Having material things is nice, and there's nothing wrong with pursuing a life of abundance, but it may not be the key to true happiness.

When we boost our happiness with “stuff,” the effect is temporary. When we buy a new car, new furniture, or redecorate our home, the change will make us a little happier, temporarily. But then we drop down to our normal state of happiness, whatever that may be.

Here are five easy (and free!) ways you can boost your happiness TODAY.

1. Set your intention with very specific life goals, both long- and short-term. Goals are what keep us motivated and striving to always improve. Without clear, specific goals, we risk stagnating. Don't overwhelm yourself -- set goals in the areas of your life that are most important to you. Short-term goals should be relatively easy to achieve, that way you'll gain confidence to continue pursuing your longer-term goals.

2. Develop and maintain a strong support system. - Friends and family are both important for a place to turn when your inner strength is just about tapped out and you need a helping hand, a laugh, or an escape from the day to day.

3. Volunteer - Giving back feels great. It's as simple as that. But there's something about being an active participant in making people's lives better that is even more rewarding than just sending a payment to your favorite cause. Everyone is busy, but if you can take just an hour a week to volunteer at a local soup kitchen, at your church, or maybe do a walk for a specific cause (which has health benefits, too!)

4. Accept what you can't change. We are beings with free will and the capability to manifest everything we want in life. But there are certain things we can't control. This includes the actions of others. The best we can do is, by our own actions, inspire others to believe in themselves and be happier. But when it comes down to it, we must choose to accept what we can't control and be at peace, anyway.

5. Get spiritual - It doesn't matter what you believe in or what form it takes, but seeking spirituality in the form of meditation, worship or even spending time in nature provides you with a sense of happiness and inner peace that's hard to match. When we believe in a power outside ourselves, whatever we want to call it, energy is set in to motion to help us achieve our goals faster. Every effort we make provides a far greater return than the energy we expend. Feng Shui can be a powerful force in amplifying our efforts and aligning the Universal Energy with our goals, so we achieve what we want quicker, and with less effort.

Some people may call this luck or synchronicity. It's actually the energy of the universe aligning wth our goals so we can accomplish more, in less time, with less effort.