How to Be Happier

It's harder than you think.

Studies show that we all have a fairly stable baseline for long-term happiness.
In other words, regardless if something amazing or something tragic happens to you, within a few months, you will tend to return to roughly the same level of happiness as before.

That's really great news if you're happy with your current overall level of happiness.
However, if you, like most of us, wish you could have more long-term happiness, what can you do?

Research has found that one of the most effective ways of increasing your happiness level boils down to one word:  gratitude.

There's a study on gratitude written about in Robert Emmon's book, Thanks!:  How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier.  Emmons took 200 people, split them up into three groups and asked each of them to make a list every week for ten weeks.

1. The first group was asked to list five things in their life they were grateful for.
2. The second group was asked to list five hassles in their life that annoyed them.
3. The third group was asked to list five things that had an impact on them.

Those in the gratitude group were significantly happier than those in the other two groups.  They felt better about their lives overall, were more optimistic about the upcoming week, had less physical complaints and also spent more time exercising.

I try as much as possible to keep a gratitude journal.  I used to jot a few things down everyday in my journal that I was grateful for, but lately, I've been putting them in this pretty neat app I found.

It looks like this, and also has inspiring quotes and a place to put your own photos:

My challenge for you today- jot down three things that you are grateful for.  It only takes a second, it helps remind you of the positive things in your life, and it can increase your overall happiness.

What are three things you are grateful for today?

You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way.

Get out of your own way and let your soul shine!

TED Talk Tuesday: Ken Robinson says Schools Kill Creativity

Today's TED Talk Tuesday by Sir Ken Robinson is easily one of my favorite TED Talks.  It is witty, insightful and focuses on rethinking education to nurture rather than stifle creativity.  He believes that creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.

During one of my summer semesters at college, I worked as a teacher's assistant at a preschool and also took a 5-credit hour intensive Chinese language class.  It was simultaneously one of the most wonderful and horrible experiences of my college career.

I adored working at the preschool.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of a dozen three and four year olds running as fast as they can at you with open arms and huge smiles, screaming your name.  One of my favorite parts of that job was watching them during free play.  I was constantly amazed at the level of imagination and creativity these kids possessed.  They weren't afraid to be wrong or make a mistake and they had no fear of completely expressing their authentic selves.

Contrast that with my Chinese language class.  Learning Chinese can be pretty daunting to start with.  But cramming five credit hours into a couple months in an "intensive" format class is straight-up masochistic.  I highly recommend NOT learning Chinese that way.  At the beginning of every class, the professor would make us stand in front of the class and recite a reading.  If you made a mistake, she made you start all over again until you recited it all perfectly.  You could smell the fear in the classroom every single day.  I remember one kid running out of the room and throwing up from the pressure.

It was such an intriguing contrast to watch young kids at the beginning of their educational experiences just ooze creativity and joy, compared to college sophomores and junior in my Chinese class that had become completely one-dimensional, reciting and memorizing out of fear of failure.

That summer taught me what Sir Ken Robinson talks about in this talk.  Schools (and sometimes parents and workplaces too) slowly wring out every last drop of what makes a child magical, what makes our souls sparkle.

Sir Ken ends his talk saying, "The only way we'll do it [use the gift of the human imagination wisely] is by seeing our creating capacities for the richness they are and seeing our children for the hope that they are.  Our task is to educate their whole being so they can face this future."

Do you agree?

Motivation Monday: It's Halftime in America (Chrysler/Clint Eastwood's Superbowl Commercial)

I admit, I am totally biased because I was born and raised outside of Detroit, but I loveloveloved the Chrysler commercial with Clint Eastwood that played during yesterday's Super Bowl.  Clint Eastwood's gravelly voice giving America it's half time pep talk was beyond inspirational, and I loved it almost as much as Chrysler's Eminem commercial from last year's Super Bowl.


Here's the commercial:

It’s half-time.
Both teams are in their locker rooms discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half.
It’s half-time in America too.
People are out of work and they’re hurting.
And they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback.
And were all scared because this isn’t a game.
The people of Detroit know a little something about this.
They almost lost everything, but we all pulled together.
Now Motor City is fighting again.
I’ve seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of downturns in my life.
And times when we didn’t understand each other.
Seems that we’ve lost our heart at times
The fog, division, discord and blame, made it hard to see what lies ahead.
But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right, and acted as one.
Because that's what we do.
We find a way through tough times and if we can't find a way then we'll make one.
All that matters now is what's ahead.
How do we come from behind?
How do we come together?
And how do we win?
Detroit’s showing us it can be done.
And whats true about them is true about all of us.
This country can’t be knocked out with one punch.
We get right back up again and when we do the world's gonna hear the roar of our engines.
Yeah, its half-time America.
And our second half’s about to begin.

Photo Friday: A Walk in the Clouds

This is pretty incredible.

Source: Joie De Vivre

What if You Won $86,400 Every Day For Life?

I received this article last week from someone who is like a father to me.
This is an incredible reminder.
Please pass it along.

....................

Imagine you have won the following prize in a contest:  Every morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account.  However, this prize has rules.

The first set of rules:

1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You may not transfer money into another account.
3. You may only spend it.

Every morning, the bank puts  another $86,400 into your account.

The second set of rules:

1. The bank can end the game without warning.  
2. It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you do?

• You would buy everything you wanted... right?
• For yourself, and everyone you love... right?
• Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself... right?
• You would try to spend every cent... right?

Actually, this game is REALITY!  Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank. We just can't seem to see it.

The magical bank is time!
Each morning we receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us.  What we haven't lived up that day is forever lost.  Yesterday is forever gone.  Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your  account at any  time....without warning.

What will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?
Those seconds are so much more precious then gold.

Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much more quickly than we think.

..........

How are you going to spend your 86,400 seconds today?

What You Have Now Was Once What You Only Hoped For

I love today's quote of the day.  We are sometimes so caught up in wanting more and more, that we often forget to stop and appreciate what we have.  The irony is there was once a point in the past that all we wanted was exactly what we have.

Take a moment and appreciate all that you have and just how far you've come.