Last week as we were having our weekly office meeting, we were talking about happiness. You might think, “Hmm, that’s weird thing to talk about at an office meeting.” Or possibly… if you know us well, this doesn’t surprise you at all.
If you haven’t read the book, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, I’d recommend picking it up. The book covers principles of how to incorporate happiness at work for success. However, most of these principles can be applied to our every day lives to increase happiness and success. Because who doesn’t need more of that?
There is no single meaning to happiness, it is relative to the person experiencing it. However, I love how they describe in this book that happiness is the “joy we feel striving after our potential.” I love, love, love this. Happiness isn’t just a mood & doesn’t come only after you’ve made it or when you reach your goal of x,y,z – happiness is in the act of pursuing these things, the “joy of striving after our potential.” Happiness is a work ethic.
So, I’d like to share with you one part of the book that describes 7 ways we can improve our moods and raise our levels of happiness throughout the day. Feel free to share this with your coworkers too, for their benefit as well as yours!
- MeditateNow don’t get nervous about “I don’t know how to meditate” or “I don’t have time for that”. You can receive the benefits of meditation from just 5 minutes a day! Take five minutes, close your eyes, and focus on your breath going in and out. And try to remain patient. If you find your mind starting to wander, that’s OK, just slowly bring it back to focus on your breathing. Studies show that within minutes of meditating; you will experience higher levels of calmness, contentment, awareness, and empathy.
- Find Something To Look Forward To Anticipating future rewards or future exciting things actually light up the pleasure centers in your brain just as much as the actual reward itself will! Let’s use this to our advantage! Put on the calendar a vacation, a date night, or a night out with friends, even if it’s weeks or months away. The thought of anticipating this pleasurable event will help boost your happiness! And for me, it’s the small things. I’ve found looking forward to a good cup of coffee in the morning is enough to boost feelings of happiness!
- Commit to Conscious Acts of Kindness So much research has been done showing giving to friends and strangers alike decreases feelings of stress and strongly enhances mental health. Try this – for one day commit to performing 5 acts of kindness. And consciously do them, don’t look back over the day and think “oh yeah, I helped open the door for the lady and the grocery store”. They don’t need to be anything huge or extravagant, it’s just the conscious act of doing so produces feelings of happiness that last for many subsequent days – far after the act is over.
- Infuse Positivity Into Your Surroundings Surround your work-space with things that produce positive emotions – pictures of loved ones aren’t just decorations, they actually produce positive feelings each time you look at them. A good thing is to take this one step further and take outanything that will produce negative feelings. Cutting out negative TV or especially violent media, helps to contribute to higher levels of happiness.
- ExerciseI’m sure you’ve heard that exercise raises the good-feeling chemicals called endorphins. In addition to increasing endorphins, movement on a regular basis helps improve motivation, feelings of mastery, reduces stress and anxiety, and helps us become more productive. One study looked at the effectiveness of exercising 3 time per week vs. anti-depressant medication. After four months, the groups experienced similar improvements in happiness. The groups were tested AGAIN 6 months later, and the group that had taken medication had a 38% recurrence of depression, while the exercising group had 9% recurrence rate! Exercise is a long-lasting mood lifter!
- Spend Money, But Not on STUFF Money can contribute to feelings of happiness if its spend on doing things, not buying things. Spending money on experiences, especially ones with other people and loved ones, produces positive emotions that are more meaningful and more lasting. So try this – instead of purchasing material things like shoes, clothes, or televisions – spend the money on a concert, group dinner, or family activity.
- Exercise a Signature StrengthEveryone is good at something and has a specific, special skill. Each time we use this skill or strength, we experience a burst of positivity. If you haven’t heard of it yet, please check out Strengths Finder. I LOVE this! This is an assessment that looks for patterns of thoughts, behaviors, and feelings and identifies areas where you have the greatest strengths! This is such a fantastic way of looking at ourselves, and others. Instead of focusing on our weaknesses, let’s use something that is a natural strength and build on it! For instance, one of my strengths is called learner. I love the process of doing research, and learning new things. It gives me such joy to learn about a new topic that interests me. And another example, one of Dr. Niki’s strengths is competition. If you know her at all, this probably doesn’t surprise you. Everything is a competition, from competing with herself to become better or racing with the car driving down the street next to her. When we can find activities or times to exercise our strengths, whether that be at work or anytime, we have an increased sense of positivity, happiness, and purpose. (And side note… watch out for Dr. Niki if you happen to be driving next to her!)
I hope this was helpful to you, and gives you some tips for infusing more happiness into your daily routine… and that happiness will carry over into all aspects of your life! Please, do me a favor and read this entire book.
You won’t regret it!
– Dr. Bethany
