Ellen DeGeneres seems to be the epitome of happiness these days, and she certainly has reason to smile. Her wildly popular show Ellen boasts more than 50 broadcasting awards and Degeneres herself recently won “Favourite Daytime TV Host” at the 2014 People’s Choice Awards for the third consecutive year. The comedian turned sitcom star turned talk show host recently hosted the Academy Awards and her latest book Seriously … I’m Kidding was a New York Times bestseller.

It’s been a struggle for DeGeneres to get this far: she and her mother had to start a new life when her father left after 20 years of marriage. She also lost her former partner in a freak car accident, and had her sitcom cancelled after she came out as a lesbian. But throughout the roller coaster ride her career has been, she’s focused on one thing: staying positive. Her belief is that she should do good and good will follow.

“I’m definitely happier than I’ve ever been. I assume tomorrow I’ll be happier than today, because things are great. But I have a healthy dose of reality. The world’s a scary place, you know? It can be really sad and stressful and negative. I try to counterbalance that. I believe everything in life is energy.

If we’re destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there’s got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that. I really want my time here to be positive and productive.”

It’s easy to find the negative in our lives: annoying managers, never-ending deadlines, stressful commutes – the list goes on. But if you can’t find a reason to be happy in your life, do as DeGeneres does and become that energy for other people.

Ellen is at her happiest when working on a project for others: Whether it’s surprising families with give-aways on her show, fighting for animal rights, spreading awareness for the causes she supports. You need to find your happiness project. It may be something simple like meditation in the morning or volunteering your time in the community after work – a task that does good for the world will make you feel even better.

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Read more of Degeneres’ interview about happiness and her career here.

 

Image Credit: Flickr via Attribution 2.0 Generic, edited for cropping