personal energy

Positive Psychology: What Happiness has to do With Your Personal Energy

April 10, 2014 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart

You may have noticed a theme here this year. I’ve decided to offer an alternating series on Happiness and Personal Energy. I’ve been researching, studying, living and making a living from educating others about how to improve both for their personal and professional lives as well as showing organizations how to improve both to beef up their bottom line. The two are intricately intertwined because a large majority of our energy is emotional energy. If our mindset is set on negativity, sadness, dark drama, emotional baggage and such; no matter how many energy inserts we add to our lives, we will still feel drained of energy.

The Positive Psychology movement gained a foothold about 20 years ago and it’s been a very interesting thing to watch this shift in the science of psychology. Martin Seligman, a Philadelphia psychologist is the father of the field of positive psychology and happiness. He began by asking “what if happiness was more than the absence of sadness and what if we could have a kind of psychology that focused on the positive instead of on the negative and what has gone wrong?”

Since that time, in January 2005 TIME Magazine ran a cover story on The Science of Happiness, then Fortune 500 corporations, the military, Harvard, the Federal Government and a growing mass of the public began to run with this theory. In 2010, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh published his business memoir Delivering Happiness and it debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list at number 1. There is something to this happiness thing.

Contrary to what the Declaration of Independence says; happiness is not something we PURSUE, it’s something we DO…or rather an accumulation of the many little things we do every day. It’s HOW we decide to live our lives. One of the very best exercises I can share in pinpointing how to realize happiness in our lives is the Ideal Day writing assignment. I believe I’ve mentioned it before and it bears repeating because it is so powerful in its simplicity.

Find quiet time and get comfy to spend as long as you need to dream and visualize your Ideal Day and write it down in exquisite detail. Capture all the little things that bring you happiness such as fuzzy puppies, lush towels, down comforters, soothing smooth jazz music, fresh-squeezed pink grapefruit juice, 80% dark chocolate, cashmere…but I digress. Begin with when you wake up and move throughout your day and describe what your senses experience, what you do, how you do it and what your surroundings look like, sound like and feel like. Afterwards, do a gap analysis of your Ideal Day and your current life. What is missing? What can you easily insert into your current life from your Ideal Day? If you can’t focus on just one day. Do what I did and write down your Ideal Day for the Fall/Winter and one for the Spring/Summer because mine included skiing to sailing and I needed more than one day to capture it.

Next, look at your gap analysis and see what you already have in your current life from your Ideal Day? What can you celebrate? What do you have or what are you doing that already brings joy and happiness that you may be taking for granted? Often, we neglect to honor and enjoy certain things until we don’t have them. We think it’s just a normal thing. I’ve recently experienced this by having knee replacement surgery. Down for the count for several weeks with a walker and crutches and I knew immediately that mobility and absence of pain/vitality were things I didn’t savor nearly enough. Yep, being able to move through the world confidently that I won’t fall down is now on my list in my Ideal Day.

Once you find things from your Ideal Day that you don’t yet have; make a plan to be, do, have those things that would bring you joy and happiness and energy. When we are happier, we have more energy. Sadness brings lower energy. The research says that it’s not the big things that come around few and far between, it’s the smaller daily things that create the happiness. How you realize happiness and increased personal energy is by doing simple things and doing them often. Your assignment is to write down your Ideal Day. Your homework is then to make a list of what you already have or do from the Ideal Day and then make a list of what you can insert into your life from the exercise.

Meet me back here in a few weeks and get your next installment of the Happy Factor.

March 1, 2014 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart

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Seems like the happy factor is touching many sectors in our society. The popular catchy little tune Happy as sung by Pharrell Williams made an appearance at the Oscars earlier this year and has hit #1 on the charts in 24 countries. Indeed happiness has struck a chord with the world. Outside magazine recently offered a cover article on What Makes us Happy. I wanted to share some of the things that Outside Magazine says makes us happy with these simple habits that can change our lives.

Here is more scientifically proven methods for living more happy….if you need even more proof than I’ve supplied thus far:

Wake up with the sun to get your dose of vitamin D and also ensure you get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. We need this amount of sleep for our bodies to do their thing and regenerate. Less than that and we are less sharp, heavier, cranky and perform less. Being awake with the sun and getting more daylight, according to Boston University medical researches boosts genes that play a role in resisting cancer, infections and auto-immune diseases.
Enjoying freedom of choice – being more in control of our time and our life improves our happiness according to a 2010 University of Rochester study. Free time is important to our well-being and if we spend it with people we enjoy, we get a double dose of the good stuff that happiness brings.
Play your favorite songs – crank up the tunes. Neuroscientists at McGill University in Canada cited in 2011 that brains create dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, when listening to favorite songs. They scanned music listeners’ brains while they played different types of music and the dopamine surge was greatest just before and during a favorite part of a song.
The 2011 National Geographic True Happiness survey suggested that the happiest people were those who watched less than 1 hour of TV per day.
The Boston Consulting Group working with a Harvard professor in 2009 who wrote the book Sleeping with Your Smartphone; agreed to unplug one night per week. No email, no texting or clients calls and no TV. After 5 weeks, the consultants were functioning better as a team, did more work in less time and now they have embraced the weekly disconnect as company policy.

January 5, 2014 | Posted in Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart

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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.

July 6, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart

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It was Independence Day 16 years ago that I had an idea to write a book. The ideas for the book kept flowing to me the week before and I couldn’t stop the flow if I tried. It was the exact opposite of writer’s block, it was writer’s tsunami. I sat on my deck and started to write and write and write in my spiral-bound notebook. Yes, this was before the advent of laptops and digital notebooks. 🙂 I put myself on house arrest for 4 days over the long weekend and kept writing until I ran out of ideas.

I’d been noticing how everybody I seemed to meet in America was tired, lacked energy and vitality and a zest for living fully. I’d been in Europe for the past 10 years and coming back to the hectic, frantic, stressed-out East coast was quite a culture shock. I decided to write the little book Hit Any Key to Energize Your Life: a Caffeine-free Guide to Perk Up Your Spirits. I gained my independence after putting pen to paper over those 4 days because that little book hit a nerve. That little book launched a career and a passion and decades of research into what makes some people have tons of energy and some people barely make it home from work each day before launching into bed to do it again tomorrow. That little idea gave me the independence to travel the world and speak on the topic I love and help people regain their energy and spice for their business and their life.

I was known as Gail Howerton when I first published the book in 1997. You never forget your first book…. and there have been at least 30 more which I’ve written or published pieces and parts in, but it was that first one that gave me the independence to make choices to be the messenger and mentor to many so they can do their life’s work. At last check, that little book was still for sale on quite a few websites in the first edition. I’ve since gone to e-book format and updated it many times over with new and improved information. But it started with a spark, and idea, an itch and an intution to listen to the tidalwave of ideas that kept coming in wave after wave.

What do you need independence from? What ideas are you listening to or ignoring? Where is your itch? What is working for you and what is not? From what, or who do you need to extricate yourself from so that you are independent, or at least inter-dependent so that you gain yourself, your freedom, your wings to soar into your zone of brilliance. You can start any old day, but why not start on Independence Day? It’s a great marker day that you won’t soon forget. Start now to listen to the ideas that you can’t turn off. There is a reason they get louder and louder and louder – you need to listen. Is it independence from a memory, an ex, debt, TV, chips, a job you hate, a friend who is taking more than giving, an employee who is making your life harder rather than easier, a bad habit, shopping addiction or any addiction for that matter, something that doesn’t serve you any more? What is it that you can claim your independence from? Excuses? Complaining? Gossip? Housekeeping? (I’m a big fan of outsourcing to gain independence from things not in my zone of brilliance.)

I’ve also found a new good habbit several years ago adding to the independence being an independent distributor and collecting residual income. Aaaaahhhh, the ring of residual income, so sweet. I felt the same waves of excitement and ideas coming to me once I heard about the possibilities of Send Out Cards. The thoughts of how business owners could use it for relatioship marketing and customer appreciation, of how to remember birthdays and anniversaries and make sending cards and gifts easier and most cost effective, of how to help organizations earn additional income and families to earn additional income in the current financial climate and how military families can stay connected or college students can earn income or write home easily. The possibilities seemed endless to me and the ideas and income just keep on coming.

Check it out for yourself and send some custom greeting cards on me as my gift to you at BizBuilderCards.com. You may just find your way to independence through sending out positive vibes, kindness and appreciation. Making a living through giving feels good for the sender and the receiver and independence never felt so good as sending love and gratitude around the world. Cheers to your independence!

September 22, 2010 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart

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I’ve been remiss about blogging since last month, but have been ferociously writing articles for your reading pleasure with links to each article following the title. I decided to give it to you all in one fell swoop so you can pick and choose which suits your needs instead of piece-mealing it into several blog posts.

Below are links to articles I’ve written on energizing your work and your life. They are written for enlightened execs, entrepreneurs and employees on how to revitalize at every level and energize individuals and organizations.

I will host some talk shows on similar topics on my weekly Energized Entrepreneur Show: http://thewinonline.com/node/5978 and each show is 10-15 minutes. So if you want to listen to some of the articles, they will be available in the coming weeks.

Here’s a list of the articles – free to view and read and if you download or use any portion of them, I would appreciate credit and a link to my websites www.GailHahn.com, BizBuilderCards.com and Funcilitators.com as they are all copyrighted material.

Enjoy!

Gail Hahn, the CEO (Chief Energizing Officer)

Office Olympics: Original Games that Put Minute to Win it to the Test

www.associatedcontent.com/article/5767082/office_olympics_original_games_that.html

Twisted Training: Creating Experiential Training Programs to Engage, Inform, Inspire & Entertain Employees

www.associatedcontent.com/article/5767112/twisted_training_creating_experiential.html

Extreme Shopping Around the World

www.associatedcontent.com/article/5767316/extreme_shopping_around_the_world.html

Travel Holidays Around the World

www.associatedcontent.com/article/5767378/travel_holidays_around_the_world.html

Spa Experiences Around the World

www.associatedcontent.com/article/5767570/spa_experiences_around_the_world.html