Happiness implies a positive mood in the present and a positive outlook for the future.

If&nbsp;success&nbsp;causes&nbsp;happiness,&nbsp;then&nbsp;every&nbsp;employee&nbsp;who&nbsp;gets&nbsp;a&nbsp;promotion,&nbsp;every student&nbsp;who&nbsp;receives&nbsp;an&nbsp;acceptance&nbsp;letter,&nbsp;everyone&nbsp;who&nbsp;has&nbsp;ever&nbsp;accomplished&nbsp;a&nbsp;goal of&nbsp;any&nbsp;kind&nbsp;should&nbsp;be&nbsp;happy.&nbsp;But&nbsp;with&nbsp;each&nbsp;victory,&nbsp;our&nbsp;goalposts&nbsp;of&nbsp;success&nbsp;keep getting&nbsp;pushed&nbsp;further&nbsp;and&nbsp;further&nbsp;out.The&nbsp;formula&nbsp;is&nbsp;broken&nbsp;because&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;backward.&nbsp;The&nbsp;relationship&nbsp;between&nbsp;success and&nbsp;happiness works the other way around;&nbsp;happiness&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;precursor&nbsp;to&nbsp;success.&nbsp;Happiness,&nbsp;optimism&nbsp;and a positive mindset makes&nbsp;us&nbsp;more&nbsp;motivated,&nbsp;efficient,&nbsp;resilient,&nbsp;creative,&nbsp;and&nbsp;productive, which&nbsp;drives&nbsp;performance&nbsp;upward.

The Happiness Advantage

The&nbsp;most&nbsp;successful&nbsp;people,&nbsp;the&nbsp;ones&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;competitive&nbsp;edge,&nbsp;don’t&nbsp;look&nbsp;to happiness&nbsp;as&nbsp;some&nbsp;distant&nbsp;reward&nbsp;for&nbsp;their&nbsp;achievements;&nbsp;they&nbsp;are&nbsp;the&nbsp;ones&nbsp;who&nbsp;capitalize&nbsp;on&nbsp;the positive&nbsp;and&nbsp;reap&nbsp;the rewards&nbsp;at&nbsp;every&nbsp;turn.&nbsp;

The&nbsp;chief&nbsp;engine&nbsp;of&nbsp;happiness&nbsp;is positive&nbsp;emotion. The ten most common of these are: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love.

Defining Happiness As Positive Emotioms

<ul><li>Meditate</li><li>Find Something to Look Forward To: think about or create a future reward. Often the most enjoyable part of an activity is the anticipation.</li><li>Commit Concious Acts of Kindness: these must be intentional, not retrospective.</li><li>Infuse Positivity in to Your Surroundings: by decorating the space or spending some time outside.</li><li>Exercise</li><li>Spend Money (on Experiences): especially with other people, rather than stuff.</li><li>Exercise a Signature Strength: something embedded in your personality, like a love of learning, humour, honesty, creativity or gratitude (viacharacter.org).</li></ul>

Getting in to a Positive Mindset

Based&nbsp;on Losada’s&nbsp;mathematical&nbsp;modeling,&nbsp;2.9013&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;ratio&nbsp;of&nbsp;positive&nbsp;to&nbsp;negative interactions&nbsp;necessary&nbsp;to&nbsp;make&nbsp;a&nbsp;corporate&nbsp;team&nbsp;successful.&nbsp;It takes three&nbsp;positive&nbsp;comments,&nbsp;experiences,&nbsp;or&nbsp;expressions&nbsp;to&nbsp;fend&nbsp;off&nbsp;the&nbsp;languishing effects&nbsp;of&nbsp;one&nbsp;negative.&nbsp;Dip&nbsp;below&nbsp;this&nbsp;tipping&nbsp;point and performance&nbsp;quickly&nbsp;suffers.&nbsp;Rise&nbsp;above&nbsp;it - ideally,&nbsp;the&nbsp;research&nbsp;shows,&nbsp;to&nbsp;a ratio&nbsp;of&nbsp;6&nbsp;to&nbsp;1 - and&nbsp;teams&nbsp;produce&nbsp;their&nbsp;very best&nbsp;work.

The Losada Line

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes' quote about the fulcrum and the lever inspires us to move our own fulcrum (the mindset we have) and lengthen our levers (how much possibility and power we believe we have) to lift our world and maximise our potential.Our brains are processors with finite resources. We can spend those on looking at pain, negativity, stress and uncertainty, or to look through a lens of hope, gratitude, resilience and optimism. We can't change reality, but we can change how we perceive the world.

The Fulcrum and The Lever

People with a "job" see work as a chore, and the paycheck is the reward. People with a "calling" view work as an end in itself. Their work is fulfilling, because they feel it contributes to the greater good, draws on their personal strengths, and gives them meaning and purpose. These are the people who are more likely to succeed.

"A Job" vs "A Calling"

The more we can align our tasks to a personal vision, the more likely we are to view work as a calling.Write down the tasks at work that feel devoid of meaning and ask yourself "what is the purpose of this task?" If the answer still seems unimportant, ask again, and keep going until you get a result that is meaningful to you.Even a rote or routine task can be made meaningful if you find a good reason to be invested; you felt productive, you improved your skillset, you showed you were smart and efficient, you learnt from a mistake, you made life easier for a customer or client.

From a Job to a Calling

The fastest way to disengage an employee is to tell him his work is meaningful only because of the paycheck.

The tetris effect is named after the phenomenon experienced by tetris players who begin to see tetris-like patterns in every day life after playing for long periods of time. With a negative tetris effect, we always spot the annoyances, stresses and hassles. With a positive tetris effect, we can condition our minds to always look for opportunities and ideas that allow our success rate to grow.

The Tetris Effect

When&nbsp;you&nbsp;write&nbsp;down&nbsp;a&nbsp;list&nbsp;of&nbsp;“three&nbsp;good&nbsp;things”&nbsp;that happened that day, your brain will be forced to scan the last 24 hours for potential positives; small or large laughs, a feeling of accomplishment, a strengthened connection with family, or a glimmer of hope for the future.In&nbsp;just&nbsp;five minutes&nbsp;a&nbsp;day,&nbsp;this&nbsp;trains&nbsp;the&nbsp;brain&nbsp;to&nbsp;become&nbsp;more&nbsp;skilled&nbsp;at&nbsp;noticing&nbsp;and&nbsp;focusing&nbsp;on possibilities&nbsp;for&nbsp;personal&nbsp;and&nbsp;professional&nbsp;growth,&nbsp;and&nbsp;seizing&nbsp;opportunities&nbsp;to&nbsp;act&nbsp;on them.

Three Good Things

On&nbsp;every&nbsp;mental&nbsp;map&nbsp;after&nbsp;crisis&nbsp;or&nbsp;adversity,&nbsp;there&nbsp;are&nbsp;three&nbsp;mental&nbsp;paths:<ol><li>&nbsp;You keep circling around where you currently are.</li><li>You are led to further negative consequences.</li><li>You are led to a place where you are stronger and more capable than before.</li></ol>Study&nbsp;after&nbsp;study&nbsp;shows&nbsp;that&nbsp;if&nbsp;we&nbsp;are&nbsp;able&nbsp;to&nbsp;conceive&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;failure&nbsp;as&nbsp;an&nbsp;opportunity for&nbsp;growth,&nbsp;we&nbsp;are&nbsp;all&nbsp;the&nbsp;more&nbsp;likely&nbsp;to&nbsp;experience&nbsp;that&nbsp;growth. In this way, we&nbsp;give ourselves&nbsp;the&nbsp;greatest&nbsp;power&nbsp;possible:&nbsp;the&nbsp;ability&nbsp;to&nbsp;move&nbsp;up&nbsp;not&nbsp;despite&nbsp;the&nbsp;setbacks, but&nbsp;because&nbsp;of&nbsp;them.

Mental Maps to Success

Imagine that you walk into a bank. There are 50 other people in the bank. A robber walks in and fires his weapon once. You are shot in the arm.Is this fortunate or unfortunate?<ul><li>70% say unfortunate: "how unlucky I happened to be there at that time and I was the one who was shot."</li><li>30% say fortunate: "I could have been shot somewhere worse," or "a child could have been shot instead."</li></ul>The situation is objectively bad. But, both counterfacts are invented by us. This shows we actually have the power in any given situation to consciously select a counterfact that makes us feel fortunate, not helpless.

Change Your Counterfact

Our fear of consequences is always worse than the consequences themselves.

Common sense is not common action.

Sustaining change is difficult to do with willpower alone, because willpower becomes more worn out the more we use it. A better way is to decrease the willpower required by decreasing the "activation energy" (time, choices, mental and physical effort) for habits we want to adopt, and alternatively, increasing it for habits we want to avoid. <ul><li>Decrease activation energy by reducing the time it takes to do something by 20 seconds, e.g sleeping in your gym clothes. </li><li>Increase activation energy by increasing the time by 20 seconds, e.g. putting the TV remote batteries in a cupboard. </li></ul>

The 20 Second Rule

In the midst of challenges and stress, nothing is more crucial to our happiness and success than holding on to the people around us.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • The happy secret to greater success and fulfillment in work and life—a must-read for everyone trying to flourish in a world of increasing stress and negativity “Thoughtfully lays out the steps to increasing workplace positivity.”—Forbes In the book that inspired one of the most popular TED Talks of all time, New York Times bestselling author Shawn Achor reveals how rewiring our brain for happiness helps us achieve more in our careers and our relationships and as students, leaders, and parents. Conventional wisdom holds that once we succeed, we’ll be happy; that once we get that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But the science reveals this formula to be backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. Research shows that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and better problem solvers than their unhappy peers. And positive people are significantly healthier and less stressed and enjoy deeper social interaction than the less positive people around them. Drawing on his original research—including one of the largest studies of happiness ever conducted—and work in boardrooms and classrooms across forty-two countries, Achor shows us how to rewire our brains for positivity and optimism to reap the happiness advantage in our lives, our careers, and even our health. His strategies include: • The Tetris Effect: how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility so we can see and seize opportunities all around us • Social Investment: how to earn the dividends of a strong social support network • The Ripple Effect: how to spread positive change within our teams, companies, and families By turns fascinating, hopeful, and timely, The Happiness Advantage reveals how small shifts in our mind-set and habits can produce big gains at work, at home, and elsewhere.

Practical exercises for happiness at work and in life through mindfulness, positive thinking, and finding meaning.


Happiness in Practice

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

life on this planet is designed to be difficult and unpredictable. When we accept the reality of suffering, it is not wrong to sometimes feel negative emotions. Getting comfortable with reality is key to happiness.

                 Acceptance

Resilience or mental toughness is simply the quality of how fast and effectively we bounce back from an upsetting situation and move forward.It gives us the capacity to face up challenges effectively and flourish in the face of adversity.

                  Resilience

Always see the light at both ends of the tunnel. No matter how deep and dragged our ordeal is, there is always a beginning and an end.It is the ability to see things more positively and devise a constructive attitude towards the world.

         Positive Outlook

Nothing good comes out of a sick mind and body.Take care of yourself. A healthy mind and body can cope with any problem.

          Physical Fitness

Let’s promise to stand up, take back control of our lives and start the voyage to a happy and fulfilling life.

                Motivation

Let’s promise to stand up, take back control of our lives and start the voyage to a happy and fulfilling life.

Happiness goal

The Art of Happiness: Learning These 04 Skills will Help You to be Happy When You are Down

What are you searching, the answer is within you 😊.

Do You Know ?

Inspirational

Sara Edward on Oct 21

‘For some of us, happiness comeswhile we sleep.’

‘Happiness always lingers withunhappiness. They are two sidesof the same coin. When thewhole coin drops from yourhand you are neither happynor unhappy.’

﻿Never believe those who tell you that there are no second beginnings in life. Every day is a chance to start afresh. Very often, all satisfaction and achievement is in the effort.

Second Chance 

"If you want a happy ending, it just depends on where you close the book! "

Slow down, there isn’t always a train to catch. Make your walk as long and leisurely as possible, and you will find that the world you thought ugly is full of lovely little surprises.

"Everything takes time "

Help a stranger in distress, do it when there is nothing that requires you to do so, and you will find you are lighter, happier. And maybe one day a stranger will extend a hand when you stumble, and once again you will find happiness when you least expect it.﻿

Do Something For Others 

‘The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.’﻿

"Expect good, and good will come. "The easiest way to be happy is - think positive. This is your first step towards finding happiness.

How to be happy? 

‘For every minute you are angryyou lose sixty secondsof happiness.’

Three mantras of happiness:<ul><li>Think of old friends.</li><li>Make new friends.</li><li>Become your own best friend.</li></ul>

! Mantra !

Welcome to Deepstash

A Little Book of Happiness

Cut costs on things that don't make you happy. It's easier than cutting costs that you truly enjoy.

Don't Cut Things That Make You Happy

When a person focuses on scarcity, their mind would focus on nothing but that. If you make something that makes you happy off limits, you would only think about it more.

Avoid Focusing On Scarcity

Your brain responds to the word "budget" the same way it does with "diet". Both can be linked to deprivation. Who would want to commit to something that is difficult and unpleasant? Don't deprive yourself from something that's important to you.

Avoid Doing Things That Deprive You

“Life is too long to give up everything you enjoy just to save a few more dollars.”

You can stick to your budget and not deprive yourself of purchases that bring you joy, say people who have done it, including Popcorn Finance's Chris Browning.

happiness

SHAWN ACHOR

The Happiness Advantage

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

The Art of Happiness: Learning These 04 Skills will Help You to be Happy When You are Down