Category — DIY Joy

from TED.com

The following video clip of Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think, Inc., on TED.com is a must see. Shawn talks about the Happiness Advantage and backs it up with scientific research.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from this clip:

What we’re finding is it’s not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.

If you can raise somebody’s level of positivity in the present then their brain experiences what we now call a Happiness Advantage; which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative or neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy level rises.

Awesome stuff. Plus, he tells us a few ways to get to positive:

• write 3 new things you’re grateful for each day
• journal about a happy or positive experience (ie: re-live it)
• exercise
• meditate
• perform acts of kindness

Watch this.  Then watch it again.  Really.

Happy – A Documentary Trailer from Wadi Rum Films on Vimeo.

Today’s World Happy Day! And there’s a documentary out exploring the ultimate question: What makes us happy?

The film takes us from the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of Namibia, from the beaches of Brazil to the villages of Okinawa, HAPPY explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion.

There are screenings today across the globe. Find one near you.

Geoffrey James, award-winning journalist and author of Inc.com’s Sales Source column, put out a list of “10 Questions That Create Success“. They’re fabulous. My favorites are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

I’d like to add one more:

11. Have I treated myself with love and kindness?

I do believe living each day–each moment–with these questions in mind will lead to a more joyful, meaningful life. What do you think?

Image by SnoShuu (flickr.com/photos/snoshuu)

One of the best ways to keep on the journey of joy is to be grateful.  Every day. For every thing.

Everything.

You may have heard about the concept of keeping a gratitude journal. I first learned about it from Sarah Ban Breathnach in her fabulous book, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy.  I started keeping one on her advice four years ago and it has made a world of difference. I’m such a believer in the practice of gratitude that I’ve started my kids (8 and 10 years old) on their own gratitude journals, which they write in at least 5 days a week.

I think Meister Eckhart was onto something when he said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

Just so happens that today is World Gratitude Day. Here’s what you can do to celebrate:

1. Be grateful!
2. At 12 noon EDT, 11am CDT, and 9am PDT, say THANK YOU to the people in your environment.
3. Post on your Facebook page, what you are grateful for and why.

Dana Layon's Weekly Om

If you want to be happy, there are a more than a few things you’ll need to accept, just as they are. The people in our lives are very possibly one of the most challenging things to accept “as is”.

“If only he would do this…”

“Why can’t she just see it this way?”

“I wish he was more like…”

These are not thoughts that lead us to joy.

Cultivating acceptance, on the other hand, is one way to live a joyful life. We have a lot more room for happiness when judgement isn’t taking up residence in our heads and hearts.

Dana Layon, a local yogini, beautiful soul and dear friend of mine, writes a Weekly Om sharing her insights and experiences. Last week’s does a wonderful job of expressing the value of accepting the people in our lives just as they are. Read it here.

If it speaks to you, you can sign up for your very own Weekly Oms here.

Tonight at 7:30 pm at Lucy Activewear she’s releasing book 4 of a 7 book series of her Weekly Oms relating to the 7 chakras. If you’re in the mood to connect with some wonderful people, I recommend attending. Click here for more details.

Here’s the first of several posts on Do It Yourself (DIY) Joy.

One way to be happy is to talk nicely to yourself.  Words have great power. Using positive words when talking about yourself empowers you–words like smart, kind, resourceful, beautiful. On the flip side, when you talk about yourself using words like stupid, worthless, ugly, fat, and incompetent you can bring yourself down so low you’re knee-high to a grasshopper.

Try looking in a mirror and saying both sets of words to yourself. See how you feel after each.

The forward thinking people at Think TV are promoting Talk Nicely To Yourself Week, April 11 – 17. We think it’s an excellent idea.