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Learning Happiness: Everyday Activities to Increase Your Happiness By Sara Healy Sara Healy
While cleaning my bookshelf the other day, I found a book, 14,000 things to be happy about. It looked brand new, but the date inside was from years ago. This book sat beside my collection of self-help books, which in contrast were dog-eared, highlighted and clearly used. Holding the happiness book, I wondered why I hadn't used it. Then I realized I always thought happiness was something fleeting and incapable of improving my life.
Recently, my beliefs have changes as a result of what I've learned. I've discovered that being happy, contented, and positive are skills, which can be learned with practice and determination. Therefore, I made the decision to start my own journey to learn happiness and have been happily rewarded. Here are a few things that I've learned on my journey as well activities that have helped teach me more about happiness:
Recognize the hidden happy moments in a day.
When something wonderful happens to us, we usually know we're happy. It's the common, everyday moments of happiness that often elude us. One way to change this is by becoming deliberately aware of when we're feeling happy during the day. I found an activity that helped me and it might also help you. It's very simple: Get a notebook or a tape recorder and keep track of any happy moments you notice during your day. By writing them down or recording them, you become aware of these moments that might otherwise have passed by unnoticed.
One such moment occurred for me when I was very late for an appointment and frustrated at getting every red light. As I sat fuming at the latest stop, I noticed a little boy in the school bus next me making silly faces at people. Watching him made me feel happy. I wrote this moment down in my notebook. It became one of many. Now, I look forward to finding happy moments in my day. I even challenge myself to see how many I can find. How many happy moments are you missing in your day? Try noticing them and see if you find your day is better for it.
Make a conscious shift from negative to positive.
It's hard to feel happy when you're focused on the negative. Like a big pimple on our face, what we don't like can seem to be much more obvious than what we do like. Unfortunately, the more we focus on the negative, the more likely that's all we'll see. Changing this means we have to consciously bring more attention to the positive things that happen to us.
For example, I used to talk about my day by reciting what went wrong in it. I'm changing this by learning how to shift my negative comments into positive ones. This can be done two ways. You can match the negative comment with an unrelated positive. Therefore, if I say I'm mad at myself because I forgot my dentist appointment today, a positive statement might be that I received two compliments about my newsletter. The other option is to make the negative comment into a related positive one. For example, I missed my doctor's appointment, but I called to apologize and made a new appointment.
To be honest, this activity is challenging for me, but it has made me aware of the positive things I often missed. By regularly practicing shifting from the negative to the positive, I do feel happier about my day. Try this activity. See if you feel also feel happier when you pay attention to the positive.
Bring humor into your day.
There's nothing like a good laugh or smile to trigger happiness. I like to start my day with a funny video clip. I have one saved on my computer about the silly things cats do. As I love cats, this clip always makes me laugh, even though I've seen it tons of times. By starting my day with a laugh, I've found I feel much happier. See if this works for you. Be creative. Use whatever makes you laugh, such as newspaper comics, a favorite joke, or a silly picture. Use humor again and again during the day, whenever you need a reminder to be happy.
Practice, practice and practice some more!
Any new skill requires practice and learning happiness is no different. You have to work at it every day until it becomes part of your daily ritual. Therefore, try the activities I've suggested or create your own. Just keep practicing! The payoff is worth it. As you give more attention to feeling happy, you will also increase your overall well-being.
As for me, I look for new ways to keep happiness a constant force in my life. Of course, there are still times I feel angry or sad, and that's okay. But now, I also pay attention to when I feel happy. I also practice happiness regularly. The book, 14,000 things to be happy about, I found on my bookshelf is now part of that practice. I'm confident it will soon look just as dog-eared, marked up and used as my old self-help books. It's another step on my journey to learning happiness.
Sara Healy is a life coach who works with people to help them use their strengths and values to make changes in their lives. You can contact Sara, subscribe to her free newsletter and obtain more information about her coaching practice at http://www.sarahealy.com
Copyright 2007 - Sara B. Heay. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.
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Attaining Happiness
Happiness can be attained in numerous ways: virtuous living, love, continuouscreative activity, and many others.
According to Immanuel Kant, "Happiness is the satisfaction of all our desires: extensive in regard to their multiplicity, intensive in regard to their degree, protensive in regard to their duration."
So, attaining happiness is all about managing your desires.
"A well guarded mind brings happiness. Those who are free from all worldly desires will attain Nirvana. Never covet what others have. It is deadly sin which grows away from all happiness. Learn to be happy with what you have," taught Buddha.
Happiness can be attained in numerous ways: virtuous living, love, continuouscreative activity, and many others.
According to Immanuel Kant, "Happiness is the satisfaction of all our desires: extensive in regard to their multiplicity, intensive in regard to their degree, protensive in regard to their duration."
So, attaining happiness is all about managing your desires.
"A well guarded mind brings happiness. Those who are free from all worldly desires will attain Nirvana. Never covet what others have. It is deadly sin which grows away from all happiness. Learn to be happy with what you have," taught Buddha.
How Writing Can Improve Your Daily Life
We all know that our well-being plan should include eating right, sleeping
well, drinking plenty of water, and making time for your nearest and dearest.
But word has it that when it comes to increasing our happiness and well being,
there’s a new kid in town.
Daily writing.
According to psychological research, writing regularly can provide a sense of
control and optimism, help
individuals organize and structure their thoughts and feelings,
and provide positive emotional, biological, and social effects. It seems, then,
that writing might just be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to
significantly boost your happiness, self-esteem and productivity — all of which
you’ll need to bring you closer to the career and personal life you’ve been
dreaming of as a busy entrepreneur or professional.
Here’s how daily writing achieves all of that goodness:
Making sense of things. Modern life throws plenty of challenges at
us. We’re now connected 24/7. We have more relationships to juggle than we know
how to deal with. Writing every day can help make sense of this confusion,
unleash your subconscious to help you make wiser decisions, and give you a
structured, systematic way to approach to problem solving. Make sure you have no
outside distractions and no input or influencing opinions from those around
you.
Acknowledging your achievements. When we spend all day looking at our
to-do list, we severely neglect and overlook our “done it and rocked it” list.
This is where gratitude journaling can be a great force of nature. It becomes a
reminder of the beauty and amazing things in your life. Oprah suggests writing
five things every day that you’re grateful for. You might just find that you
feel a boost just by using the written word to appreciate what you have.
Clearing your mind for better communication. Writing first thing in
the morning, much like a good run or a yoga session, can help free your mind of
it’s initial thoughts and worries by “brain-dumping” all that nonsense on to
paper. This morning brain-dump will leave you with clear and sharp mind. You
might also experience the added benefit in the form a boost in both productivity
and creativity as a result.
Practical Tips for Writing Daily
Laura Pepper Wu
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/writing-daily-can-improve-life-0668712#MGrHESY20fefX7jq.99
We all know that our well-being plan should include eating right, sleeping
well, drinking plenty of water, and making time for your nearest and dearest.
But word has it that when it comes to increasing our happiness and well being,
there’s a new kid in town.
Daily writing.
According to psychological research, writing regularly can provide a sense of
control and optimism, help
individuals organize and structure their thoughts and feelings,
and provide positive emotional, biological, and social effects. It seems, then,
that writing might just be one of the simplest and cheapest ways to
significantly boost your happiness, self-esteem and productivity — all of which
you’ll need to bring you closer to the career and personal life you’ve been
dreaming of as a busy entrepreneur or professional.
Here’s how daily writing achieves all of that goodness:
Making sense of things. Modern life throws plenty of challenges at
us. We’re now connected 24/7. We have more relationships to juggle than we know
how to deal with. Writing every day can help make sense of this confusion,
unleash your subconscious to help you make wiser decisions, and give you a
structured, systematic way to approach to problem solving. Make sure you have no
outside distractions and no input or influencing opinions from those around
you.
Acknowledging your achievements. When we spend all day looking at our
to-do list, we severely neglect and overlook our “done it and rocked it” list.
This is where gratitude journaling can be a great force of nature. It becomes a
reminder of the beauty and amazing things in your life. Oprah suggests writing
five things every day that you’re grateful for. You might just find that you
feel a boost just by using the written word to appreciate what you have.
Clearing your mind for better communication. Writing first thing in
the morning, much like a good run or a yoga session, can help free your mind of
it’s initial thoughts and worries by “brain-dumping” all that nonsense on to
paper. This morning brain-dump will leave you with clear and sharp mind. You
might also experience the added benefit in the form a boost in both productivity
and creativity as a result.
Practical Tips for Writing Daily
- Turn writing into a habit. Get into a routine. First thing in the
morning is ideal for writing, but just before bed or during your 4 p.m. slump
can be good times too. Grab a cup of coffee, head out of the office, and sit
down to write somewhere more inspiring. - Find a system that works for you. You might use apps on your iPad to
keeps track of your progress (750 Words a Day or Day
One are both popular choices). Or you might chose to write in a
beautifully designed notebook. Whatever encourages you to write more, just make
sure it’s distraction-free. Comedy writer Demetri Martin uses a typewriter to
write, since there’s no email or Internet to fight for his attention. - If nothing else, write an email to a few friends each morning. Having
one or two friends to check in with each day and discuss challenges and
achievements can go a long way in heightening your mood and efficiency
throughout the entire day.
Laura Pepper Wu
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/writing-daily-can-improve-life-0668712#MGrHESY20fefX7jq.99