Helping Happiness Along

Happiness is worth helping along.

The benefits of being a happy person are huge. We live longer, live healthier, and live more lively lives.

Unfortunately, all but the most highly-evolved among us have our less-than-happy moments. Fortunately, we can do simple things to recapture a happy mood if we find ourselves lacking one.

I found an article that starts, "Everyone wants to be happy, but happiness is more than pasting a smile on your face."

True, but that is a great start.

Pasting a smile on your face, even if forced, gets the happiness engine started. If you are from the North, a forced smile is like a jump start on a frigid morning.

Even though you are still freezing, you got started.

Another strategy is to force yourself to take a few deep breaths.

Something about our internal hardwiring will not allow us be negative and well-oxygenated at the same time.

A few deep breaths clears the head, relieves tension, and relaxes the posture. After some deep breathing, we hold our bodies in a way more conducive to a happy state of mind.

Another trick is to laugh.

We can do this the sane way or the insane way.

The sane way is to find something to laugh about. In my experience, this is the option most people choose.

This could be as simple as going to a joke website or watching a stand-up show on Comedy Central.

The insane option is the funniest, most self-reliant, and the most private. We can start laughing for no apparent reason, except to recapture the state of happiness.

I've done this and it works. However, for obvious reasons, don't try this at home, unless you are alone.

However you do it, help happiness along.

It's closer that you think.

Copyright 2004 by Tony Papajohn. Tony writes and speaks on success. Subscribe to his free SuccessMotivator e-zine at http://www.successmotivator.com.

In The News:


Olympics-Happiness for Bhutan Olympians is not golden
Reuters
Neither Sherab nor Kunzang expect to win medals for Bhutan, an impoverished, largely Buddhist country between India and China which only opened up to foreigners in 1974, banned television until 1999, and uses happiness to measure its success.

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How to Be Happier at Work: 3 Tips
TIME
Tan used his 20% time, working with experts, to create a course called “Search Inside Yourself,” designed to help Googlers improve their emotional intelligence and mindfulness, making them happier and more productive employees, and better bosses.
Increased Productivity Through MindfulnessSeattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
How to be happier at work: Three tipsDynamic Business

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Travel: Happiness is a humidity-free seaside town, plus top 10 states where ...
San Jose Mercury News
How else would you explain Kiawah Island, SC, and Naples, Fla., beating the sublime Sausalito and Tiburon in the publication's first-ever list of the 15 Happiest Seaside Towns? (Coastal Living is based in Birmingham, Ala., so there's that.) ...

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Modern Happiness: Springsteen and the American Dream
Huffington Post (blog)
I think happiness is an idea that's kind of overblown in our society, and incredibly muddled down by different shit that tries to appeal to happiness or make you happy, but really only one person knows what happiness is, and that person is everybody.


The Guardian (blog)

The New Economics of Happiness
The Atlantic
But do they know how to measure happiness? If they did, what would we even do with the results? Each year, the OECD produces the Better Life Index, a comprehensive report on the well-being of advanced countries based on a long list of factors, ...
Happiness is - being a woman!Indian Express
The Happiest Countries in the World24/7 Wall St.
Better life: relaunching the happiness indexThe Guardian (blog)
Moneynews -MercatorNet (blog)
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ADDING MULTIMEDIA Money Can Buy Happiness After All ... Sort Of
MarketWatch (press release)
ATLANTA, May 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- They say money can't buy happiness, but $5 will get you pretty close today. After welcoming its 5 millionth guest earlier this year, the World of Coca-Cola, also known as the home of happiness, is celebrating ...

and more »

AARP News (blog)

Happiness: Reversing the Formula
Huffington Post
We grow up being taught to believe external things will bring happiness. Many of us learn to equate our own happiness with the level of success we achieve and the external things that come with the achievement. If we meet the right person, ...
What's Your Happiness Formula?AARP News (blog)

all 2 news articles »

Sowetan

'Happiness' is key Semenya ingredient
Sowetan
FOR Dorcas Semenya, world athletics champion Caster Semenya's mother, the most important lesson to teach one's children is to always be happy. PROUD: Doris Semenya has instilled joy in her children. "I am a person filled with joy.

and more »

IBTimes.co.uk

Can Happiness Research Invent a Better Economics?
The Atlantic
But do they know how to measure happiness? If they did, what would we even do with the results? Each year, the OECD produces the Better Life Index, a comprehensive report on the well-being of advanced countries based on a long list of factors, ...
Top Ten Happiest Countries in the World in 2012 [SLIDESHOW]IBTimes.co.uk

all 34 news articles »

WBEZ (blog)

Are the Chinese happier than they were 20 years ago?
WBEZ (blog)
After two decades of rapid economic growth, people in China aren't necessarily happier than they were 20 years ago. At least that's what a recent economic study found. Better economic conditions haven't really affected middle-income earners and the ...

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