Grandparents.com
If you are very lucky, you were born happy. Many people are. Their brain biochemistry is set on "optimistic" and they naturally see every glass as half-full. But the rest of us can still learn to think happy. We can train ourselves to choose behaviors that create happiness opportunities, and consciously decide to think happy thoughts. And when we act and think happy, we feel happy, too. If you want happiness to be a major part of your new year, you must wake up every morning knowing that it has potential to bring you happiness if you find or create the opportunities to feel it. Now read on to start your training! LAUGH. EVERY DAY. Happiness training starts with laughter. Young children laugh about 400 times a day; we adults laugh only 15 to 100 times a day, according to research conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Laughing is vital to your health and your mind. Just 100 laughs a day provide an aerobic workout equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine; an increase in pain-killing endorphins; enhanced respiration; a relaxation of tension; better functioning of your immune systems; and the burning of calories, though science doesn't know yet exactly how many. So open those e-mail jokes from friends and grandkids, go to funny movies and never forget to laugh at yourself. CHOOSE HAPPY FRIENDS Happiness is contagious. Unfortunately, so are doom and gloom. Stick with friends who spread happiness. Someone else's happiness is a powerful cue for us. When friends talk about a happy moment, we automatically scan our memories for similar happy moments. Isn't that better than scanning for painful or depressing moments from our past to sympathize with those who are always complaining? And happy friends offer another benefit - they're great role models. Next time you have a hard time finding any happiness in your day, look at your day through your friend's eyes, and her positive perspective might become yours, too. PLAY, PLAY, PLAY Believe it or not, there is a "happy zone" in your brain, and games can stimulate it. Card games, board games guessing games, they all work, as long as you enjoy them. Physical play also lights up the "happy zone" in the brain, so grab a grandchild and go run around outside. And if you like sports, don't just watch, participate, because the fine-motor components involved in just about any sport increase happiness, too; apparently the rhythmic movement gives you a sense of mastery and control which increases your level of happiness. But don't think you have to play high-impact tennis or basketball to boost your mood - mini-golf, ping-pong, and even cooking and gardening work, too. SET GOALS AND REACH THEM More than 225 studies reviewed in the American Psychological Association journals found that happy people set more goals; persist longer in achieving them; and are more confident, energetic, likable, and sociable as a result. So setting goals is a fundamental part of happiness training. When the left frontal lobe of your brain is focused on a goal, your sense of control over your world, and your perceived happiness, increase. Your goals can be modest (losing one pound a month for a year); personal (meeting two new people); private (finding more things in common with your daughter-in-law); or tangible (learning a new language, or how to play Wii Rock Band). But if you want to keep feeling young and happy, never stop setting new goals. PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE People who smile, even when they're not especially happy, can actually change their brain chemistry to mimic happiness. And when the brain shifts to its "happy mode," it blocks sadness, and we feel happy. Look at it this way: It's impossible to feel a negative and positive emotion at the exact same time, so you can block the bad feelings by thinking about, or creating a good one instead. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have proven that voluntarily producing smiles moves brain activity "in the direction of spontaneous happiness." Give it a try. I put a smiley-face on my mirror to remind me to smile. It works. KEEP A HAPPINESS DIARY Record every "Up" moment in a diary so it doesn't slip away. They don't have to be big moments; small happy events count, too, like the first e-mail from a grandchild, a thumbs-up from your yoga teacher, or a thank-you from the mother of four you helped in the supermarket. Happiness diaries work on multiple levels: They help you realize how many moments of happiness are already in your daily life; they help you notice when those moments drop off or fade; and they motivate you to discover more such moments. Grandparents.com is the place for today's new generation of active, involved grandparents to find everything they need to get more fun, more smiles and more memories out of the time they spend with their grandchildren.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/2826521/how-to-be-happy-every-day.html#ixzz0r3Cu1Hn7
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