There are hundreds of different studies that show how you choose to live your life – what you do and how you decide to think – play an enormous role in your ability to be happy. In other words, not only are you a victim of chemicals floating around in your head. You can find some very concrete steps to take reins of your life and your mood improve. It is extremely important to remember that our lives are not entirely pre-determined by our genes. For example, the environment you are exposed to influences whether certain genes are turned on or off. Your genes and behavior can also shutdown. So can your thoughts. You can do much more influence over your vote, then you may have thought. Here are the top ten of Happiness Strategies that have been scientifically documented to improve mood.
- Count your blessings and appreciate what you have. Every day, write down three things you are thankful for them or your partner or a close friend says. The people who actively focus on just what their lives will be happier people. Do you think more this way, your brains will be more and more new nerve pathways and the second recurring nature determine this positive way of thinking will be.
- The optimism of the practice. Expect positive results. Always try to get the best in people, situations and circumstances to see. You do not Pollyanna, nor should you be unrealistic, but there are always two good and bad points – - to a person, a situation or circumstance. Emphasis on the property. The optimistic thoughts are often self-fulfilling. When people are optimistic and believe that something good will come of what they work for, they will sooner endure when they hit roadblocks. Their resilience and persistence are what induce them to succeed.
- Focus on your own life and making it all you want to be. Not compare me to other people. When you start to see comparisons, stop. Shift back to your own life. Eventually, if you happy and fulfilled with what you do, it does not matter what anybody else does. The people who live life without comparisons to be happier.
- Surround yourself with loving, supportive, positive friends and family. People have to be part of a larger network evolved from it. The social interaction alter the actual chemicals in your body. In your brains, serotonin and dopamine levels rise in response to positive social interaction. In women, the cause oxytocin levels to positive social interaction, and, in men, the increase vasopressin levels increase. Oxytocin and vasopressin are “tend and befriend” chemicals that people drive more rigid social connections. People with strong, supportive social networks live a healthier, happier, longer lives.
- Learn to manage stress. The tension plays a central role in the triggering of depression because the high cortisol levels linked to stress the capacity of the brains to interrupt the feel-good chemicals serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine to modulate.
- Live in the present. Enjoy the moment. Stop being so much about everything you need to do tomorrow. Enjoy the little things along the way like the way the grass smells when you work in the morning leave or how comfortable it feels to sit down one day and start relaxing. Do not be afraid to be insignificant, either. You should not be serious all the time. It is o.k. to a silly comedy t. v-series to watch and just laugh. Your brains love to play. Leave it.
- Strive part of something larger than yourself to it. The work at something which you find significant meaning. People who focus away from itself and turn to something which they find true meaning is often found in general about life happier and more passionately. If you are looking for a job, find a company that has a mission statement that a meaningful pursuit than purely financial means. Studies show that employees who feel their jobs at a deeper level happier meaningful.
- Volunteer. Helping others increases happiness. Become implied with something you feel deeply about, such as global poverty, health, education, the environment, or disadvantaged children. There are many areas where you can make a difference. The people are happier giving than receiving. In a study published in Science in 2008, the researchers asked participants to forty-six their luck in the morning to assess, gave each of them some money, and pointed them at random when the money to themselves or others to spend. When the participants begin their lucky day estimate, the amount of money that they are not related to their happiness had received. Those who had spent the money itself does not increase happiness, but to others who had spent considerably higher happiness ratings. Buying things for themselves or receiving gifts can bring happiness briefly, but once you past the main base for survival, like food, clothing, and shelter, material wealth will not translate into happiness. After an initial burst of pleasure, people turn quickly back to their baseline level of happiness. This also happens when someone loses money or material wealth. With the loss, the first people sad, but then they return back to their baseline level of happiness.
- Learn to accept what you can not change. Try to let go of things that you can not control. If you can accept that there are things in life are not always ideal but life can be good anyway, you measure a giant hit closer to happiness.
- Finally, work exercise into your daily routine. I have saved this for last because this is the most tangible of the ten strategies for improving your luck. When you exercise, change the chemistry in your brains more important, but ultimately change the very structure of your brains. In all the strategies I have just mentioned, the repetition is required so that the strong and consistent signal to the brains to encourage the synapses of nerve connections to strengthen existing and new and better networks to build.
So here’s the question: Is happiness important to your health? Absolutely! The happy people are physically healthier. The happy people live longer. The lucky people enjoy a better quality of life. There is one thing’s for sure: brains and body are inextricably linked. You can not set the body without the brains to focus, and vice versa. If you want to be happy and enjoy optimal health, you should treat both.

January 22nd, 2011
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