EVERYTHING ABOUT
A HAPPIER YOU
Every week I am posting about everything you need to know about hormones. This weeks topic is about creating a happier you
Did You Know – Creating a Happier You
- Happiness is a state of mind
- Happiness is a choice
- Happiness is created from within
- Happiness isn’t something that someone gives you or makes you
- We do not need permission to be happy.
- Happiness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfilment
- Happiness is created by emotions, which are electro-chemical signalling molecules
- Emotions are tangible proteins & fats, with names like Endorphins, Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, which flow through us in an continuous cycle creating that physical ‘feeling’.
- Happiness is the most cherished feeling yet often the most elusive
- Day in and day out, many search for happiness, but end the day empty handed, not realising that all the time it was within them
- Create’ is a verb that means to bring something into existence or cause something new to exist
- In other words creating happiness is an action we all can take
- There are 20 or more words to describe the opposite of happy, such as depressed, disappointed, down, miserable, unhappy, sad, troubled, upset, hopeless, etc
- So its easy not to be happy
- Are you creating a unhappy you?
- According to the 2021 World Happiness Report, negative feelings are rising around the world
- The world’s top ten ‘happy’ countries ranked according to life satisfaction in 2021
- Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Austria. UK in 17th place, US in 19th place and Spain in 27th place.
Meet Sally and get to know all about creating a happier you
Intro
Creating happiness
Your favourite feel good song
The negativity bias
Creating Happiness
Creating happiness is an activity many of us need to cultivate. We all go through times of doubt and disappointment it’s called ‘life’. Use these great tips to get back on track and stop you dwelling on the unhappier sides of life
State your Achievements
Henry Ford said: “There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”
- Which awesome things have you done in your life?
- Write it down
- Start a journal
- List your accomplishments, milestones, and breakthroughs big and small
- Put the list on your fridge door
- Read it out loud every day.
Do what You Love
Steve Jobs said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly happy is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
- What are you passionate about?
- Write it down
- Can you work in this area?
- Working with what you ‘love’ makes you more happy, productive, even healthier
Dream your Perfect Day
Coco Chanel said “To create great things, we must first dream”
- Seeing your perfect day in your mind is the beginning of the journey
- Feeling and believing that you achieve this is the next step
- Being aware of the opportunities that present themselves to help you in your journey is the third step
- Taking action the fourth step
Put Yourself Above Everything Else
Lucille Ball said: “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in the world.”
- Put yourself first
- Realise that only by building ‘self’ can you be of any service to others
- Show yourself love and appreciation
Believe today will be awesome
The Joyce Brothers said: “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”
- Believe you can
- Fake it until you make it
Decide to be Happy
Walt Disney said: “Happiness is a state of mind. It’s just according to the way you look at things.”
- Happiness comes from within.
- Reshape your mindset
- Replace negative thoughts with positive
- Know that all emotions have an opposite, if you feel sad know that you can feel joy – the decision is yours
Perfection and Satisfaction Don’t Exist
Stephen Hawkins said: “Perfection simply doesn’t exist… Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
George Bernard Shaw said: “As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death. ”
- Be grateful for what you have but always strive to be and have better and more
- Fall in love your imperfections, everyone else loves them
Be Bold
Brain Tracy said: “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”
- Nothing worth having comes easy or with a 100% guarantee of success
- Take risks and feel the rush
- Your comfort zone shrinks your world and gives you tunnel vision.
- Take a leap of faith.
Surround yourself with the Right Crowd
Oprah Winfrey said: “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.”
- Be selective
- Surround yourself with people who inspire and support you, make you want to ‘grow’
- Remove yourself from those who drain you and bring you down
Don’t Worry – Keep Moving
Ayn Rand said: “The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me”
- Life is full of what ifs
- Remember to see the positive what ifs.
- Embrace the uncertainty that life brings the potential to grow
Your Feel-Good Song
Bob Marley said: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
- Everyone needs a feel-good song to brighten up their day
- Science has shown that music can change your mood in a heartbeat even on the worst of days
- What’s your feel-good song?
The Negativity Bias
- Is your brain like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones?
- Negative events have a greater impact on our brains than positive ones which psychologists refer to as the negativity bias, which can have a powerful effect on behaviour, decisions, even relationships
- Not only do we register negative stimuli more readily we also dwell on them
- Our tendency to pay more attention to bad things and overlook good things is likely a result of evolution – a matter of life and death
- Those more attuned to danger and attentive to the bad things around them were more likely to survive
- Passed down genetically.
- The negativity bias plays an important survival role
- Protects us from physical danger and other threats like financial pressures, health worries, performance anxiety, etc.
- Good because it warns and pushes you into action
- Bad because it can overestimates threats and underestimates our ability to manage them.
Consider this
- You dwell on an insult or fixate on mistakes?
- Criticisms often have a greater impact than compliments
- Bad news frequently draws more attention than good
- Remember traumatic experiences better than positive ones
- Recall insults better than praise
- Learn more from negative outcomes and experiences
- Make decisions based on negative information more than positive data.
- Negative news is more likely to be perceived as truthful
- Negativity has a longer shelf life than positivity
- Think of past events in your life – how many do you remember that were negative
Increase the Positivity Bias
- Stop Negative Self-Talk
- Increase Positive Self Talk
- Reframe the Situation
- Put on your rose-coloured glasses
- Stop ruminating on the negative
- Establish New Patterns
- Savour Positive Moments
- Really focus the wonderful, amazing things that are happening
- Practise The 3 to 1 Ratio
- We need three positive experiences to offset one negative experience.
Questions? Please don't hesitate to contact me
