“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln
If happiness is purely a mindset, then a larger percentage of the world should be perpetually joyful, right? Somewhere along the human evolvement chain, the happiness quotient plunged into a sea of grass-is-always-greeners, whiners and groaners. What does it take to change someone’s disposition if they’ve already garnered the mindset of wishing they were always in someone else’s shoes?
Happiness is not about being incessantly bubbly. Contentment and joy are actually achieved when we have confidence in ourselves and our abilities, have healthy relationships with others, have examined our past grievances and mistakes – and have moved on. Happiness is when we have come full circle and challenged ourselves by grasping opportunities that we’ve prepared ourselves to one day meet – and confronting those challenges head on with a sense of purpose.
There are methods of doing away with our apathetic frame of mind, and instead learn how to become a happier, more vibrant person. We can we all achieve this eternal state of sunshine within our own minds. Here are some ideas:
Abandon Idleness/Get Hooked on Life
Maintain an active routine. Progress is in not living a stationary existence. Relative to a bump on a log, inactivity does not serve a purpose and is not useful within our lives. If we’re living constructive and focused lives, then our happiness and feelings of self worth increase twofold. What is your passion? What can you start even if it’s just a hobby? If you are older, what were you good at doing long ago? Find those embers of passion that have long been burning out and stoke them back up into a roaring inferno of activity.
Mental Floss
Removing the pessimism that maintains a tight grip on your mind is the first step towards gaining a brighter, cheerier perspective. This means letting go of anger, past worries and regrets. We need to live in the moment and ditch any misgivings we are still harboring, since we can no longer control what has already taken place; we can only control our reactions and behavior toward impending events in our life.
If you find yourself dipping back into old habits of thinking, refocus your thoughts or make a distraction that will keep your thoughts clear and unencumbered by negativity. Call a friend, make a date with your significant other, read a book, play a crossword puzzle… distractions are a good thing in this case.
Take care of your body and your mind will follow. Healthy bodies lead to strong, astute minds. Working out and exercising induces excess in energy levels.
Cognitive Therapy
We need to recognize our thinking errors that sometimes create weaknesses within our relationships and the way we understand things. Ten faulty thinking errors ( also known as cognitive distortions) are listed below:
- All-or-Nothing Thinking: Do not think in absolute terms: always, never, etc. Failing to recognize that there may be some middle ground.
- Overgeneralization: Taking an isolated case and assuming that all others are the same.
- Mental Filter: Try to look at the positive events in your life instead of concentrating only on the negative episodes.
- Disqualifying the Positive: Treating positive events like they don’t really count.
- Jumping to Conclusions: Wait, step back, and think before assuming the worst about a situation before the evidence is presented.
- Magnification and Minimization: Downplaying positive events while paying an inordinate amount of attention to negative ones.
- Emotional Reasoning: There sometimes is a need to take a step back, rather than allow your emotions to govern what you think about a situation.
- Labeling: It’s not going to help you or anyone else when you apply harsh labels to oneself and others. Refrain from false labeling.
- Personalization: Things are out of your control – and the operative words are “out of your control.” You can’t blame yourself for occurrences that you are powerless to change or stop.
Meditation
Meditation improves sleep, increases awareness and reduces stress. Many Americans are overworked and stretched in every which way. Sometimes, these stresses can effect out health in a variety of
… unless we do something about it. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance. There are plenty of online websites and books to teach you how to meditate and gain calmness and serenity.
‘Bee’ Social
As bees are social organisms, so are humans. Our lives are fuller as members of a larger hive, or as cells within the body, or as ants within a colony. We need friends and family for strength, support and love. We need to feel a sense of purpose and that we fit in with our society and that we play a significant role within our communities, and more definitely, within our families and social groupings.
A study conducted by Christopher K., PhD of University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business found that people who are extremely social are happier than people who remain stationary wallflowers.
“We’re not really built to be happy, we’re built to survive,” he says. “It is only in recent human history that survival is no longer a primary concern and the pursuit of happiness becomes more important.” The findings “reinforced our proposition that humans concurrently desire both busyness and a justification for busyness,” the researchers say.
“Start where you are. Distant fields always look greener, but opportunity lies right where you are.” Robert Collier
Write Your Heart Out. Then Write Some More. 