Be happy
There are those people out there who are perpetually happy; folks who just seem to have their hap-o-meter completely dialed in.
Fuckers.
Then there’s the rest of us.
Confused, mostly, trying to find our happiness is a variety of ways (or a variety of substances).
The rest of us tend to fail more than we succeed in finding happiness.
That just sucks.
So I pose the question:
“Is it possible to make yourself happier?”
(And I’m not talking about the joy that comes from touching your special-happy place, either. It’s nice, but too short-term).
I’m talking long-term happiness, sort of what researchers call the happiness thermostat, and turning it up and leaving it there.
According to an Associated Press article, it is possible. New research into human happiness shows that we can ratchet up our happiness thermometers, with some simple mental exercises.
Here’s one of the best:
At the end of every day, think of three things that made you happy – write them down if you have to – and then analyze why they happened.
You’ll be amazed at the results.
You’ll start to notice a lot of things in your day that made you happy, and that picking among them for three starts to get hard. Yesterday, I had more than 10 things on my list. I do my analyzing in bed, during that time where I’m relaxing and waiting for sleep.
Since I’ve started the exercise, I’ve slept completely through the night (and I stopped setting my alarm clock, because that makes me happy – and my day will start when it damn well wants to) and I’ve stopped the anxiety and dry-heaving as I roll out of bed.
I wake up as happy as when I went to bed.
It’s simple. It’s pretty cool.
Combine that with this new-found talent to actually feel my emotions, rather than bury them, and I’ve got things more dialed in than I’ve had in years.
You can learn more about happiness research at the following links:
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
http://www.faculty.ucr.edu
http://www.psych.uiuc.edu
Fuckers.
Then there’s the rest of us.
Confused, mostly, trying to find our happiness is a variety of ways (or a variety of substances).
The rest of us tend to fail more than we succeed in finding happiness.
That just sucks.
So I pose the question:
“Is it possible to make yourself happier?”
(And I’m not talking about the joy that comes from touching your special-happy place, either. It’s nice, but too short-term).
I’m talking long-term happiness, sort of what researchers call the happiness thermostat, and turning it up and leaving it there.
According to an Associated Press article, it is possible. New research into human happiness shows that we can ratchet up our happiness thermometers, with some simple mental exercises.
Here’s one of the best:
At the end of every day, think of three things that made you happy – write them down if you have to – and then analyze why they happened.
You’ll be amazed at the results.
You’ll start to notice a lot of things in your day that made you happy, and that picking among them for three starts to get hard. Yesterday, I had more than 10 things on my list. I do my analyzing in bed, during that time where I’m relaxing and waiting for sleep.
Since I’ve started the exercise, I’ve slept completely through the night (and I stopped setting my alarm clock, because that makes me happy – and my day will start when it damn well wants to) and I’ve stopped the anxiety and dry-heaving as I roll out of bed.
I wake up as happy as when I went to bed.
It’s simple. It’s pretty cool.
Combine that with this new-found talent to actually feel my emotions, rather than bury them, and I’ve got things more dialed in than I’ve had in years.
You can learn more about happiness research at the following links:
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
http://www.faculty.ucr.edu
http://www.psych.uiuc.edu
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