HAPPINESS is all around us, the need is to identify it in small things and small happenings around us. We need to find and nurture ways to cultivate happiness in our lives. Everyone of us have had good and bad memories, achievements and failures in our lives whether in our profession, personal lives, peers, children or social circles around us .Often it is observed that people who have seldom, hollow and isolated behaviors lead to discontentment and unhappy living, they are engaged in evaluating their past lives, failures and bad decisions which in turn makes them unhappy and sad by over and over remembrance.
FLIPPED EMOTIONS is the concern, we live in the atmosphere which is curated around us and the emotions cultivated in this atmosphere, emotions are very weird and instant, fast and uncontrollable and eventually take a toll on us. We get affected by the global happenings for instance let’s take example of the Pandemic; this pandemic has left people in distressed emotions, signs of anxiety and depression. Actually our brains are predictive and we react in the different situations according to our sensory changes , let’s take for example you are in a situation having comfortable walk in the jungle and suddenly you see a wild animal , your brain gets in predictive mode ,analyzing the past experiences in similar or close to similar situations and signals your body to physical changes of adrenaline rush, stiff muscles and increased heart beating as the emotions here would be of fear and insecurity ,now if you are a professional hunter and you are in similar situation of spotting a wild animal your brain signals are more mature to the conditions and reactions are of happiness of finding a target. Similar physical changes will emerge but the emotions would be of excitement and achievement.
This is the difference how we react in different situations and how our flipped emotions react and curates the feeling within us. Learning on cultivating happiness we shall be able to control these flipped emotions and practice to neutralize the emotions to balanced thoughtful approach ,once we lay our command over this we shall then be in control of our situations and reactions
9 PROVEN WAYS TO CULTIVATE HAPPINESS
PRACTICE MEDITATION
Practicing meditation is the best proven technique to live a calm and composed life, there is a feeling of contentment and eternal peace in daily meditation. It enables a person with much stronger determination and will power as well helps with control over emotions and mature handling of situations.
The best source to mental fitness and physical fitness if combined with YOGA. I define meditation in simple words as a process, resulting from a successful turning inwards of the mind with a conviction that there is a truth higher and more satisfying than what the mind and our intelligence can come up with, it is a final stage of a purified life. Best is to let go of all expectations and to keep oneself open and steady in the meditation practice. Meditation is not ungrounded imagination, seeing things, flying up in the air, astral travelling, or reading people‘s thoughts. The only goal of meditation is to achieve mental peace and balance.
Self-awareness is a stepping stone to meditation, which is the step of merging within the consciousness Self-awareness starts with the purification of thoughts and then laying them to practice in our daily routines.
SHARE APPRECIATION
Appreciation has power in it, when we appreciate people for their efforts we witness a smile and smile spreads from their expressions to our. So appreciate people for every small effort, it could be thanking a bus conductor on departure to serve you a comfortable drive, it could be a thank you gesture to the office cleaner to provide you with his services, is you notice someone dressed up well appreciate it. Our appreciations are motivation for others and these will return in their concern for you someday. These small occasions are to be curated by you and they are there in abundance around us.
STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS
If you possess a house, car, insurances and have a refrigerator and entertainment television at home ,mind it you are better than 50% of the world’s population. So be thankful to your efforts in garnering all these comforts for you and your family. Comparison leads to misery and when we compare ourselves with others in different situations we are downsizing our efforts to stand with the situation which is the biggest self de motivation one can practice. So stop comparison to lead a contented life.
TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF
Take a time for yourself to sum up your day, sit for 15 minutes and recap the days events, people you met and impression you left over them, decisions you took and their effectiveness.
This will make your mind to assess its own productivity of how to deal with situations in personal and professional fronts. You would realize the mistakes and would still have time to correct them or rectify them immediate. Even if certain things are beyond rectification, still you would take a learning of not to repeat it.
MINDFULLNESS
Reading expands your horizons and thinking ability, try developing a habit of reading good books, articles and journals. It broadens our thinking ability and approach we take to different situations in life. In short mindfulness is enhancing our thinking ability and to be fully aware of the happenings around us, where we are and what we are doing and not overly reactive to what’s going around us. Accessing the situations in present and past experience before we jump on the decisions or reacting to the happenings around us. Its like train the brain process ,with our everyday practices we form it a natural phenomenon and remodel our lives.
MEET FRIENDS AND SHARE LIFE EXPERIENCES
Meeting friends are the best stress busters, especially the childhood mates or the ones we have shared the best moments. Meeting friends recalls the memories good or bad and we often share contentment’s of how we handled them those times. We are much comfortable to share our things with our friends as we are assured of empathy and rightful suggestions, what we are going through might have been a past experience with our friends, their suggestions to overcome might be helpful as well we feel light hearted when we share things.
LAUGH OUT LOUD.
Laughter is the best medicine and the researchers prove it scientifically that when we laugh our body releases endorphins responsible for feel good factor, reduce stress and recharge mind with positivity . There are laughter clubs and even you can practice it alone, all you have to do is give a good laugh. Engage in standup comedy shows, get around people who are jovial ,crack jokes and one liners all these combined improve your laughter practice and give you enough reasons to laugh.
LISTEN TO THE MUSIC
Music is silent healer; we all know this and everyone of us have a particular genre we listen to so follow your passion. According to the MARCS institute of brain, behavior and development has found in its research that listening to music triggers our brain cells and improves memory and maximizes learning capabilities, it also boosts the positive emotions, thoughts and memories thus leaving overall positive mental health. Music is source of pleasure and contentment.
In another science backed study it is revealed that music plays important role in managing stress, improve mood and making them self aware of the happenings around them. It is an engagement that is true to yourself.
SPEND FAMILY TIME
Spend time with family and in case you are single then often pay visit to the parents and close relatives. There are lot of positive vibes which get transferred when we are meeting our close ones, the contentment and satisfaction of well being on their faces and behavior boosts are positive thinking.
Playing with children back home, spending time with spouse discussing the family goals are good signs of true happiness.
