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5 Habits of Happy Brains
Find and increase flow experiences
Flow is when you are so consumed by a task or activity that you lose track of time, for instance, gardening, reading, or watching a movie. It's an optimal experience that can make you happy. Flow can be achieved in almost any activity that requires prolonged mental effort.
Seek out daily happy habits. Your brain will build up expectations of being happy and will rewire itself to seek more happy habits.
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Dan Millman
“I’d always believed that a life of quality, enjoyment, and wisdom were my human birthright and would be automatically bestowed upon me as time passed. I never suspected that I would have to learn how to live — that there were specific disciplines and ways of seeing the world I had to master before I could awaken to a simple, happy, uncomplicated life.”
Find and increase flow experiences
Flow is when you are so consumed by a task or activity that you lose track of time, for instance, gardening, reading, or watching a movie. It's an optimal experience that can make you happy. Flow can be achieved in almost any activity that requires prolonged mental effort.
Seek out daily happy habits. Your brain will build up expectations of being happy and will rewire itself to seek more happy habits.
Express gratitude
Research reveals that small and regular positive experiences have a greater impact on your life satisfaction than a few notable events of achievements.
Expressing gratitude can make you feel better about yourself and your life. It can make you feel more grounded, humble, and connected to the world around you.
Foster meaningful relationships
Good social relationships make people happier, says research. Satisfying social connections is also associated with better health and longevity.
Live in the moment
When we are too busy worrying about the past and the future, we fail to notice the present moment. Living in the moment is a state of active, open, and intentional attention on the present.
Don't think too much about enjoying your life. Instead, lean into the simple joys in life when you find them.
Seek adventure
People are naturally excited and more present when they are adventurous. You can turn your life into an adventure and make every day extraordinary without leaving your home.
- Take a different route to work.
- Read about something besides your usual topics.
- Learn a new skill.
- Appreciate amazing landscapes.
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Happy people are well rounded people
- They savor the moment. They "stop to smell the roses".
- They're busy, but not rushed. A healthy work-life balance is key.
- They don't sweat the small stuff...
Happy people invest in their relationships
- They spend money on others. One reason is that it creates social connections.
- They celebrate other people's success through "active and constructive" responding.
- They treat everyone with respect and kindness. Kindness, like happiness, is contagious.
- They're proactive about relationships. They work on maintaining their relationships.
- They express gratitude. It improves mood and energy and decreases anxiety.
- They engage in deep, meaningful conversations.
The attitude of happy people
- They're optimistic. Bad things happen to all of us. Happy people don't complain, whine or let pessimism become a self-fulling prophecy.
- They view problems as challenges. They focus on solutions to the problem and reflect on what they're grateful for.
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Be Busy, But Not Rushed
Being “rushed” puts you on the fast track to being miserable.
Live a productive life at a comfortable pace. Learn to say no to busywork.
Have 5 Close Relationships
National surveys find that when someone claims to have 5 or more friends with whom they can discuss important problems, they are 60 percent more likely to say that they are ‘very happy’.
Excerpt from the book Finding Flow.
True friends really are worth their weight in gold. Check in regularly with close friends (around every two weeks).
Happiness And External Events
Self-esteem is good for confidence, but self-esteem that is bound to external success can be quite fickle.
Think of yourself less and avoid the trap of tying your self-worth to external signals.
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Happy people vs. miserable people
Happy people engage in more happiness-boosting habits while unhappy people engage in more misery-inducing habits.
You can choose which habits to cultivate in your life. If ...
Happy People Experience Flow Often
It is marked by intense concentration, a sense of timelessness, and a loss of self-consciousness. It’s a deeply healing and enjoyable state and one that greatly contributes to our happiness.
Activities of happy people
- They meditate.
- They exercise regularly. “Surveys show that exercise may very well be the most effective instant happiness booster of all activities.”
- They stop and smell the roses.
- They spend time with their furry friends.
- They spend time outside.
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