So, you say you want to be happier? If you have been listening to the “Happy Hour” conference call classes about Happiness (also available for download here on the blog), you know that much of the “trick” of being Happier is changing our negative thoughts. For instance, the average person complains 70 times a day! The average person has 45,000 negative thoughts per day – that’s 80% of our thoughts in the typical day (60,000). The founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, did a study in which he took a group of severely depressed patients. He asked them to do this one thing (that should take you no more than three minutes a day) and had a 94% success rate! After merely 15 days his patients had improved to the level of mildly or moderately depressed. That’s just in 15 days! The “one thing” is to write down any three positives. Especially when one is that depressed, the negative muscles are quite strong and the positive ones weak. By giving attention to the positives, it strengthens your positive muscles. The wonderful thing about doing this exercise, the more you focus on the positives, the more you see or more concisely put: What you appreciate, appreciates. Another phenomenon is that when we share our positives with others, they start appreciating the positives more too. It is for this reason I share my three positives for the day here on my blog. You will find them in the Home Opportunities section. Feel free to add YOUR three positives for the day there as well.
Happier Just By Spending Three Minutes a Day
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Hi Rory. Thanks for the post. I like your goals. It would be great if you could join us next week (January 4th) for Happiness 101 – we will be discussing how to keep your New Year’s resolution. As for mine? Yes, I definately have some resolutions. I will reveal them the night of class and I’m sure I’ll be writing about them afterward. ‘Hope to see you in class.
~Frank