What would it take for you to be truly happy?

Forget money, health and success. According to one group of scientists, what you really need is a four-step, 10-week program that changes your mindset.

Created by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the program uses a series of exercises that they say helps train people's minds into choosing happiness.

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Created by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the program uses a series of exercises that they say helps train people's minds into choosing happiness, regardless of circumstance. Dr Amit Sood, who led the research, says 40 to 50 per cent of your happiness depends on the choices you make

THE FOUR STEPS TO HAPPINESS Train your attention: Dr Sood recommends doing this by waking up with gratitude, being in nature, resisting judgment and expressing kindness. Get emotionally tough: 'When things go wrong,' Dr Sood advises, 'try to focus on what went right within what went wrong.' Connect your mind and body: Activities to do this could include reading, exercise, music, art, prayer, meditation, yoga and deep breathing. Pick healthy habits: The book advises doing this by simplifying your life, exercising, picking your battles and lightening up, Advertisement

Dr Amit Sood, who led the research, says 40 to 50 per cent of your happiness depends on the choices you make and where you place your focus each day.

'You can choose to live focusing on what is right and beautiful in your life,' said Dr Sood who is the author of a new book, 'The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness: A Four-Step Plan for Resilient Living.

'Happiness is a habit,' he added. 'Some of us are born with it; others have to choose it.'

Previous research has shown that our minds are hard-wired to focus on negative experiences.

For our ancestors, this helped keep them stay alive, providing an evolutionary advantage in the face of danger.

But simply shifting perspective away from the negative and embracing the positive will make you far happier than you might realise, says Dr Sood.

That's easier said that done, he admits.

'There are simply techniques that you need to repeat. For instance, just think, will this matter five years from now? If not then it's not worth your time.'

'You can choose to live focusing on what is not right in your life,' Dr Amit Sood (right) said in his latest book, 'The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness: A Four-Step Plan for Resilient Living (left)

5-3-2 TECHNIQUE FOR HAPPINESS Dr Sood also created something he terms the 5-3-2 technique. It involves making your first waking thought about five people in your life that you're grateful to have in your life. For the first three minutes you meet your family, meet them like a long lost friend and don't judge anyone or try to improve them, Dr Sood advises. And he says, for the first two seconds when you see another person, send a silent 'I wish you well'. Advertisement

The book makes readers focus on a different positive emotion each day, such as gratitude, forgiveness and kindness.

The first part of his programme is to train your mind so you can have more power over your thoughts.

Practices include doing something known as the 5-3-2 technique.

This involves making your first thought in the morning about five people that you're grateful to have in your life.

For the first three minutes you meet your family, meet them like a long lost friend, Dr Sood advises.

And he says, for the first two seconds when you see another person, send a silent 'I wish you well'.

The second step in the book's plan is building emotional resilience through gratitude, compassion, acceptance and forgiveness.

'When things go wrong,' he says, 'try to focus on what went right within what went wrong.'

The third stage of the program is to strengthen the connection between your mind and body.

Sood encourages a range of activities designed to relax the mind including reading, exercise, music, art, prayer, meditation and yoga.

Finally, he says people should pick healthy habits, such as exercising more and eating well, and lighten up.

'We often take life more seriously that we need to. Humor brings you into intentional presence.'