A good friend sent us this excerpted article from the website Real Age. Below are some great tips to help you cultivate well-being.
Find Your Happy Place
Are you happy? It’s such an important question because happiness has such a huge impact on your health, from your arteries to your heart, from the glow in your skin to the pep in your step. Happy feelings influence your brain and body chemistry in ways that make you better able to cope with pain and stress and to fend off colds, flu, heart disease, and even cancer. Follow these steps to help make yourself happier, day in and day out
Believe in Yourself
Finding true happiness requires taking a good hard look at yourself. The goal is to identify any off-the-wall beliefs about your self-worth and adjust them. When you’re at ease with yourself and open to others, friendships seem to blossom naturally. Just acknowledging secret self-doubts may help you develop enough humor and compassion toward yourself to reach out to others, who, underneath, are probably just like you: sometimes unsure and shy.
Quick Ways to Like Your Body Better
Don’t like looking in the mirror? Then look in the mirror. Seriously. But this time, change what you say to yourself.
Instead of mentally muttering, “My thighs are so big they need their own ZIP code,” say something objective and nonjudgmental (“My thighs are fuller than my calves” works).
It’s not just wishful thinking: Changing the words can actually change the negative feelings behind them. In fact, just three sessions of this “mirror-exposure therapy” worked better than professional counseling at improving the self-esteem, body image, and even depression. (And this female study group didn’t have just everyday “I hate my hips” reactions to their mirror image. Their body-image issues were serious enough to put them in danger of developing eating disorders.)
If talking to the mirror isn’t your style, there’s another easy way to improve how you see yourself, and it’s not liposuction. It’s weight lifting. When a group of women lifted a few times a week for 12 weeks, they emerged feeling much more confident about their bodies. It happened no matter what size the women were or what shape they were in. It happened even if they gained weight during the study! And it gave them a more positive emotional outlook overall. It also heaped health benefits on them: well-toned muscles, stronger bones, a slightly higher metabolism, and more. What’s not to like about a body that has all that?
Hang Out with Happy Friends
Having someone in your immediate social circle who is upbeat ups your chances of happiness by 15%. Why? It seems happy people have the power to spread their feel-good vibes far and wide the same way a ripple spreads through a pond. Not only do immediate friends matter, but friends of friends, too. So make plans to have lunch with a friend or go for a walk together. It could have far-reaching benefits for your mental health
Make Time for Play
Swap your endless to-do list for some spontaneous playtime. It packs big benefits for your health, mood, mind, job, and even your relationships. When you’re floating free, happy, and totally absorbed, you’re taking a mini vacation from deadlines, bills, and your crazy-busy schedule. Anything counts, from enjoying a silly moment with your spouse to hosting an impromptu gathering, to cooking up a new recipe in the kitchen.
Squash Negativity
Is your inner voice quick to snap out things like, “How could you forget that, you idiot?” Sometimes the noise inside our own heads is our biggest stressor. When negative thoughts crop up, imagine a stop sign in your head, and tell yourself, “Stop!” To turn things around, trade in put-downs for positive thoughts and affirmations. For example, when you feel tired during a workout, think, “I am strong” or when you start work on a difficult task, think, “I can accomplish anything.” Empower yourself to think positive.
Connect with Others
Make every effort to talk — really talk — to people you care about. If they’re far away, stay in touch through e-mail, phone calls, video chat, and, when you can, face-to-face visits; you’ll all benefit by connecting. Get physical, too; hugs stimulate oxytocin, the “cuddle hormone,” spreading a feel-good boost. Lovemaking does, too, in steady relationships (those couples report the highest happiness levels). Plus, connecting with others may keep you healthier by providing a coping mechanism for stress.
Keep a Gratitude Journal
Simply writing down what you’re thankful for makes you healthier, happier and more optimistic. Feeling thankful comes, in part, from counting your blessings each day. If you’re not sure how to journal, start by answering: What three things am I thankful for? You might find that journaling gives you a better, happier outlook for each day because you’re looking for moments to include in your journal each night.
Lend a Helping Hand
Volunteering at a nearby school or retirement residence, running to the pharmacy for a sick friend, or lending emotional support to a loved one can give your happiness quotient a big boost. How? Giving back and bonding with others inspires gratitude for what life has given you, and can help you define your purpose in life. The secret to being happy may be realizing that true happiness isn’t about being high on life all the time, but slowing down enough to share your natural gifts with others.
Enjoy the Great Outdoors
Spending time with awesome Mother Nature makes you feel alert, enthusiastic, energetic, and simply happy. Is it the fresh air, the sunshine, the greenery? No one knows for sure. But something about being al fresco appears to help people get even bigger benefits from their workouts and they’re also more likely to stick to their outdoor sports be it walking, bicycling, kayaking or an outdoor fitness class.
Turn On Some Tunes
If you want to feel happy, less stressed and more energetic, flip on your stereo. Whether you love Bach, Lady Gaga or The Beatles, music that makes you feel good increases your heart and breathing rates and makes your brain release dopamine, a lovely feel-good neurotransmitter. Plus, no matter whether you enjoy listening to your favorite music alone or with friends, it will more than likely give you the mood boost you’re looking for.
Meditate or Pray
For some, being spiritual means going to church. For others, it means finding a quiet place to meditate and think about life. No matter how you do it or what you call it, meditation and prayer can help slow breathing and brain activity, and reduce heart rate and blood pressure. Plus, when you do pray or meditate, you’re more likely to be filled with peace, joy, and other positive emotions that can also lead to positive physiological responses throughout your body.
Stress Management Tool
Stress doesn’t have to sideline you from life or send you straight to the ice cream tub. Here are some tricks to avoid letting your worries burden — or bury — you.
1. ID the source of your stress. Some sources of stress are easy to point the finger at, but are they really what’s bothering you? Lashing out at your kids, for example, may be a reaction not to what your kids just did but to an extra assignment piled on at work. The first step to managing stress: pinpointing the true culprit.
2. Focus on the moment. Being mindful — really paying attention to the present, not the past or the future — can help you manage stress. Spend some time every day noticing the things most people tend to ignore — like breathing, bodily sensations, and emotions.
- Lie down.
- Close your eyes and notice your posture. Keep your mind on your body — nothing else.
- Focus on the natural flow of your breath as air fills your lungs and leaves your lungs, fills your lungs and leaves your lungs.
- Notice your toes — any tension, tingling, or temperature changes?
- Think about your feet, heels, and ankles, and then your knees, thighs, and pelvis. Don’t rush. Take your time.
- Continue working your way up your body, finishing with your throat, jaw, tongue, face, and brow.
3. Look after your health. Stress is much more manageable when the other aspects of your life — from general health to sleep patterns to eating habits — are in good order. When you don’t get enough sleep, for instance, your body produces more stress hormones, making you more vulnerable to the damaging effects of stress. Evaluate what areas in your life need attention, and work on fixes.
4. Walk for 30 minutes, stretch, do yoga — just get up and move! Exercise is one of life’s greatest stress relievers. Try it.
5. Do the opposite. Every emotion has an “urge to act” that goes with it. When we feel afraid or anxious, we avoid things; when we’re depressed or sad, we withdraw; when we’re angry, we’re tempted to lash out or yell. Unfortunately, each of these behaviors actually makes things worse. But if you can do the opposite action, you may make things better. Worried about something? Tackle it instead of ignoring it. Angry at someone? Don’t lash out, be empathetic. Depressed? Go out rather than shutting yourself in.
6. Focus on your muscles. By tensing and relaxing your muscles, you can help relieve some of the physical stress that’s stored in your body. Start at the bottom: Tense the muscles of your feet and then relax them. Tense and relax the different muscle groups of your body one at a time — your legs, stomach, back, neck, arms, face, and head. And breathe.
Be Realistic
Being happy means facing the fact that life sometimes stinks and that there will definitely be times when you’ll be unhappy. This doesn’t mean you have to lower your expectations. Instead, align them with reality by expecting to face challenges. A little unhappiness here and there forces you to work through problems and think about what gives you happiness so you can set new directions that may change your life.
