The Happy Habit: Three Simple Practices for a Life of Joy! – My article in the April 2023 issue of BHL magazine was entitled “Rewire Your Brain for Happiness” in which I introduced the new research findings that we indeed CAN wire our brains to experience more joy and fulfillment in life. It’s some of the most exciting research I’ve read in the past decade! Please feel free to get the basics from that article as it will help you to get the most out of this one. In this article, I want to follow it up by giving you three tools you can use every day to start this rewiring process in your brain.
The first one is something I actually implemented into my own life and the effects of doing it continuously have been phenomenal. It’s simple to do. It will sound silly and too simplistic but I’m here to say it really works.
Ready?
1) Smile
Smiling actually activates the tiny muscles of the face which helps release feel-good chemicals inside our body and makes us much more likely to think positive thoughts. The smile needs to be a real smile…not a fake show-all-your-teeth smile but one where you actually are lifting up the corners of your eyes. You can even do this with your lips closed but just have a genuine smile on your face. Do this especially when you leave your house and are out and about.
I wasn’t a natural smiler before I started doing this so when I began for the first time, I remember feeling self-conscious and almost ridiculous. I really had to concentrate on doing it. So, start small. Next time you go into your grocery store to shop, the minute you get out of your car until the minute you get back in, tell yourself you’re going to smile. And keep checking in during the time you’re in there that you are still smiling. The effects of doing this were so positive for me that I chose to keep doing it more and more each week and after a few weeks…I became a natural smiler. My mood was brighter and I always found that many times people would smile back at me which also helped brighten their day. Doing this is a natural, holistic mood lifter.
2) Take Time to SAVOR
When you are noticing something lovely or beautiful or tasty, STOP and take 10 seconds to really savor it in the moment. Don’t just rush on with your life. Give it the full 10 seconds. I do this throughout my day. It can be savoring the taste of my organic grapefruit in the morning, absorbing the beautiful vibration of the last chord I play on my piano and allowing it to dissipate slowly into the air, stopping for 10 seconds on my walk every day and looking up to devour the blue in the blue sky. Taking in the sunlight reflecting off a puddle. Looking up at the stars at night in awe. There are millions of tiny magical moments in life to be savored and doing this 10-second exercise helps rewire us for gratitude (which increases the level of happiness.) It helps create the lovely habit of mindfulness.
3) Cultivate Gratitude
You have no doubt been hearing about the importance of gratitude. Please be aware that what you’ve heard is just the tip of a very big iceberg of power. Being in a state of gratitude actually makes our entire being vibrate at a higher level! Now THAT is power. I encourage you not to take this word lightly as you’ll miss out on all its magic. It transforms. Research shows that people who practice gratitude regularly are physically healthier, happier and have healthier relationships than those that don’t. They have more friends and people enjoy being around them. And that’s just for starters.
So, to get those neurons to form a strong “gratitude” chain and rewire your brain for this, it needs to become a habit, something you do repeatedly every day. You certainly can start by keeping a gratitude journal, but for cultivating its power for changing your brain, take it further and be in gratitude throughout your day. Doesn’t have to be for long periods of time but it does need to be consistent if you want to develop the rewire. Can you think of any downside to actually creating a habit of gratitude? I certainly can’t. And of all the habits I have purposely chosen to develop, gratitude is the one that has had the most powerful results in transforming my life for happiness and fulfillment.
Track Your Progress
These three tools are so simple to start implementing. Tip: because you are going to be learning to develop a new way of being, I encourage you to track them at least for a week. Yep, track as in pen and paper or on your smartphone. And use your other resources to help remind you throughout the day. Even as basic as Post-it notes. Developing new ways of being requires effort in the beginning. But if you have a big enough “why” (as in I want to be happier) you can do this. Having an increased level of well-being is invaluable and therefore well worth the endeavor.
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