Increase Your Happiness

In my last post I wrote about some of the benefits of positive emotions - feeling enthusiasm, interest, cheerfulness, vitality and joy.  The happier you feel, the better for all aspects of your life according to a large body of research. In fact the ratio of positive to negative emotions needs to be at least 3:1 for an individual truly to flourish.  How positive are you?

Take this free test to find out: http://www.positivityratio.com/single.php

However, your capacity for feeling positive seems to be related to your personalty and partly (maybe 50%) dependent on your genes.  So if your ratio is poor, if you find jumping up and down with joy, bouncing with happiness, gushing with interest really hard, blame your parents!  But don't despair. There are lots of things you can do that will increase your positivity, your happiness (and over time your positivity ratio on the test!)

The most effective technique, according to research, is something your granny probably called 'counting your blessings'. It's easy and incredibly effective:

Set aside a few minutes every night before you go to sleep. You'll need pen and paper.  Think about the day that's just finished.Then think of three things that went well for you during the day.  They can be big things (winning a contract, getting married) or really small things (cleaning out a cupboard, smelling some flowers). It really doesn't matter.  Write them down.  Now think of your own role in each of them.  (this is important as it will increase your sense of control and therefore your feelings of wellbeing) 'What if I didn't have any role?' I hear you ask 'what if my good thing is a lovely sunny day?'

My answer to that is 'Well, you did have a role: you noticed it'!

Do this exercise every night for a week. You may suprise yourself!  (I'd love to hear how you get on - email me.)

There are lots of other things you can do to increase your happiness.  They'll come up in future posts.

But next time I want to write about increasing your intelligence    

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