Happiness

"Happiness is not a destination, it's a way of life"

Last night i was reading in the Glamour of November and i saw an article about happiness and it gave me immediate inspiration for my blog. Because, who doesn't want to be happy?
Happiness is not something you get because you are lucky, or because you're from a rich family, it's a way of life.

The article said that research has proved that even people that've had a horrible accident and ended up in a wheelchair, after a period of adaption they were back on the same happiness-level than before the accident. The reverse works the same way, people that have won a big amount of money were after an intense time of happiness as grumpy as they were before.

What are you waiting for? You don't have to let your happiness depend to the conditions you're in. Especially when you're in less successful moments of your life, you have to learn to see the advances of the situation.

How to achieve it:

1. Happiness is a dress.

You associate your clothes with different kind of moods you're in. So when you feel down, you want to wear some joggings and a hoodie. But especially if you don't feel at your best, you should put your "happy clothes on" and your mood will instantly get a lift.

2. What went well today?

Everyone knows that it's okay to make mistakes, because your learn from them. But sometimes you just don't feel right about your mistakes, which is absolutely normal. But what if you just wrote down 3 things that went well on that day for a week long everyday. That's a way to learn to see the good things in every situation.

3. Be silent for 10 minutes.

It's been proven that 10 minutes of silence everyday moves your brain-activity from your right brain-half to your left brain-half and that's the part where your brain corresponds with emotions like well-being and happiness. All you have to do is sit down for 10 minutes and focus on your breathing.

4. Do something out of your "comfort-zone"

Say hello to a stranger, organize a night out to a karaoke-bar or go to the cinema and buy a ticket for the first movie that's available. When you do something out of your comfort-zone regularly, you can better your life. This works to improve your reaction-capability so when something doesn't go the way it's planned, you won't stress out that quickly.

5. Visualize the perfect you.

How do you see yourself in 5 years? With a job, a house, a man, maybe kids?
Realizing what you want to achieve in life has a magical effect to your mood and is good for your health.

6. Collect Happy Memories

Think about the positive things opposite the negative things.
Example:
positive: I got fired last year, but now i have a new job and my colleagues are wonderful people.
negative: I got fired last year, now i've got a new job but it doesn't pay as well as my previous job.
You can also teach yourself to capture a mental picture. Just focus on all the little details when your having a great time and then you can use this moments to put you trough the hard times. You can also of course just make a real picture so you can swipe to your photo-album on your phone.

Things that make me happy

- reading a nice fashion magazine like; the Glamour, Vogue and lit some candles while reading.

- walking in the woods with my dogs and enjoying nature.

- going out with my friends and laugh till your stomach hurts.

- good music, who doesn't like a good tune?

What makes you happy?

xoxo