can own up to everything.

26. Happy People are Energetic

Happy people would always keep their bodies healthy since they know how important health is to enjoy life.

Thus, they will usually have more energy levels than others who don’t care for their bodies.

Furthermore, since happy people tend to go through routines, you can also see them taking sleep seriously, which leads to more energy levels throughout the day.

27. Happy People Don’t Chase Happiness

One thing I learned about being happy is that happiness is not about chasing empty happiness.

What I mean by that is chasing just happiness without any satisfaction will always be useless.

For example, when I was only chasing happiness, I would just spend my whole day playing games which are fun, but it didn’t make me happy in the long term.

Instead, I am always looking for satisfaction which brings happiness for the long term.

I made a YouTube Video regarding the topic, and if you’re interested in knowing more about this, you can find it here.

I make self-improvement videos on YouTube, and I gladly invite you to check my Channel to learn more about personal development. You can find my Channel by clicking here.

28. Happy People Are Fine With Being Bored

Happiness is not about chasing happiness. It is not trying to chase the highs in life.

Instead, it is about being happy with feeling normal.

We spend a lot of our time feeling normal, also called the midpoint.

The midpoint is boring. You don’t feel happy nor sad. It is feeling neutral.

However, since we spend most of our time in the midpoint, it will always be there no matter what we do.

Thus, to be happier in general, you need to be satisfied with the midpoint.

I also talked more about the topic in my video above. Feel free to check it out if it interests you.

29. Happy People Are Good Listeners

Not only are happy people good at deep conversations, but they are also good listeners.

Listening helps them become more social and genuine towards others.

This leads to more meaningful relationships, which is also essential for a happier life.

30. Happy People Value their Relationships

Happy people know that happiness is not all about material things.

While material things such as basic needs are important for happiness, they also know that relationships are important.

That’s why they value friendships and relationships with people. They love deep conversation.

They value their closest friends to whom they’ve shared some laughter.

These are traits happy people have.

By checking this list, you can say if a person is really happy.

What’s next? Another way to know is to find out what makes a person unhappy. I’ve listed 45 signs or ways to find out if a person is unhappy in another blog post. I believe that it’s a good read if you’re interested in knowing the difference between a happy and unhappy person. Here is the link: 45 Easy Ways To Know if Someone Is Secretly Unhappy.

Sources:

1. Dunn, E. W., et al. “Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness.” Science, vol. 319, no. 5870, 2008, pp. 1687–88. Crossref, doi:10.1126/science.1150952.
2. Tanskanen, Antti Olavi, and Mirkka Danielsbacka. “Do Voluntariness and Charity Pay Off? Well-Being Benefits of Participating in Voluntary Work and Charity for Older and Younger Adults in Finland.” Research on Ageing and Social Policy, vol. 4, no. 2, 2016, p. 2. Crossref, doi:10.17583/rasp.2016.1640.