happiness

Imagine in only five minutes each morning you could be happier? When you awaken each morning, you have the opportunity to set the tone of your day. If you wake up smashing the alarm and wildly getting ready for your day, you might be harming your health as well as your attitude. Here are five simple one minute activities that can change the way you live. Yes, the way you live! Using these tips, you will find your five minutes to happiness or at least begin to become happier.

First minute: Take a mindfulness moment for morning mediation.

Consciously slow your breathing, taking deep breaths. Feel the air as it enters your body and as it leaves. Deep breathes help to diminish any pain and feed your mind. Attempt to focus only on the sensations around you. How do you feel? What do you smell? What do you visualize?

Second minute: Become conscious of gratefulness for the gift of life.

Identify at least three things you are grateful for. Starting with gratitude sets us up to think with a grateful attitude for the rest of the day. It can be simple, such as I am grateful for my family, for a roof over my head and for a chance to start over today!

Third minute: Surrender any grudges and bitterness.

Realize that a lack of forgiveness pulls you into the world of negativity.  Strive to forgive everyone for everything, that doesn’t make their behavior ok, it just frees you . Example: “I forgive my ex-spouse for his behavior and attitude towards me. Although I do not condone certain behaviors, I will not keep the bitterness within – it only poisons me.

Fourth minute:  Tell yourself something nice about yourself each day.

Tell yourself something you really admire about yourself, and this reminder will help you start the day off right by thinking straight to feel great! So often, our internal dialogue is nasty when it comes to how we think about ourselves. If you wouldn’t say it to a friend or loved one, don’t think it about yourself! Example:  “I am proud that I keep trying new things and I embrace change.”

Fifth minute: Think victory not victim.

Notice your thoughts and then remember to WAIT, or ask yourself What Am I Thinking? Identify irrational, judgmental thoughts and replace them with more rational thoughts. Separate fact from fiction! Let go of any negative thoughts from the previous day and decide that today will be better, brighter and more successful.

Now, as you get up and begin your day, enjoy the morning. Wishing you the best on taking a time out as you work on transforming your life and yourself 5 minutes at a time! Then take time through out the day to pause, spend those minutes in complete silence with your eyes closed, taking a couple of deep breaths. You will be glad you did.

Is it time to make your happiness pit stop?

Can you really have too much happy? There are those who act happy to a point of giddy, they want to make a party out of a disaster and tend to negate other valid emotions. That is not what this celebration is about. August is National Happiness Month and I want to help you find yours. First thing you might consider is what NOT to do. In this article I have shared some things that the unhappy make habit,HABITS OF THE CHRONICALLY UNHAPPY.

Sometimes in order to be happier, we have to do something that isn’t fun, but will result in long happiness. I recently had a client share with me how attending a family reunion as a kid was so boring that it was almost painful for her. Now she is so glad she did, as there are many fond memories and connections from those events. She now drags her daughter to family reunions, kicking and screaming. Although I cannot say that scrubbing my bathroom plumbing is a joy, the end result makes me happy. To be happy in the long-term, we may have to stretch ourselves in the short-term. A willingness to try new things or see old things in new ways may be a prerequisite for lasting happiness.

There has been a lot of research in recent years with regard to happiness. While we tend to believe that we will be happy when we achieve a goal, research has found the opposite. It is the thought of the goal and the work that goes into achieving it that brings us happiness. Although we think winning the lottery will bring us happiness, once again, research says that is a fallacy as well. After three years of winning the lottery, the winner acclimates to the new normal and returns to their previous level of happiness or unhappiness.

So, what is happiness and how do we sustain it? According to Acacia Parks, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Hiram College, “The research suggests that happiness is a combination of how satisfied you are with your life (for example, finding meaning in your work) and how good you feel on a day-to-day basis. Both of these are relatively stable–that is, our life changes, and our mood fluctuates, but our general happiness is more genetically determined than anything else. The good news is, with consistent effort, this can be offset. Think of it like you think about weight: if you eat how you want to and are as active as you want to be, your body will settle at a certain weight. But if you eat less than you’d like or exercise more, your weight will adjust accordingly. If that new diet or exercise regimen becomes part of your everyday life, then you’ll stay at this new weight. If you go back to eating and exercising the way you used to, your weight will return to where it started. So it goes, too, with happiness.”

Furthermore, researcher Daniel J. Siegel, MD has concluded that with a daily habit of mindfulness the brain changes in ways that cause us to feel happier and more contented. Being mindful means being more fully aware of what is around us – what we can see, hear, touch and taste. Also, aware of what is happening inside us, our thoughts and our feelings. It’s about learning to observe all this without getting caught up in worrying or ruminating about it. We are then able to choose where we place our focus.

Tips For Making August Your Happiness Month

Notice

So, how do we begin a practice of happiness/mindfulness? Start with noticing your thoughts. What do you place your focus on? Focus on lasting meaning, not momentary feelings. Things that make us feel good in the moment may actually be unhealthy for us, creating guilt, remorse and negative health consequences down the road. All types of addictions fall into this category, as does mindless materialism. If we can focus on building a life in which we act authentically and are guided by our core values we can achieve more lasting happiness. This feeling may not be as intense as a momentary high, but it is deeper and more enduring. When we build authentic relationships and contribute to our family and community, we feel good about ourselves.

Savor

If we deliberately savor the good times, they will be there for us to draw upon in the not so good times. We have become pros at practicing for disaster, yet when it strikes we are no more prepared to handle it then we would have been had we not spent time worrying. Ironically, research shows we can extend our enjoyment of special times by deliberately thinking about them. We need to practice every day to rewire our brains for happiness. This means deliberately focusing attention on the positive parts of our day, such as the morning hug from a loved one, the adorable way our puppy wags her tail when we get home or the magnificent sunset outside our door.

Connect

When we allow our relationships to go onto autopilot, we lose our connections with others. Instead of thinking about what we are going to say next in a conversation, imagine just listening. Open your heart and listen to the feelings behind the words being spoken. This kind of attention will help your friends and loved ones feel that you really care about them and what they have to say. It will also help you to truly understand what they are trying to communicate. When you are focused on the experience of being with others while you are in their presence, you immediately make that quality time.

Give Thanks

There are volumes written on the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal. Taking time each day to review the things you are grateful changes the neural pathways of your brain. This will help you overcome the negativity bias you had hardwired into a more positive thought flow, improving your health and sleep! Being thankful fills us with optimism and self-confidence. Gratitude dampens our desires for “more” of everything–and it deepens our relationships with loved ones. And when we express our gratitude to someone, we get kindness and gratitude in return causing immediate increases in happiness and decreases in depressive symptoms.

Breathe

Taking time to breathe deeply and notice your breathes allows the mind and body to slow down and get into synch. We get busy and forget to notice our breathing, yet without breath, there is no life. So take time throughout the day to breathe deep. Feel the air going in and out of the body and notice the feelings that happen in the body when breathing long, slow breathes.

Mind your mind. Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment without judgment. Opening our awareness beyond the narrowness of negativity can help bring back more balance and positivity into the picture. In other words, know what makes you happy and get happy!

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Benjamin Franklin

The month of August has been declared Happiness Happens Month by the “Secret Society of Happy People” since 1999. The group defines its mission as “to help people recognize more happiness and encourage them to talk about it”.

The Society has three purposes for this month:

1. Recognize and express happiness
2. Listen to others talk about their happiness
3. Don’t rain on other people’s parades

They also have some fun ideas to help celebrate. Here are a few:

• wear a pair of silver shades (because happy people always see the silver lining)
• laugh (laughter is still the best medicine)
• smile (and the world smiles with you)
• post on Twitter about what makes you happy, using the hashtag #HappinessHappensyou

The group has a Happiness Happens Month 31 Day Challenge on Facebook. So far, I have been challenged to walk barefoot in the grass, wave at strangers, do something spontaneous and sing out loud to name a few. Even if you haven’t started the month’s challenges, you can join in right where you are and always go back to the beginning next month. After all, once you hop on the happiness train, you are going to want to stay onboard!

Happiness protects your health

I have repeatedly mentioned that I often asked my sons to find a reason to smile and laugh on their way out the door when they were younger. I am glad I did, because even now if I say that, they giggle. Therefore, I have started the day in a happier way! According to studies being done, I was not only encouraging a good mood, but I was helping them remain healthy.

You have most likely heard that getting upset or angry can raise your blood pressure. In fact, in the worst-case scenario, those emotions can lead to a heart attack or stroke. But did you know that positive emotions can lower your blood pressure and risk for cardiovascular disease?

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson researched and found that when stressed people watched a film that left them feeling amused and content, that led to quicker recovery of heart function. She also noted that stressed subjects who smiled while watching a sad movie had a more rapid heart rate recovery. Her thesis is that positive emotions undo the effects of stress and, therefore, protect a person’s health.

There are even more health benefits to being happy. This infographic(created by happify)I found while surfing says it all in a neat package.