The 10 Habits of Happiness
By Dr. Nicola D Bunting | Submitted On December 02, 2013
Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter 1 Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest
Expert Author Dr. Nicola D Bunting
How happy do you want to be? How happy will you allow yourself to be?
The beautiful and surprising thing is that we are mostly in charge of our own happiness: only 15% of our happiness depends on external events, according to studies. So the first happiness habit is to decide to be happy and then to work out what YOU need to do to get there.
14 years of successfully coaching people to get happier, more fulfilled, and fundamentally more delighted with their lives and their work has helped me come up with this list of the top 10 happiness habits that make all the difference:
1. Big picture: consider when you 've been happiest so far and what makes you light up. If you imagine your happiest life, your most fulfilling work, what would it look like? Create your personal vision, write it down, illustrate it. Use it to create your own road-map and plan for the next year. See my book for more details on how to create your own vision day to help you do this.
2. Your perfect day: imagine (not Lou Reed!) what your dream day might look
In conclusion, to succeed in living a happy life a person must set aside their worries, live in the moment, and find their reason to be happy. “Let your self-consciousness, your scrutiny, your self- interrogation, exhaust themselves on that; and if otherwise fortunately circumstanced you will inhale happiness with the air you breath, without dwelling on it or thinking about it, without either forestalling it in imagination, or putting it to flight by fatal questioning”(Mill). That is the ultimate approach to
In her article “How Happy Are You and Why?,” Sonja Lyubomirsky argues that people have control over their own happiness. Lyubomirsky supports her claims with her interviews with happy people and scientific studies. Her purpose is to consider steps that people can take in order to become happier. She establishes an informal relationship with her audience of unhappy people.
The best way to achieve happiness would be by using the 3 aspects of philosophy created by Sam Berns. These three aspects to the philosophy are as follows,1)accepting flaws in oneself,2) Surrounding yourself with people whom you want to be around and lastly,3)Keep moving forward. As simple as it may seem to be contempt with yourself;it’s not. Loving yourself or being fully competent with the flaws you own can either make you or break you, it’s a constant work in progress. If you surround yourself with people who ultimately care about your well being and who support
In “Happiness 101,” Harvard professor Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar presents his ideas pertaining to the achievability of happiness. He begins by discussing how individuals must give themselves permission to be human, so that they can feel the negative feelings before they reach the positive feelings. If negative feelings are held back without release, then they only intensify eventually blocking out the positive feelings. Ben-Shahar continues his presentation to the topic of managing stress on the micro, mezza, and macro levels. These levels include the ideas of meditation, sleep, taking time off, vacations, and the “three deep breaths.” Simplifying agendas and practicing quality over quantity has a positive effect on stress levels as well. At the conclusion of his presentation, Ben-Shahar discusses the positive effect of practicing gratitude on health, happiness, and well-being. After listening to Tal Ben-Shahar’s presentation, I completely agree with every point that Ben-Shahar uses over the topics of giving permission to be human, stress management, and practicing gratitude covered throughout his presentation over happiness.
The most universal goal every human has in common is the pursuit of happiness or “creation or construction of happiness” (Achor, 78). To be able to fulfill this wish of becoming happy, people often think the key to achieving happiness is success. In the book, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, he debunks this theory of success leading to happiness by illustrating the reverse theory of success. Through dozens of studies and experiments as forms of evidence, the author argues that an individual needs to achieve happiness in order to be truly successful. Achor 's argument is valid in that happiness should come before success because there is a clear advantage to being successful in an individual’s work life, personal sphere, and liveliness if they are happy first and foremost.
“Choose to be happy.” This is what mom has always said, since a very young age and still to this day she tells everyone. For so long, it was just “mom talk”, those things your mother says that is supposed to make you stop and think. Yet, being too young, dumb and full of it, to really understand what she means. Curiosity emerges and suddenly there is a need to understand what it really means to be happy, what constitutes Happiness? So follow up with some research, entering the bookstore, gliding in and out of the rows and rows in the self-help sections are others, asking the same question. What is happiness? Where does it come from, are we born with it or do we make it happen? Happiness is but a belief, an idea, a theory; but theories,
Happiness cannot be reached when it is being searched for, it can only be achieved by focusing on things other than your own happiness.
Because happiness can be different things to different people, Happiness Advantage examines the importance of defining the happiness. People tend to follow the pattern of success leads to happiness; however, after many experiments, Achor has found out that people actually experience the moment of happiness before they successfully reach their goal. It’s important for a person to learn how to improve her mood and raise her level of happiness throughout the day. So that she can retrain her brain to capitalize on positivity in order to improve productivity and performance.
Happiness forms the basis for smiling and everybody would want to be happy while interacting with others in the society. Every individual has what triggers their movement towards happiness. The article explains various perspectives of happiness that are realized within the society. It will discuss practice perspective, psychological perspective and scientific perspective of happiness.
My beliefs and habits are based off the 7 Basic Principles for one “I am responsible for creating my own happiness in life.” Meaning to this is being happy starts with one simple step; a choice to be Happy. With that choice comes the responsibility to continue to be happy.
As humans, it is our natural instinct to pursue happiness. Many people search for different ways to live a happier life. Some find joy in helping others, while others resort to materialism in order to feel happy. Interestingly enough, a research from Buffalo University and Northwestern University reveals that as people age, they tend to become happier and more satisfied with their lives. Study shows that our perception of happiness differ based on our genetics, culture, social status, and many other essential factors. According to a happiness and satisfaction survey conducted by The Harris Poll, of the 2,215 participants of the survey, only 34 % reported of being happy and satisfied. What is happiness anyway? Is there a recipe for a happier
According to authors Kottler and Chen, domains for enhancing happiness are relationships, environment, physical state, productivity, recreation, and distressing emotions. In addition, strategies that are related to these enhancements of happiness are finding a romantic partner, securing reasonable physical and financial safety and comfort, periodically enjoying fine weather, living in a stimulating environment (based on one’s value), eating healthy, engaging in regular physical exercise, achieving success and approval at work that is interesting and challenging, working towards a coherent set of goals, making leisure activities a priority, diversifying one’s life with multiple interests, experimenting with new and exciting options, avoiding distressing situations when possible, focusing on the positive as much as one can and practicing compassion and empathy toward others.
Care for others. The way this will help you achieve happiness is that when you help others it gives you a warm feeling inside. It makes you feel as if you have done something right. This feeling is almost unexplainable. Helping others is one of the best things you can do. For example, when you complement someone the best feeling is when you see the look on that persons face and see how happy you made them. Also, if you do not care for others you will live a lonely life. Without care for others no one will want to be around you. So, if you care for others you will have a joyous life.
Our emotions and feelings play a major part in how we feel and think. Most of us are conditioned to believe that positive events, such as a raise or a financial windfall will increase our happiness, and it does but majority of us will fall back to the level of happiness we were before the positive events. Authentic happiness teaches us that in order to sustain lasting happiness, we must savor life’s joys, reflect on past accomplishments, and be grateful for everything and everyone in our life. If we commit ourselves to our goals and values we can all achieve authentic happiness.
Happiness may have diverse meanings to diverse individuals. But regardless of how we define happiness, our distinct passions and life experiences contribute in making each one of us cheerful. Undoubtedly, the secrets on how to live a happy and healthy life depends on how we sort out all the factors that play an imperative role in accomplishing the level of happiness we desire for ourselves.