Living Happier, Healthier & Hartier for the New Year: 8 More Joyful Tips
January 12, 2014 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Now that you’ve had time to digest all the holiday food and forget about the resolutions you made a week ago; I’m giving you more to chew on and more ideas for live-long revolutions as opposed to resolutions which you break in a matter of days or weeks. Here are eight more ideas to help you live happier, healthier and Hartier this year and into the future.
- Give your time and attention to something, somebody other than yourself. Volunteering for a favorite cause or charity brings us a feeling of doing good and that invites happiness and better health into our lives. The feeling of empathy that comes with volunteering produces better feelings than if we do other things such as give money, blood or other altruistic behavior says a study published in the journal of Social Science and Medicine.
- In relation to #5 in the last posting about feeling a sense of calm and having more order in your life; outsourcing the things that don’t bring you joy can leave you feeling a sense of happiness by employing others to do those duties. I’ve bought back several hours per month by outsourcing grocery shopping, regular shopping and errands at the drug store through online purchasing. There’s something very satisfying about having my food brought to my door without me needing to endure crowded parking lots, long cashier lines, and too many carts in the aisles. Doing my grocery shopping in about 7 minutes with delivery the next day makes me very, very happy and allows more free time for fun and play. Outsourcing cleaning, taxes, car repair, landscaping and some cooking also makes me giggle with glee when I don’t have to do those things. One of my mentors outsources the gassing up and cleaning of his car and another hires somebody to pack out, and put together her home including groceries in the fridge for a household move while she goes on vacation. She has found a way to outsource her stress. I say BRAVO!
- Find your flow. How often do you notice that you’re in the flow and in the groove of something that you don’t notice time flying by? Being in the zone of flow where your talents and skills match the challenge of the activity is what professor Mihaly Czikszentimihalyi called flow when your full attention is enveloped and engaged in the activity you’re doing right now. I find myself in flow when I’m writing, creating, skiing, doggie walking, hiking in the forest our mountains, talking with friends, reading, being artsy, teaching and problem solving. What puts you in flow?
- As a Certified Laughter Leader, I’ve studied the effects of laughter on our central nervous system and the effect on others around us. In the book Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins found that 10 minutes of good belly laughter can produce enough positive endorphins to produce 2 hours of restful sleep in those with chronic pain without any medication. Laughing stimulates the thymus gland which aids in the production of T cells which helps fight diseases. So laughter not only connects people, it stimulates oxygen in the blood and helps make you more healthy and more fun to be around. Laugh for the health and happiness of it all. Find your sense of humor about your situations and you will become more happy and healthy.
- Practicing the art of gratitude and being in a constant state of being grateful helps boost our happiness factor. A few years ago, one of my mentors suggested answering the ubiquitous question of “How are you doing?” with “Grateful! And you?” I’ve been using that response ever since to remind myself that I’m in a constant state of gratitude and gratitude brings good vibes. Try writing in a gratitude journal to get you started on focusing what is good in your life. What we focus on expands and where our thoughts go, energy flows. Focus on gratitude. Take the Gratitude Challenge here.
- Add beauty, joyful things, and pleasantries into your day and delete things that cause you concern or stress. This means taking a look at your spaces at home and at work or your home office. Do your surroundings inspire you? Does the view out your windows represent beauty? Do you have fresh flowers? Is your furniture comfy and working for you? Do you have a favorite mug, great music playing in your space, a short commute, a job you love that is on purpose and in alignment with your personal purpose?
- Get some sleep. Reuters news service reported on a study published in the journal of Science that sleep quality has a greater influence on the ability to enjoy your day than household income and even marital status. Other research I’ve seen says that we must get at least 8 hours of REM sleep in order for the good hormones to kick in and for our bodies to regenerate what it needs in order to make us more effective. I’m a personal fan of naps, especially with my fuzzy little doxi dog, Fozzi who converts to my nap hat. Shown in photo above. Another twofer – fuzzy puppies and sleep. Aaaaaahhhhh, life’s simple pleasures offer such joy.
- Are you with a partner that brings you joy, what about your other relationships? Do you have love in your life on many levels? Happiness is linked to the strength of the bonds in our lives. Put things you love in your line of sight to lift your mood. Those who have better or more intimacy with their life partner report higher happiness levels than those with multiple partners or those without partners. Being with the wrong partner conversely affects your happiness….. Duh! Not sure a big study was needed for that finding?!
There you have it. A kick start to your year of living happier, healthier and Hartier for 2014 and for years to come. If you have other ideas or have found other research to improve the happiness factor, let me know. I’ll be sharing more in the months to come. Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing monthly Keys to Energize, Practice Safe Stress and Pump Up Your Productivity and Have More Fun. Happy New Year!
Living Happier, Healthier & Hartier: 8 Tips for the New Year
January 5, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
In America and many other countries the generations seem to be making more and more money than their parents and grandparents did, yet their happiness and health doesn’t keep up with the upward trend in income. There are many researchers out there on the topic of happiness and what it takes to create happiness in our lives. Some chalk it up partially to genetics and circumstances and all agree that it is a choice in mindset, outlook and lifestyle. From my work with entrepreneurs, executives and employees all over the world; I would say it is first and foremost a personal choice and about the choices we make from the mindset we’ve decided to have and the way we choose to view the world, our circumstances and how we’ve chosen to move through the world. We may not have absolute, total control of our circumstances, but we certainly do have control over how we react to them. We can’t be inspired leaders if we don’t feel inspired. We can’t give what we don’t have and as you’ll see in one of the following tips; folks need to be around other happy and inspired people. Leaders first need to take charge of their own lives and get themselves to a happy and inspired place before they can even begin to think of leading and inspiring others.
Here are some insights from researchers and from moi on how to live your life happier, healthier and Hartier this coming year and in years to come.
- Mashing up the mindset of an Optimist with the pragmatic insight of a Realist is what psychology researcher Sophia Chou found to be the happy medium to being happier. The blending of a clear view of present circumstances with the creative outlook of an Optimist brings about more positive ways of dealing with situations.
- I’ve found studies where being in the presence of negative ions helps with our happiness, mood and health. The places that produce negative ions is in a pine forest where the pine needles bristle against each other in the wind and create the reaction and the smell we love. Also being at the beach or near a waterfall where the water is crashing onto itself releasing the negative ions. The sights, sounds, whole body experience along with the ionic atmosphere help elevate our moods.
- Choosing to spend money on multiple small pleasures versus splurging on a couple larger ones gives people the feeling of being more in control of how they treat themselves. When we treat ourselves to treats more often, we feel more cared for and loving, even if that pleasure is one piece of divine dark chocolate per week as opposed to a trip to the islands every few years. A 2011 study published by the Journal of consumer Psychology found that happiness is more strongly associated with the frequency than the intensity of people’s positive affective experiences. So go ahead and break up the pedicure and manicure into two visits to get more bang for your happiness buck.
- Eat lunch outside, at the park, near the beach, in view of pleasant scenery, at a sidewalk café… anywhere but at your desk or inside a corporate cafeteria. Scientists from the University of Sussex measured the happiness of employees after they ate lunch. And you guessed it, those who ate at their desks failed miserably on the happiness factor. So get outdoors, take a walk, take in some sun and fresh air and dine with friends to up your levels of happy during your lunch hour. I personally love to walk my dog and dine al fresco for lunch for a double shot of oomph during my day. Now there’s a twofer – puppies, play, and outdoor eating.
- Having a sense of order, calm and feeling that we’re in control and powerful beings brings us more happiness. It’s the act of FEELING in control, though we may not be in control, which brings us more joy. Doing activities such as keeping to somewhat of a schedule, making our beds, having our desks and our home and our lives more in order while allowing wiggle room for error and spontaneity allows for happiness to flow to us. Order contributes to inner calm according to Gretchin Rubin, the creator of The Happiness Project and the feeling of being powerful over your time and your life leads to feeling more satisfied with your life.
- BE HERE NOW and keeping focused on the present and exactly what is happening to you right now… oh look, a SQUIRREL! Brings on more happiness than those with a wandering or worrying mind or those with Shiny Object Syndrome according to research from Harvard psychologists. Eckhart Tolle’s books on being focused on the now and his insight into how to BE in the world advance this aspect of being harmonious with the moment. As I’ve coached supervisors for discussing performance appraisals: to focus on the past fixes blame and to focus on the future fixes the problem. Be present with the team member and deal with the behavior that is happening right now and then move toward the future while being mindful of what can be done right now to fix the issue.
- I’ve heard from many sources and mentors that we usually earn the average income of the five people we most hang out with. Hmmmmm. A similar thing happens to us when we hang around happy people. Surrounding yourself with positive, happy, healthy people who choose to have a sense of humor about circumstances, choose healthier living habits such as eating their fruits and veggies and not smoke, tend to rub off on you as well. Also having close friends with whom you can confide and share experiences is also a key happiness factor. Not to mention an activity partner to help kick your butt into gear on the ski slopes, tennis courts, the gym or bike path. A little friendly rivalry or egging on doesn’t hurt when you know somebody is counting on you to show up with workout clothes and ready to go. This is a twofer: exercise and friendship.
- You already got two twofer in #4 and #7 making that 9 tips in total for this posting…. Under promise and over-deliver. Watch for the next posting for 8 more happy, healthy and Harty tips for the New Year and years to come.
I’ll leave you with this thought by the great Dale Carnegie: Success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get. I hope you get both.