Ever had a feeling of taking a break from everything and staying in isolation? The hectic work schedule and too predictable life pave the path for boredom. This boredom is accompanied by and monotony and stress. It happens when we fail to keep a track of personal and professional life. It won't be wrong to state that no person in this planet is satisfied with whatever he/she has. The famous movie Harry Potter featured a very beautiful scene where young Harry is standing in front of the mirror of erised and Dumbledore says, "The happiest person in the world will look into the mirror and will see nothing". Let's face the truth, such a person do not exist. It is practically impossible to stay happy all the time, but at least you can keep the stress away from your life.
The write-up is a compilation some of the ways that can effortlessly jazz up your life. Check them out and add a bit of excitement in your everyday life.
1. Make a wish list
Turn up to the things that you love or the things that you always wanted to do. Make a bucket list should be light and comforting. List out the places that you want to visit or the hobbies that you want to pursue. You won't be able to do everything that you list out. However, reflecting on the past and triggering the deep rooted desires will definitely act as a stress reliever. You can even sort out the name of the person you want to meet yet again, may an old friend or ex-girlfriend. There is nothing as relaxing as catching up with old friends.
2. Challenge yourself
Monotony comes into play when you stop challenging yourself. This ultimately leads to stress. There is always a room for improvement. However, you will never get over the tedium if you will stay in your comfort zone. Don't let the work pressure take a toll on your head. Instead, take it as an opportunity to brush up your skills and bring some adventures to your life.
3. Travel
Staying focused at your goal is a good thing, but pushing yourself too much sometimes reduces your efficiency. So, take a break and explore new places. The world we live in is definitely beautiful. Spend some time in the beauty of the nature and evaluate the reasons for the stress. You need not go for long vacation, but spending a couple of day at the nearest hill station will be equally fun and relaxing.
4. Share it with someone
Men are generally in a habit of keeping everything to themselves. However, sharing your feeling always helps. The stress can be at the work front or in your personal life. So, discuss what's going on in your life with someone who you think is worth-trusting. The person can be your close friend or your partner. This will ease your tension a bit and together you may come up with a solution for the problem.
5. Spruce up your wardrobe
Studies have shown that small changes in lifestyle have a big impact in the emotional state of a person. Getting some trendy update for your wardrobe and your everyday style can spice up your life, yet again. Get yourself a new haircut and spruce up your closet with dress shirts, stylish shirts and bright footwear. A sexy style of men's underwear can boost your intimate affairs. This will definitely help you in dealing with your stress.
It is not the stress that affects your health, it is our reaction to it. So, let the work pressure take a toll on your mind. Give yourself some space and deal with the problems one-by-one.
Are you happy to go to work? Do you see your work as fun or a burden? How do you feel when you are about to go to work? Are you searching for tips to help you to be happy to go to work? Do not stress out; at the end of this article, you will be well-informed about how to be happy to go to work and stay happy when working.
First, you should realize that your state of mind has a direct impact on your attitude at work. And your work has a lot of influence on your mood. Given that, it is crucial that you find the right job or work that makes you happy. However, if you are not satisfied with your existing work, you need to find ways to be happy so that you will not feel burdened.
#1. See The Bigger Picture - The Work Is a Means to an End
You should have personal goals to achieve in your chosen career. To be seen as an experienced professional or worker in your chosen field, you must satisfy certain conditions such as years of experience and overall attitude to work.
Your work is undoubtedly one major way to climb specific ladders in your career. Consequently, you need to see your work as a means to achieve your career goals, and every passing day, you are getting closer to becoming an authority in your career.
#2. Change Your Attitude - Feel Fulfilled
Nothing can be more effective than changing your attitude about your work. While other people, including you, view your work as being overly tasking and boring, see your work as exciting and fun. Picture the complicated processes in your work as a puzzle game and gift yourself a trophy or prize when you finish each day's work completing your duty - like a cup of cappuccino.
#3. Embrace Co-workers - You Are Not Competitors But Partners
Irrespective of the attitude of your co-workers, you need to embrace them to be happy at work. You are meant to complement one another and achieve the organizational goals together. And you need them to meet your targets and deliver expected goals. You are partners; find a reason to like each one of your colleagues.
#4. Find a Reason to be Proud of Your Work
If you are not proud of your company, you certainly will not be happy to go to work. Instead, jot down what you do like about your company and find what your company stands for in your field. Be a part of something that your company does that makes you happy, then you will always be happy to go to work.
Is it possible to stay happy forever? Yes, theoretically it is absolutely possible to be always happy. Feeling happy (or any other feeling for that matter) is a result of chemicals produced by your body. There are two chemicals that can make you happy: dopamine and oxytocin. If you get happy on dopamine, it is only temporary. If you get happy on oxytocin, there is no limit to how long you can sustain it. Moreover, oxytocin-induced happiness turns on healthy genes, affects the microbiome in a positive way and helps cellular regeneration, among other things. Dopamine-induced happiness doesn't do any of that. So the goal is to make your body produce oxytocin rather than dopamine in order to sustain happiness.
Firstly, here is how you produce dopamine: You plan a shopping frenzy and start to get excited (dopamine starts to rise). You are at the mall, looking at wonderful shoes (dopamine raises even more). You try on the shoes and pick the ones you like (dopamine climaxes / you feel super happy). You swipe your credit card (dopamine starts to decrease / you start to look for the next stimulant to make you happy). I am not making this up. Studies have been documented on dopamine levels during shoe shopping expeditions and that's exactly the pattern of "high" and "low" that was observed.
For guys it looks like that: You plan your new car purchase (dopamine rises / the excitement starts building up). You are test driving your prospective new acquisition (dopamine rises more). You decide on the car you are going to buy (wow, dopamine levels are over the sky / you feel super happy). You sign the lease and there it goes again - the dopamine starts to wear off and with that your happiness starts to disappear too.
On a daily basis, we get our dopamine/happiness fix from coffee, chocolate, complements and approval from other people and other such stimulants. It feels good for a second and the next second we are looking for the next fix because the previous one just wasn't enough. What's more, the next dose of dopamine stimulation needs to be higher or else we won't feel its effect. Sounds familiar? Sounds exhausting? It is definitely not sustainable because you are always looking for an external stimulus (coffee, your parents' approval, your partner's love, your kids' accomplishments, your own accomplishments, more accomplishments, more coffee, more chocolate... wow, that is exhausting!)
Now, how about we make oxytocin and get happy on it instead? You make oxytocin by being in gratitude, by loving people (while expecting nothing in return), by sharing with loved ones, by caring and genuinely giving to others (again, expecting nothing in return!), by practicing forgiveness, by feeling compassion. The more you do that, the more it comes back, and the more oxytocin you make. There is no limit to how much oxytocin your body can produce; therefore there is no limit to your happiness. And the best part: it is entirely internally sourced and costs nothing! You feel sad - decide to give, and to love, and to forgive. You feel angry - turn to gratitude. You feel tired - spend time with loved ones, share with people you care for. You can also mediate. Or say a mantra for a minute or two (here is my favorite one: "I love you. Please forgive me. I forgive you. Thank you.") The point is, you can be sad, angry, tired or unhappy and be happy with all of it and grateful for all of it. This way, you are happy when you are happy, and you are also happy when you are unhappy.
If you need help with making oxytocin, you may want to consider doing a meditation course, or some kind of emotional release therapy or a BodyTalk session.
How do you stay happy all the time? Is it possible and is there any proof that these ways can work? In this post I want to show you 10 ways that are scientifically proven. If this does not convince you, then I do not know what will!
1. Exercise more
Lots of studies on this one. Exercising releases the good mood endorphins so that you are always in a better mood after a workout or simply a walk to the supermarket. I have never met a person in a bad mood after a workout! But where is the scientific evidence?
The University of Toronto did a great job on this and analyzed no less than 25 research studies. The conclusion was that physical activity can and does help to keep depression at bay.
The best study I know is where three groups of depressed people are put on a regime of anti-depressants, exercise or a combination of the two. No surprise to know that all three groups were happier, but did it last? Six months later, the group who had been treated with exercise only, had a very low relapse rate of 9%. The other two groups had relapsed and how! Their rates were ranging from 38% to 31%, so about a third of them were now depressed again.
2. Positive thinking affects your performance
“Happiness is the precursor to success.” – Shawn Achor
Sounds like pie in the sky? Well, according to Shawn Achor, if he knows everything about what factors are impinging on your happiness such as stressors, hassles, successes, economic circumstances, relationships and so on, then he can only predict 10% of your long term happiness. The remaining 90% is how you process the world around you. If happiness is on the other side of success, it is unlikely you will get there as you continually strive to get better grades, higher salaries and so on.
Positive thinking raises energy levels, creativity and productivity by as much as 30%. The secret is to use positive thinking now, rather than when you are rich and famous. Watch the video below for a very entertaining outline of this.
3. Trash your negative thoughts
Some people are overwhelmed by their negative thoughts and they have real problems in getting rid of them. A University of Madrid study found that by actually writing these thoughts down on a piece of paper and then destroying them was effective. They recommended that you either tear them up, throw them in the trash or burn them! The fact of discarding them physically does help in reducing their toxic effects. Psychologists suggest doing this on a regular basis.
4. Treasure your experiences more than your possessions
Thomas Gilovich, a psychologist at Cornell University has done quite a lot of research as to why it is better to treasure memorable and pleasant experiences rather than the material things we buy. There are many reasons for this as outlined in his study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Comparing possessions and looking at better objects after purchase can be demoralising and ruin the initial pleasure we got when purchasing and taking possession of that new car, TV or computer.
But treasuring experiences is not nearly as destructive. They belong to us, they are special and they provide longer lasting happiness. We should always aim to visit a new place or just go trekking. Local authorities should be able to provide the facilities in towns and cities so that people may experience more enjoyable and pleasurable activities, rather than building more shopping malls.
5. Write down why you are grateful
Feeling and thinking about the things you are grateful for as you wake up is a great way to build more happiness.
Research on our brain shows that we always tend to focus on the negative things of life like those worries, tragedies, failures, and discontent. Negativity is the default position.
“We’ve got this negativity bias that’s a kind of bug in the stone-age brain in the 21st century,” – Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist.
This is why we need to focus on the good and more especially, we need to hone in on what we should be grateful for. There are various ways you can do this. Here are some ideas:
When you wake up, remind yourself mentally of three things that you can be grateful for.
Some people prefer to write down three things and keep the list to remind themselves every now and again.
Use Twitter or Facebook if you feel inclined. Useful to remind your followers that this does actually work.
Express gratitude by phoning your significant other or by treating a colleague to coffee for their help with a project or task.
Try giving back by helping a person or by volunteering for a few hours a week.
But is there any scientific proof that this actually works? Check out this link to see just some of the numerous studies on gratitude.
6. Practise mindfulness
What does mindfulness mean? It just means that you concentrate and pay full attention to the present moment and accept it in a non-judgmental way. This is now becoming a popular trend in psychology and medicine. When done regularly it can boost mood, reduce stress levels, and lead to a better quality of life.
Focus on the present moment means that you can savor touch, smell and other physical sensations but also happy feelings. Concentrate on the joy they are giving you. It is really effective in forgetting about the past and not fretting about future, fearful scenarios.
But can this really make us happier and what is the scientific evidence? Watch the video where Harvard researcher Matt Killingsworth explains that we are happier when we are mindful of the moment and the least happy when the mind is wandering all over the place. He has come to this conclusion after studying 15,000 people!
7. Don’t forget your beauty sleep
When you do not get enough sleep, your negativity takes over big time. This was the conclusion researchers came to after several experiments. One of these is particularly interesting. The researchers homed in on the hippocampus which is the part of the brain which processes our positive thoughts. When we are sleep deprived, this function starts to creak and negative thoughts muscle in much more than before.
To illustrate this, researchers asked sleep deprived students to remember a list of words. They were getting a high score on all the negative words (81%) but when it came to the positive ones or neutral ones, they were only getting about 31% of these right. Dr.Robert Stickgold has conducted similar experiments on sleep and memory. Now you know why people are always in a bad mood when they do not get enough sleep.
8. Dedicate a little time to helping others
People buy bigger houses, cars and phones but it does not seem to increase their overall happiness in the long term, although it might cause a brief spike in happiness. That is short lived. Researchers have found that when we dedicate a little time or money to helping others, this has a significant effect on our own happiness.
9. Focus on the life you want to live
“The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.”- Dr. Daniel Gilbert.
We often talk about winning the lottery and where we would go and above all what we would buy. We might even talk about giving to charity. But we never or rarely talk about what our state of mind would be and how much happier and carefree we would be. This is why focusing on priorities to get the life you want to live is so important.
10. Focus on your strengths
Are you curious, open-minded or brave? How are you using these strengths to improve your life and that of others? These are key questions but people who exploit their strengths rather than dwelling on their weaknesses are generally much happier.
Being able to realize our full potential through exploiting our strengths is one of the best ways of finding happiness and helping to make the world a better place.
Are you happy or discontented? Have you tried the suggestions we have listed above and have they made any difference to your life? Let us know in the comments.
