Being happy is not always what you think it is. Sometimes people who are actually quite unhappy put on a facade that can leave you wondering how in the world they can be going through so much and still be smiling. Sometimes these people cling to the brief periods of happiness in their day, only to return to a majority of the rest of their day being quite horrible. You never know. And therefore, you should never judge.
However, this article is not about the hidden pain that everyone experiences during various parts of their life. It is actually about how to increase that period immensely by doing some quite easy things.
- Explain to yourself that everyday is a new day and a new opportunity to be happy. This sounds easy, and, it actually is. When you wake up in the morning (whenever that is), how do you greet your day? Do you groan, hit the snooze and hope it goes away. A lot of people do. A better choice is to not hit the snooze and begin your day with a burst. On the days that I wake up alone, I typically hear my annoying alarm, and open my eyes, then fling the covers off of me. This single, quick little burst of energy just improves everything. If you do it right, you will chuckle to yourself at how ridiculous you did was. Now you raise your head, look at the mess you just made of the covers and realize that you may as well get up, considering you have to make the bed again anyway, and hell, just do it. Some people like to bound out of bed in a leap and land on their feet. These people do not have a 4-year-old who leaves Legos around everywhere. I did that once.
2. If you have a spouse or children, hug them. For what will seem like an uncomfortable amount of time. Studies show that the full therapeutic effect of touch and closeness to someone you feel connected to for 25-30 seconds releases a cascade of stuff into your body that instantly improves your day. The release of Oxytocin (yes, guys, that Oxytocin) produces a feeling of connection to that other being. There is a release of endorphins. There is an increase in blood flow to the arms, shoulders, chest and head (all of the parts touching during a good hug) which raises ambient body temperature between the two people. Ever wonder why people hug when they are consoling someone, it’s because of all this. It isn’t the “there, there” or the “it’s ok” that improves things, it is the actual contact. So, hug someone you have a connection to. Avoid hugging people who you do not hug usually. Although it may make you feel better, they may call the cops. And do not hug the cops when they get there.
3. Eat something in the morning that doesn’t break down in your system in 10 minutes. Avoid starchy cereals, sweet things like donuts and other useless crap. Eat some protein with something fibrous that has natural sugar in it. If you speak food then you know I mean fruit and some sort of protein. A perfect breakfast, since you are eating every couple of hours anyway, is 1/4 cantaloupe, 4 ounces of strawberries, etc with 2 ounces of raw almonds. Make a damn smoothie filled with fruit and veggies. These items provide an awesome burst of energy without providing a sugar rush that will cause you to crash in 30 minutes. You do not want to make yourself full, but you don’t want to eat, then leave the house basically immediately thinking about what Samwise called “Second Breakfast”.
4. Finish something you start, early. What I mean by this is accomplish something early in the day. I still have issues with this. There is nothing more depressing and saddening than to find out that you wasted the first few hours of the day on meaningless crap and have nothing to show for it. Accomplish something early and the rest of the day is still a win. Later, when you master this, change it to do the hard things first and the rest of your day is cake.
5. Most importantly, be nice. That’s right, be nice to people around you. Be extra nice. Give money to a homeless person (if that’s your thing), pay for the Starbucks of the person behind you, compliment the first four people you see with sincere compliments, stop and talk to the guy emptying the trash in your office, etc. I should not have to tell you what something nice is. It’s different for everyone. This one simple act will cloud your day with an impenetrable layer of awesome. You will find that it makes you feel better, and you will definitely make an impression on someone. You will brighten someone else’s day. Their brighter day will shine a bit on you and your day, which will make your day a bit better.
Happiness is something that some people just seem to go for and accomplish naturally. Some of you that know me are aware of big changes happening in my life, and sometimes it affects me. But I have to tell you, I am overall a happy person who loves their life. I am truly happy to be alive and truly happy to be able to affect others around me in a positive way. It would be easy to be a sour grouchy bastard all the time. But, that is not acceptable as a human on this planet. The entire world is filled with people who are out to make you unhappy. Why do their work for them. Give them a task and make them work to make you unhappy. You never know, they might give up and be happy with you.
The Healthy Us 