This may sound like an over simplification, but there is no greater truth out in the open ocean: happy surfers all share similar (if not the same) happy habits. It’s as simple as that.

The happiest surfers I know share seven very obvious habits. If you’re looking to expand your general happiness, you may consider adopting these in your own sessions and in your daily living. And although there is no tried and true bible of surfer habits that will make you instantly happy and giddy, these are pretty close to being gospel:

Give Yourself an Active Role in What You Believe In!

Yes, you are a surfer and you love to get in the water as often as you can … work schedule and personal commitments aside, right?  The first and best thing you could do for yourself is to ensure that you are engaging in your passion – the thing you love – actively, and often! Although for most of us this is definitely surfing, this passion or active role could involve just about anything … a social club, supporting worthy causes they believe in, or even finding passion in a career. In each case, the physiological outcome is the same. They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in. This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.

Share Your Surf Time with Friends and Family!

The image of the lone surfer on a solitary wave just may be a classic one, but it sure doesn’t lend itself to how most surfers like to surf: with friends and family around to share the special times with! Yes indeed, despite having to share the waves we all know that surfing is better when shared with lots of happy smiles and laughter. Being able to share surfing with your friends and family not only introduces them to your passion and love, but you also introduce your loved ones to your passion … and perhaps they will understand why and bond with you in those moments! Remember that a  happy life is a life shared with friends and family.

Focus on the Positives

The ever-increasing numbers out in the line-up can get on one’s nerves at times … especially when there are a number of drop ins, near hits, snakes, kooks, donkeys … you get the idea. But it may be quite too often that surfers concentrate their attention on negatives that happen in the open ocean. Although it’s natural for any surfer to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, these moments may contribute to a totally bad session if focused on too closely. There must be a healthy balance in awareness and forgiveness. It is important to mindfully reflect on the good while striving diligently to release the bad!

Exploit the Resources to which You Have Access

Simply put, a surfer dropping into monstrous waves at Teahupoo with a quiver of brand-spankin’ new boards, while sporting sponsor branded gear is no more (or less) of a surfer than that regular guy on the beat up longboard, drop-knee turning into knee high waves on a crowded day at the local point break. The common ground is surfing, and the search for the ‘stoke’. What makes these two different are the resources available to each of them, much like each and every surfer out there … different resources, different access, different equipment BUT still all surfers at heart. So whether you are surfing in the frigid waters of the Great Lakes, or the warm and inviting waters of Hawaii, keep in mind that we are all making do with the resources we all currently have access to. The answer rests in how any one of us uses the resources that we do have.

In anything you do, always End your Session on a Good Wave.

The power of how you finish anything is understatedly amazing … it can make or break an event, activity, or a relationship. It has been scientifically linked that the completion of any experience has a lasting and impacting influence on the experience as a whole. There are countless examples of great and captivating films that end on a bad note, which forever attaches that experience to a bad experience … no matter how good the first 120 minutes were! People always manage to remember the ending. AND in this spirit you will often hear surfers say that they have to catch a good wave in, not just any wave, but a good one!

Rely on Your Own Personal Talents and Strengths

Everyone possesses unique talents, skills, and strengths. Yes, Kelly Slater is like Man from Atlantis on a surfboard, yes Keala Kennelly charges Pipeline, and yes, Joel Tudor is all that and a box of surfwax … BUT they are all utilizing their own natural talents and strengths. In as much as we may want to practice surfing maneuvers and cut-backs, it is important to grow with your own talent and abilities, but also to have patience with the speed and progress by which those skills will develop. Surfing nirvana comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get in touch with the waves, instead of forcing the issue with wasted energy or unwanted internal turmoil. The key is to ensure that your bar for improvement and progress is your own skill set and not some super surfer’s super-sized image!

Savor the Flavor: Simple Pleasures!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best things in life are free – good waves, good friends, laughter and smiles, and all the memories you can pack away. The true happiness of a surfer comes in the form of simple pleasures, those things that appear at various arbitrary moments and places. They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstance and captured by mindful awareness – like the feel of the breeze on your cheeks as you trim down the line of a rolling wave, or the warmth that the sun brings on a chilly day, or even how dropping in on a wave feels a lot like that moment when an airplane lifts off the ground for the first time. Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unpredictable bursts of happiness into your life.

…