10 Things You Can Do To Increase Your Happiness
If you ask people what is the purpose of life, what is the one thing they strive to achieve in life, the majority of them will probably respond with one thing:
“To be happy.”
Happiness is the most important desire people have, something everybody wants in their lives. However, for different individuals, happiness means different things. Some find happiness in hanging out with friends and socializing while others enjoy little pleasures by themselves, such as a warm bath or a good book, more. All in all, everybody wants to achieve this state, and many don’t know how.
Buffer.com has shared a great article, backed by science, on 10 things you can do to increase your happiness. Here they are:
1. Exercise More
Scientific research showed that exercising daily can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don’t lose any weight. Additionally, it exercise is proven to be an effective tool in battling depression.
2. Sleep more
We know that sleep helps our bodies to recover from the day and repair themselves and that it helps us focus and be more productive. Well, scientists found out it’s also important for our happiness. How well we sleep affects our productivity, as well as our sensitivity to negative emotions.
3. Move closer to work
Research shows that commute to work affects our happiness, even more than having a big house. Seriously! On the other hand, when you think about it, commuting is something we do twice a day, five times a week; it’s no surprise it has such a dramatic negative impact on our happiness.
4. Spend time with friends and family
Staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top five regrets of the dying. But it can also instantly increase your happiness, even if you’re an introvert. Among numerous other studies, The Terman study found that relationships and how we help others were important factors in living long, happy lives.
5. Go outside
Making time to go outside on a nice day can improve your happiness drastically. One study found that spending 20 minutes outside in good weather not only boosted positive mood, but broadened thinking and improved working memory.
6. Help others
Helping others actually makes you happier and more satisfied with your life. For example, spending money on other people makes us happier than buying stuff for ourselves. Also, volunteering is another way to make other people lives better, but also to improve your own.
7. Practice smiling
Smiling itself can help us feel better, but it has even more powerful effect when backed up with positive thoughts. Even forcing a smile when we don’t feel like it is enough to lift our mood slightly.
8. Plan a trip
You certainly know that excitement when you think about your future holiday. Well, it turns out that planning your vacation actually makes you feel happier. One study showed that the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks!
9. Meditate
Meditation clears your mind, calms you down, and makes you feel more relaxed. But it’s also been often proven to be the single most effective way to live a happier life. We can literally “rewire” our brain for happiness with meditation.
10. Practice gratitude
Expressing gratitude can increase your happiness dramatically. Additionally, you’ll be more satisfied with your life in general.
Take a look at the whole article on this link: http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-make-yourself-happier
What have you tried today to increase your happiness?
What is Wisdom?
“Wisdom comes from the experience of living. To travel the road of wisdom requires knowledge of ourselves and others…in love and hatred, in joy and sorrow, in victory and defeat. To experience life, and to know its truth, this is wisdom.”
– Best of Success
Here is a little task: imagine a wise person. How does that person look like? What traits does he or she have? Do you, like the majority of people, imagine an old, white-haired person with extremely wide knowledge and experience, and with untouchable calmness, both in their body language and their words. However, this is a stereotype. There is much more in wisdom than plain knowledge and experience. Having experience does not guarantee someone will be wise, and knowing many facts doesn’t either.
What is Wisdom?
Psychologists tend to agree that wisdom involves an integration of knowledge and experience, as mentioned above. But, the secret ingredient is the deep understanding of life circumstances in general and the way certain things are happening. Wise people generally share an optimism that life’s problems can be solved. Also, they are calm in facing difficult decisions, because they are able to see the big picture.
Learn more about wisdom here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201606/what-is-wisdom-wise-reasoning-has-three-specific-facets
Do you have any wise persons in your life? Moreover, what can you learn from them?
References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/wisdom
The Psychology of Change
When change is about to happen to you, the results can be significant. Maybe you’re expected to get out of your comfort zone, or to completely change the way you’re living your life. Whatever it is, change can be hard and painful, at least in the beginning. Thus, the psychology of change can be complicated, and you should seek to manage the cognitive and behavioral changes from the very beginning. Typically, people go through few stages of change in order to adapt to the new situation. Getting to know these stages can help you deal with your process of change.
The Process of Change
Initial concerns: The threat to deep systems.
Initial reactions: Negative or positive?
The Kübler-Ross grief cycle: The emotional cycle on given bad news.
Shock stage: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.
Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.
Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.
Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.
Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.
Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.
Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.
The positive change cycle: Even good news has its ups and downs.
Resistance to change: When people push back against the change.
Rationale for resistance: What people tell themselves.
The resistance zoo: The animals and their styles of resistance.
Signs of resistance: Spotting subtle signals of dissent.
How to cause resistance: There are many ways!
Strong and weak commitment: After an agreement, commitment may vary.
In managing the initial announcement, the key is to do just that: manage it. Rather than just announce is, first think about the effects that it will have. Then, stage the communication in a way to have the impact and effect that you desire. In other words, if you’re not communicating it on the right way, the change that seemed easy at first can result in a real mess. Lastly, I personally believe that you got this!
Reference:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/psychology_change/psychology_change.htm