Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions.

Q: How can I be happier?

A: This is the ultimate billion-dollar question. It’s right up there with “what is the meaning of life?” Of course that means there is no easy answer or quick fix. Happiness, like all emotions, is complex. Also like all emotions, it can also be fleeting. No one, not even the most optimistic person, is happy all the time. But there are a few things you can do to cultivate more moments of happiness in your daily life:

Think about what you loved as a kid

Even if you don’t have kids or didn’t have a particularly happy childhood, there is still value in thinking about the activities you loved before the concerns of adult life took over. Arts and crafts, sports, aimless bike rides, reading for pleasure, building with Legos—so many of the things that make up childhood are just pure fun, without expectation. If it brought you joy in a time when you focused on what you liked to do—instead of what you should do—chances are it can still bring you joy.

This is different than taking a class or taking up a new hobby (both of which are also good for happiness and can make you better at your job). This is about doing something just for the sake of enjoyment without expectation. It’s also freeing to be a little ridiculous and let go of what’s “appropriate.” After all, no one can see you making Play-Doh creations while drinking wine at home.

Address regret and be more compassionate with yourself

Ruminating about a mistake or a wrong choice is a surefire way to nurture unhappiness. Regret can become a habit, says Dinorah Nieves, author of Love You: 12 Ways to Be Who You Love & Love Who You Are. But you can dilute feelings of regret, she says, “if you can instead reframe the decisions you made—looking at why you made them and learning from them—and treat yourself with compassion.”

You can also reframe things by treating yourself like you would treat a friend or colleague who came to you with a problem. We often speak to ourselves in a much harsher and more judgmental way than we speak to others.

Pause to notice what’s good in life

Human brains have a negativity bias, which means all the bad stuff looms larger in our minds, even if we don’t want it to. And let’s be honest, there’s no shortage of bad stuff in the world right now. But even in the crappiest days there are good things, too.

Happy people don’t necessarily have better lives, but they do pay more attention to the good things in life. The advice to “stop and smell the roses” is cringe and it certainly won’t change your life, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Slowing down and refocusing your brain on a nice moment, a bit of praise, or a good meal can start to reframe your thinking—at least in small doses.

My family sometimes does “roses and thorns” at dinner: The “rose” is the best thing that happened that day, and the “thorn“ is the worst. Complaining can be therapeutic, and the thorn is usually easy to come up with, but forcing yourself to find a rose even on a bad day can help too, even if only a little.