Happy Happy Joy Joy
Posted by Richard Mankhey
If I’m to believe everything I read (or at least the things that can teach me how to be a consistently happy person), it is supposedly possible to learn happiness by practicing the habits of happiness.
Some helpful tips I keep in the front of my Molskine notebook (that archaic method of writing things down with paper and ink *gasp* that wages battle against the computer for my attention) are as follows (I made some of these up and some of them I stole from magazine articles):
- Serve Somebody:
Volunteer. Helping others will make you happier as long as you keep doing it.
Give strangers compliments for no reason. Try to give three unsolicited compliments a day.
Write a letter to a family member or friend you’ve not connected with in a long time. An ACTUAL letter; then mail it to them.
- Play to Your Strengths:
Identify your character strengths-curiosity, perseverance, self-control, etc.-and use at least one of them every day. Even better, apply them to a task you detest. Go to www.authentichappiness.org and take the VIA Signature Strengths Questionnaire.
- Get in the Flow:
Take on a challenge that’s barely within your grasp, but not beyond you, to get into a state called ‘the flow’ when time seems to stop and the world seems to disappear. You’ll be happier in this state than when you’re not flowing.
- Three a Day for Better Health:
Every night, write down three things you were thankful for that day. The key phrase is every night.
It is this last point that compels me to write this post. It’s something I’ve been trying to do, but it is hard…most simple, effective things are the hardest to execute…why the heck is that?
At any rate, here is my first attempt to be consistent with the flexing and strengthening of my gratitude muscle by noting the things I’m thankful for every day.
Today’s entry-Three things I have to be thankful for on January 22, 2009:
- My boss’s wife, Laura, came into work at the end of the day today to accompany her husband to a dinner event and saw me as I was leaving and said “Your hair looks adoreable!” And yes, she said it with ITALICS!!! How cute is that?
- For the second night in a row, I have managed to get 6 hours of sleep. While I have had some INSANE dreams due to all the REM sleep, the rest has been rejuvenating.
- I weasled my way into a second ‘trial’ Kettlebell class at my gym without paying to get a good workout AND talk to the instructor because I sent her my outline for the redesign of her website today and wanted to follow up so I could start that project (and so she could start paying me for the work I’ll be doing! Freelancer, yay!)
See? Now was that so hard? No. I can see how this can boost one’s happiness. I admit the first point is purely vain but I don’t care. It’s MY happiness, not yours, so there.
I can’t wait to see what I’ll be thankful for tomorrow!
One Response to “Happy Happy Joy Joy”
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January 24th, 2009 at 12:31 AM
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