Happiness – how you can experience more!
Dr. Timothy J Sharp Ph.D., M.Psychol., B.Sc.(Hons) The Happiness
Institute; UTS Business School; RMIT School of Health Sciences
How can you find true happiness? Follow Dr Timothy Sharp's 10 step guide to happiness and put a smile on your face.
For too many people, success is defined primarily in material or financial terms. This is not totally inappropriate; however, a focus on "stuff" and dollars to the exclusion of other life domains can be problematic if this leads to imbalance (eg, a life of work without good health or quality relationships).
True happiness may include a degree of material and vocational success, but research strongly suggests that achieving real and meaningful happiness also depends on a range of other vitally important factors.1
So how can you be really happy? Implement the following steps and you'll find that no matter how good or bad life is at the moment, your life can be even better.
Take 10 happy steps
Step 1: Make a decision to be happy.
Start to believe that real happiness is a real possibility. Happiness is essentially a choice, but you need to believe that it's achievable. It's also crucial to realise that your happiness is largely your responsibility, so if you want to enjoy and get more out of life, then you need to take charge.
Step 2: What does happiness mean to you?
Work out what's important in your life and what you need to do to get more of it in your life. Research suggests that happy people tend to know where they're going; they set goals and they make plans.2 Remember, if you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's. And guess what they might have planned for you? Not much!
Step 3: Be optimistic
Think about achieving the life you want to achieve. Henry Ford once said "If you think you can or you can't, you're right". Optimistic thinking is probably the factor that most significantly determines happiness. So without losing one's sight of reality, be positive and stay focused on doing what you want and need to do to experience more happiness.
Step 4: Don't go it alone
It might be a cliché, but life is a journey and there's no doubt that the journey will be far more enjoyable if you're accompanied by people who are important to you and to whom you are important. Along with optimism, good quality relationships are significant determinants of happiness.
Step 5: Make plans
Success and happiness, however they're defined, require a certain degree of good management. Happy people tend to possess more effective and more active coping strategies, such as time management and problem solving skills. In a similar vein, it's important to learn to control what you can control, accept what you can't control and be wise enough to know the difference.
Step 6: Live a healthy life
You don't have to run marathons or go to bed early every night, but if you eat well, keep active, and ensure you get enough sleep and rest, happiness and success are more likely to be yours.
Step 7: Have fun!
Although this may sound obvious, one of the simplest paths to happiness is to engage in more activities that give you pleasure and enjoyment. And it's important to appreciate and be grateful for what you have, rather than focus on what you don't have.
Step 8: Find a sense of spirituality
This can take many forms from traditional to more contemporary practices such as yoga, meditation or even just nature loving. Do what you can to develop and foster a sense of purpose and meaning.
Step 9: Go with your strengths
Happy (and successful) people are significantly more aware of and better at utilising core strengths (qualities and attributes). So find out what you're good at and then find ways to apply these strengths as often and as much as possible.
Step 10: Persevere
Stick to it. Although there are a lucky few to whom happiness comes easily, for many, it will require some degree of diligence. Don't be afraid to work hard at attaining happiness and be realistic that it may take time to master some of the skills and to make some of the necessary changes.
http://www.morethanmedication.com.au/Great-minds/Happiness--how-you-can-experience-more/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=Happy%20Steps&utm_campaign=Tools%20GDN
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It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”