This is the final part of this article… I know it’s been long – but if
you’re like me … it’s been really interesting … and I love the end here – “… as
we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow
happier naturally.” Woohoo!
J I
like that one! J Rita
8. Plan a trip – but don’t take one
As opposed to actually taking a holiday, it
seems that planning a vacation or just a break from work can improve our
happiness. A study published in the journal, Applied
Research in Quality of Life showed that
the highest spike in happiness came during the planning stage of a vacation as employees enjoyed the sense of
anticipation:
In the study, the effect of vacation
anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks.
After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for
most people.
Shawn Achor has some info for us on this
point, as well:
One study found that people who just
thought about watching their favorite movie actually raised their endorphin
levels by 27 percent.
If you can’t take the time for a vacation right now, or even a night out
with friends, put something on the calendar—even if it’s a month or a year down
the road. Then whenever you need a boost of happiness, remind yourself about
it.
9. Meditate – rewire your brain for happiness
Meditation is often touted as an important
habit for improving focus, clarity and attention span, as well as helping to
keep you calm. It turns out it’s also useful for improving
your happiness:
In one study, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at
the brain scans of 16 people before and after they participated in an
eight-week course in mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the
January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, concluded that after
completing the course, parts of the participants’ brains associated with
compassion and self-awareness grew, and parts associated with stress shrank.
Meditation literally clears your mind and
calms you down, it’s been often proven to be the single most effective way to
live a happier live. I believe that this graphic explains it the best:
According to
Shawn Achor, meditation can actually make you happier long-term:
Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience
feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy.
And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the
brain to raise levels of happiness.
The fact that we can actually alter our
brain structure through mediation is most surprising to me and somewhat
reassuring that however we feel and think today isn’t permanent.
10. Practice gratitude – increase both happiness
and life satisfaction
This is a seemingly simple strategy, but
I’ve personally found it to make a huge difference to my outlook. There are lots of ways to practice
gratitude, from keeping a journal of things you’re grateful for, sharing
three good things that happen each day with a friend or your partner, and going out of
your way to show gratitude when others help you.
In an
experiment where some participants took note of
things they were grateful for each day, their moods were improved just from
this simple practice:
The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across
several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative
to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most
robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have
emotional and interpersonal benefits.
The Journal of Happiness studies published
a study that used letters of gratitude to test how
being grateful can affect our levels of happiness:
Participants included 219 men and women who
wrote three letters of gratitude over a 3 week period.
Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants’
happiness and life satisfaction, while decreasing depressive symptoms.
Quick last fact: Getting older will make yourself
happier
As a final point, it’s interesting to note
that as we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow
happier naturally. There’s still some debate over
why this happens, but scientists have got a few ideas:
Researchers, including the authors, have
found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on
and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less.
Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations
that will lift their moods — for instance, pruning social circles of friends or
acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older
adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and
hew their goals toward greater wellbeing.
So if you thought being old would make you
miserable, rest assured that it’s likely you’ll develop a more positive outlook
than you probably have now.
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