Feel Happier in 11 Steps
February 13th 2012 10:01
Find out what makes you happy so you can keep it going.
By RealAge
Find Your Happy Place
Are you happy? It's such an important question because happiness has such a huge impact on your health, from your arteries to your heart, from the glow in your skin to the pep in your step. Happy feelings influence your brain and body chemistry in ways that make you better able to cope with pain and stress and to fend off colds, flu, heart disease, and even cancer. Follow these steps to help make yourself happier, day in and day out and your RealAge up to 5.2 years younger!
Hang Out with Happy Friends
Having someone in your immediate social circle who is upbeat ups your chances of happiness by 15%. Why? It seems happy people have the power to spread their feel-good vibes far and wide the same way a ripple spreads through a pond. Not only do immediate friends matter, but friends of friends, too. So make plans to have lunch with a friend or go for a walk together. It could have far-reaching benefits for your mental health.
Make Time for Play
Swap your endless to-do list for some spontaneous playtime. It packs big benefits for your health, mood, mind, job, and even your relationships. When you're floating free, happy, and totally absorbed, you're taking a mini vacation from deadlines, bills, and your crazy-busy schedule. Anything counts, from enjoying a silly moment with your spouse to hosting an impromptu gathering, to cooking up a new recipe in the kitchen.
Squash Negativity
Is your inner voice quick to snap out things like, "How could you forget that, you idiot?" Sometimes the noise inside our own heads is our biggest stressor. When negative thoughts crop up, imagine a stop sign in your head, and tell yourself, "Stop!" To turn things around, trade in put-downs for positive thoughts and affirmations. For example, when you feel tired during a workout, think, "I am strong" or when you start work on a difficult task, think, "I can accomplish anything." Empower yourself to think positive.
Connect with Others
Make every effort to talk -- really talk -- to people you care about. If they're far away, stay in touch through e-mail, phone calls, video chat, and, when you can, face-to-face visits; you'll all benefit by connecting. Get physical, too; hugs stimulate oxytocin, the "cuddle hormone," spreading a feel-good boost. Lovemaking does, too, in steady relationships (those couples report the highest happiness levels). Plus, connecting with others may keep you healthier by providing a coping mechanism for stress.
Keep a Gratitude Journal
Simply writing down what you're thankful for makes you healthier, happier and more optimistic. Feeling thankful comes, in part, from counting your blessings each day. If you're not sure how to journal, start by answering: What three things am I thankful for? You might find that journaling gives you a better, happier outlook for each day because you're looking for moments to include in your journal each night.
Lend a Helping Hand
Volunteering at a nearby school or retirement residence, running to the pharmacy for a sick friend, or lending emotional support to a loved one can give your happiness quotient a big boost. How? Giving back and bonding with others inspires gratitude for what life has given you, and can help you define your purpose in life. The secret to being happy may be realizing that true happiness isn't about being high on life all the time, but slowing down enough to share your natural gifts with oth
Enjoy the Great Outdoors
Spending time with awesome Mother Nature makes you feel alert, enthusiastic, energetic, and simply happy. Is it the fresh air, the sunshine, the greenery? No one knows for sure. But something about being al fresco appears to help people get even bigger benefits from their workouts and they're also more likely to stick to their outdoor sports be it walking, bicycling, kayaking or an outdoor fitness class
Turn On Some Tunes
If you want to feel happy, less stressed and more energetic, flip on your stereo. Whether you love Bach, Lady Gaga or The Beatles, music that makes you feel good increases your heart and breathing rates and makes your brain release dopamine, a lovely feel-good neurotransmitter. Plus, no matter whether you enjoy listening to your favorite music alone or with friends, it will more than likely give you the mood boost you're looking for.
Meditate or Pray
For some, being spiritual means going to church. For others, it means finding a quiet place to meditate and think about life. No matter how you do it or what you call it, meditation and prayer can help slow breathing and brain activity, and reduce heart rate and blood pressure. Plus, when you do pray or meditate, you're more likely to be filled with peace, joy, and other positive emotions that can also lead to positive physiological responses throughout your body
Be Realistic
Being happy means facing the fact that life sometimes stinks and that there will definitely be times when you’ll be unhappy. This doesn't mean you have to lower your expectations. Instead, align them with reality by expecting to face challenges. A little unhappiness here and there forces you to work through problems and think about what gives you happiness so you can set new directions that may change your life.
| 41 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Anonymous
soccer bites
Comment by Quintin Watt
'Old friends never die - they simply fade away' - lol! Well, I haven' t actually faded away - been doing all sorts, really - and following your blog, as I can ...
Wouldn't disagree with very much of this at all - it's pretty much, give or take, what I would advise my clients ... as a recipe for day to day happiness or 'keeping cheerful' certainly. Add to the 'open air' thing, of course: regular sensible physical exercise (and more than just a stroll around the park or walking the dog). A 'couch potato' life, or even a 'desk potato' one is not, in the end, a happy one ... because unhealthy.
I would also very much agree with the bit about prayer and/or meditation. Life without some kind of spiritual dimension - whatever may be your beliefs or lack of them in this area - is simply unfulfilled living. Letting money be your only 'God' is NO sort of recipe for happiness, in my view. Neither, I agree, is just busying yourself in the workaday world enough - you need some other interest outside of all this, some 'me' time away from all the stresses and the strains, some 'fun time' (which can be with or without family - sometimes, one may even need the occasional 'breather' away from that too - esp if it is a stressful family!). But one should not, of course - as alas so many business people do today - have no time left for them at all - that, of course, can eventually cost you your marriage and your family itself ... and the price of that, as we know, is not happiness at all; it is dismal regret and loneliness (or often so).
I note, however, one ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL ingredient for real and meaningful happiness in life, which is hardly mentioned here at all: DREAMS, GOALS, ASPIRATIONS, AMBITIONS (call them what you will).
"Without goals to strive for, the attainment of human happiness is nearly impossible" (L. R. Hubbard (1911-1986) - whose work and teachings I have, along with that of many other practical philosophers, studied .. eclectically, of course - and no: I am NOT a scientologist!).
This highly controversial hack science fiction writer turned practical philosopher and founder of the most eccentric and infamous so-called 'Church of Scientology' (and whose private and public life I'll not discuss here!) was not right about everything by any means, but he was spot on, IMO, on this one!
Much of the work I do with many of my clients is, in fact, about helping them to recapture their lost dreams (oh yes, it CAN be done!). 'Be realistic' says the article ... but stresses that this does NOT mean 'compromise on your dreams' or even on your plans - hell no! It shouldn't mean that - you shouldn't!!! EVER!!
"I'm not telling you to be 'realistic' here" says one of the opening chapters of my self-help course called 'POWERLINES' (basically, that's about releasing your own inner 'powerlines'; the MASSIVE potential we all have inside of us - of which so many of us use only but a fraction) ...
"I'm not telling you here to be 'realistic' - I'm telling you to go into orbit!" (It is a metaphor, of course, a figure of speech).
Years ago, I read a self-help book by an American millionaire businessman (whose name I do not recall, alas) who, in one chapter, advised (I paraphrase here):-
"Having the ambition: 'I will fly through the air unassisted' - no; that is not what I call a 'realistic' goal . However; that which it is possible for a human being to achieve (however difficult, unprecedented, unconventional or untried): THAT is a 'realistic' goal!"
I note that your article advises (qualifying 'realistic') that we must not expect to always have an easy ride. Exactly so! Life is not like that, of course. Too often, far too often, people DO quit when 'the going gets tough'. We shouldn't. Hubbard's words could indeed be further qualified here by adding that the OVERCOMING of obstacles in order to achieve our dreams, goals, life hopes etc. is actually part of the game of life - and life, indeed, is a game (even if, sometimes, a dealy serious one).
Be obstinate and pig-headed for the sake of it, ignore all informed (as opposed to well-meaning but useless and non-constructive) advice, crush anyone or anything that gets in your way - NO!!! That is most emphatically not any part of a recipe for happiness. Quite the reverse, in fact; this can only ultimately lead to deep unhappiness, alienation and a bitter heart. But don't be talked out of' your dream, 'reasoned into' giving up on a real and worthwhile dream. NEVER!!
"Hold on tight to your dream
Hold on tight to your dream ..
When you get so sick of trying ...
When you feel your heart is breaking -
Hold on tight to your dream."
(J. Lynne; 'Hold On Tight (To Your Dream)'. Recorded by UK group ELO (aka The Electric Light Orchestra). From the concept album 'Time' (Jet (UK), 1981)).
And the advice omits one other most important factor here: BE CREATIVE! That includes not only making and doing things (apart from simply making money!) - so; be physically creative definitely. You don't have to be a Rembrandt or Tchaikovsky to do that, I assure you ... even some quality creative gardening, carpentry or metal-smithing work might do it for you, or maybe needlework or word-smithery is your thing; who knows? - we ALL have some creative talent you know! But also - and this is extremely important:-
THINK (and plan) CREATIVELY : It is the anatomy of thinking of every genius there has ever been .. and of everyone who has ever seriously achieved their goal!
Good luck!
Jeff Watt, Mental and Spiritual Healer
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
Thank you so much for your timely visit and meaningful comments
Comment by Quintin Watt
Love - Jeff