See listing of Recent and Most Popular articles on the Home Page

Health & Wellness

Category: Health & Wellness / Topics: Attitudes Contentment, Satsifaction Optimal Aging

Five Habits for Happiness

A few minutes a day is all it takes

Reported by Stu Johnson

Posted: July 26, 2015

Brigid Schulte of the Washington Post interviews happiness researcher Shawn Achor (excerpt, with links to full article)

Washington Post columnist Briged Schulte recently interviewed researcher Shawn Achor, head of Goodthink and author of “The Happiness Advantage.”  According to Schulte, Achor’s research found that “choosing simple happiness habits that take no longer than brushing your teeth can boost your mood, make you happier and, as a result, healthier, more productive and creative at work and closer to those you love at home.”

After talking about the importance (and availability) of happiness in our lives, Schulte asked Achor to discuss the five habits that he says will help promote happiness.  For more detail see the article links below.

  1. Three Acts of Gratitude. Spend two minutes a day scanning the world for three new things you’re grateful for. And do that for 21 days, The reason why that’s powerful is you’re training your brain to scan the world in a new pattern, you’re scanning for positives, instead of scanning for threats. It’s the fastest way of teaching optimism.
     
  2. The Doubler. For two minutes a day, think of one positive experience that’s occurred during the past 24 hours. Bullet point each detail you can remember. It works, because the brain can’t tell the difference between visualization and actual experience. So you’ve just doubled the most meaningful experience in your brain. Do it for 21 days, your brain starts connecting the dots for you, then you have this trajectory of meaning running throughout life.
     
  3. The Fun Fifteen: 15 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day. It’s the equivalent of taking an anti-depressant for the first six months, but with a 30 percent lower relapse rate over the next two years.
     
  4. Breathe. We did this at Google. We had them take their hands off their keyboards two minutes a day. And go from multitasking, to simply watching their breath go in and out. This raises accuracy rates. Improves levels of happiness. Drops their stress levels. And it takes two minutes.
     
  5. Conscious Acts of Kindness. The final habit is the most powerful that we’ve seen so far. For two minutes each day, start work by writing a two-minute positive e-mail or text praising or thanking one person you know. And do it for a different person each day.

Asked if these little, two-minute habits (except for Number 3, which takes 15-minutes) can really make a difference, Achor replied: “So many people are struggling to create happiness while their brain is inundated by noise. If your brain is receiving too much information, it automatically thinks you’re under threat and scans the world for the negative first. Because the brain is limited, whatever you attend to first becomes your reality.”

NOTES:

A condensed version of Brigid Schulte's article appeared in the Health & Fitness section of The Daily Herald (suburban Chicago), on Monday, July 20.  www.dailyherald.com/article/20150720/entlife/150729996/

The full Schulte article appeared in the Washington Post online on June 29, 2015  under the title “Do these exercises for two minutes a day and you’ll immediately feel happier, researchers say.” Find it at www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/06/29/do-these-exercises-for-two-minutes-a-day-and-youll-immediately-feel-happier-researchers-say/


Posted: July 26, 2015   Accessed 405 times

Go to the list of most recent Health & Wellness Articles
Search Health & Wellness (You can expand the search to the entire site)
Go to the list of Most Recent and Most Popular Articles across the site (Home Page)

Advertisements
Sam’s Club