The good thing is that you know what it means to be happy since you said: “I haven’t been genuinely happy for so long…”. The unfortunate part is that this reply alone may not be enough but I am sure it would guide you in the right direction. Below are a few things that you can do.
Remember that time. Try to remember the last time that you were genuinely happy. Think about the conditions, the type of people you were surrounded by, what you were doing, what you really enjoyed, etc… and try your best to create those conditions in your current life.
Happiness is personal and a matter of choice. No one can make you happy. I believe that happiness flows inside out and all external things can only bring either joy or misery. Joy will elevate your level of happiness while misery will debase it. Use your free will to only chose or associate with things or people who bring joy to you and avoid anything else like a plague. Your happiness depends on this separation, so be absolutely serious.
Get to know yourself. If someone were to ask you or if you were to ask yourself the question “Who are you?” or “Who am I?”, what would be your answer? Most people tend to respond by identifying themselves with their job or job title, but you are more than just a job title. Please note that when you answer that question, you will more likely start by saying “I am …”. Take a pen and a paper, write down a set of “I am Statements” that describe you in terms of values, qualities, principles, or social status. Such statements could be like “I am honest”, “I am courageous”, “I am a good friend”, “I am an excellent Nurse”, “I am a leader”, etc… The easiest way to go about writing these statements is to imagine your best self and then describe that vision of yourself in terms of “I am statements”. Once you do this, go through them every day, change and adjust as necessary.
Seek Alignment: Your thoughts, your words, and your actions must be in alignment with who you claim to be in your “I am statements”. If you believe you are respectful, you should not engage is insulting, cursing, or disrespectful in your thoughts, words, or actions. The easiest way to implement this lifestyle is to follow my advice # 2 by only associating with people who bring joy to you, people you respect and who respect you, people who add value to your life.
Happiness requires Balance. In this Creation, Balance is what maintains peace and harmony as the foundation for happiness. Seek balance is everything that you do and remember that You Must Always Give First Before You Get, in other words, only the fulfillment of the duty of giving guarantees your right to get. You’ve heard the expressions such as, you reap what you sow, or Karmic Law, etc… Notice that balance between breathing out and then breathing in is what maintains us alive. If you want a lot of oxygen in your lungs, you must empty them first to create room for it.
Be Patient. Nothing that grows strong does so overnight. You must be patient with yourself and forget instant gratification thinking by expecting to fully experience happy overnight. The best advice I can give you about how to be patient is to only focus on your intends and learn to be satisfied with your efforts. Celebrate small victories and build upon them, before you know its magic will be unfolding before you. The best thing about time is that no one manufactures it, it is free, you can always use it as an ally and as much as necessary.
Experience Life. Experience is your best teacher, follow your passion but just make sure that you don’t do so at the expense of others. Don’t lie, steal, mislead, abuse, hurt, and intentionally create pain onto others. Read inspirational books, listen to inspirational audiobooks, travel the world, meet new people to see how beautiful this earth truly is, and that will humble you to the point where no word will be good enough express your gratitude toward the Almighty God for allowing us to consciously experience so much joy and happiness.
I really hope that this will be enough to get you going. If you want you can share it with anyone else who may benefit from this. I would also suggest that you follow #revelationsandwonders, go to Happiness | Revelations & Wonders where you can ask additional questions receive updates and much more…