Science reveals: 5 strategies that will make you happy

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⇑ Animated Video Book Summary ⇑

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In this Animation video, we’re going to talk about the 5 most important strategies to become happier in our lives and these are all strategies that have been proven scientifically. They have been proven with fact-based, evidence-based research.

The ideas come from the book “How of Happiness” by University of California Happiness researcher and professor of psychology, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky.

Before we jump into the strategies let’s understand what we have wrong. We believe that somehow improving our circumstances, or getting more money will make us happy but that’s not the case. Our circumstances only account 10% of our total happiness. The remaining 90% is distributed between initial set point and the actions we take in order to become happy. So now let’s talk about the 5 most important strategies to get ourselves to become happier in our lives.

1. Gratitude

The first, probably the granddaddy, the mega strategy of all strategies is gratitude. And how do you get the most out of gratitude? You keep a journal. You write down what you’re grateful for. Not only do you write down what you’re grateful for, you also write down why you’re grateful for this thing you’re grateful for. Because you really have to feel the feelings of being grateful for something before you can get the benefits of gratitude. So just saying that I’m grateful for my car is not enough. You have to say I’m grateful for the fact that I have a car today because 16 years ago I was riding a bicycle in 110-degree heat every day when I was in college. So that changes things a lot and now you start to feel the emotions of gratitude. Another way to express gratitude is to express it to someone else. That gives both you and the other person a boost in happiness.

2. Meditation

The second key, one of the biggest strategies is meditation. Now meditation has been proven by research now to improve our overall level of mental well-being even physical well-being. It defeats anxiety, it defeats depression. And of course, it improves our overall levels of happiness. It’s known to reduce stress, it’s known to reduce anxiety and it gives us a sense of calm. Even 5 minutes of meditation on a daily basis can give you a huge boost in your overall sense of well-being. I have been meditating for 20 years now – and I have put together a simple guided Meditation Audio for you. You can download the Guided Meditation Audio by clicking here

3. Physical Exercise

The third key strategy is exercise. Physical exercise. Yes, our brain and our body are connected and it’s really important to use our body to make ourselves happy. Why does exercise work? Because when we exercise our brain releases endorphins which are our feel-good hormone. But not only that, the brain also releases what is called brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), it acts as a reset switch. It helps in building memory. It helps in building our brains but not only that it also resets our system so many times when you might’ve experienced that when you go for a workout it just resets your overall system, your brain feels sharper. You feel sharper and you feel like you have a high from the workout. So realize, exercise is a great strategy to get more happiness in your life.

4. Social Connections

Now the fourth big strategy is social connections. To nurture your social relationships to find time for people in your life. To show encouragement towards them. To show compassion towards them. To show kindness towards them. Because the amazing thing about social connection is that when we go and help people out when we are kind towards them, it adds to our own well-being. The more we give, the more we got. So social connections, really important strategy for happiness.

5. Having a Purpose, Mission, and Goals

And the fifth final strategy that we’re going to talk about is the idea of having a purpose, a mission, having goals and projects in life. Because when you have a purpose and mission in life you are going somewhere in life and that’s when you’re going to find a lot of joy in your day-to-day activities, a lot of joy in your life. When you have goals and you keep a journal, and you keep thinking about those goals and you’re pushing yourself to your limits to accomplish those goals, to go after what you think is important in life, it keeps you active, it keeps you alive, it keeps you vibrant. There’s been research that’s been done and it shows that for every extra year that people retire early, their life expectancy goes down by two months. So for the standard retirement age of 65, when someone takes retirement at 64, they’re life expectancy has gone down by 2 months. For someone who has taken retirement at 63, their life expectancy has gone down by 4 months. So having a purpose in life, having a mission in life and going after it, is really important for our mental well-being as much as it is important for our overall well-being.

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Suggested Reading and Listening:

Why Happiness is vital for achieving more in life and 4 more ways to be happier – Interview with Author Of the book “Happiness Project”

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How to use money to buy happiness – 5 scientifically proven RIGHT ways to do it – Interview with the author of “Happy Money”