Everyone wants to be happier. We chase after things, relationships and success hoping one of them will be the key that changes the balance in our life to greater happiness.
Yet, I have noticed that the happiest people I know are not always the ones with more toys, or outer success in relationships or careers. So what is the key?
In this Ted Talk, Shawn Achor gives great examples of why so much of what we do doesn’t bring happiness and he ends with 5 actions that do. They are things I can vouch for as helping me sustain a positive outlook during a rough time in my life after loosing my mom and brother to cancer in the same year, getting divorced and having my business and family land burn in a wild fire.
Aside from my children and friends, these are the things that saved me, and they can boost your life, too.
- Write down things you are grateful for each day. Shawn says three, I like to journal about it each night before bed. It reminds me of what is going well and helps train my mind to look for the good.
- Journal about something that went well each day. This helps you replay something good in your mind which actually gives you all the benefit of having it happen again because your subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between reality and what you think about.
- Exercise. We all know this increases a sense of well-being. The question is are you doing it?
- Meditate. Meditation is not about making your mind completely still. It is about focus and returning to your focus again and again until you get really good at it. There are numerous studies on the benefit of meditation on our well being. It lowers cortisol and can be as rejuvinating as 8 hours of sleep.
- Random acts of kindness. In his Ted Talk, Shawn suggests employees in companies he consults with start each day by sending a positive email to someone–complimenting their work, noting something they did that was appreciated, anything. This creates a good feeling in the person doing the random act as well as the one who receives it. I love this idea and am implementing it starting tomorrow!
I would love to hear how you increase your happiness!
