Can you boost your happiness?
Ever wanted to boost your happiness? Well you can! Everyone has a set point for happiness – where our natural happiness levels sit. Some people are just a bit happier than others, while others are just a bit more negative than others. But with just a tiny bit of time and some consistent effort, research is showing that some very easy habits can help to increase our happiness set point.
In this article, we explore 3 daily habits you can bring into your life that only take 10 minutes or less to significantly boost your happiness levels. Read on!
Make Gratitude a Habit
We’re all wired to scan our environment for bad things. Afterall, the ancestor who failed to see the lion stalking them from the bushes wouldn’t survive long enough to care about fine art or mastering their chosen profession. But where does that leave the modern-day man or woman?
We may no longer have to worry about lions, but in today’s day and age there are even more things we have to worry about. There’s all the day-to-day stresses of our job, if we’re lucky to have one – and even if we do have a job, who knows how long we’ll keep it. Then there’s keeping up with friends, which costs money and is a killer for our self-esteem – trying to save enough to buy a house, worrying about having enough for retirement, but not worrying too much because you might forget to live for today. Engaging with friends on social media, and being interesting enough, pretty enough… heck, just having enough friends to engage with. Watching enough TV to keep up to date with what everyone else is talking about, but not too much because we all know sitting is the new smoking.
I could go on… and on. Today’s modern (capitalist) world is designed to keep us fretting – and coming back for more – so that it can seem like we’re constantly anxious, stressed, frustrated or worried about something.
That’s where gratitude comes in. Practicing gratitude is super simple, really quick and can completely rewire your brain. By spending just a few minutes everyday on writing down 3 things that you’re grateful for (or I prefer to write down three things that went well), you are teaching your brain to balance out all those negative thoughts with some positive ones. Over time, your brain literally rewires itself to see more of the good things in life. So, your brain will stop to smell the flowers, so to speak. This helps to build resilience against the all bad things that happen in life and all those negative emotions and day-to-day stressors.
If writing down things that you’re grateful for isn’t your jam, you can also get huge benefits from thanking others – and so do they! Simply make it a daily habit to give a heartfelt thanks to someone every day. Whether they’re your partner, or family member or colleague, spreading thanks will cheer up the people around you and come back to you in positive vibes!
Not sold yet? A recent study showed that saying thanks in the right way can also strengthen your social bonds. When it came to thanking our loved ones, the key was to focus on how responsive they were to your needs. According to the researchers, saying something like: “I wouldn’t have made it to the meeting on time if you didn’t drop me off at the office today,” tended to produce the most positive response from a partner.
Related reading: Top 5 Speakers on Gratitude
Get Your Heart Pumping
Most of us know we need to exercise more. We also know how important exercise is to our health and happiness, but so many of us hate it, or just simply can’t find the motivation to do it. Whether you’re too busy, or unmotivated, or kinda motivated but just not when it counts, one of the easiest ways to make something stick is to make it so quick and easy that it’s almost harder not to do it.
In his bestselling book, Atomic Habits, James Clear advocates for 10 steps to make habits stick. Among them are three that really resonate when it comes to finding a way to fit exercise into your day.
Build a system for getting 1 per cent better every day. That’s it! Only 1 per cent! You don’t need to climb Kilimanjaro on your first attempt, heck you don’t even have to go to the gym. In fact, recent research has shown that simply doing 10 minutes of high intensity interval training (HIIT) can have significant benefits. A HIIT workout is super intense and is about getting your heart rate up quickly and working really hard for a short amount of time. There are plenty of 10-minute HIIT workouts on YouTube you can easily do in your living room for free.
Design your environment to make success easier. One of the hardest things about starting a new exercise routine is actually starting it. Whether you’re going to do a HIIT workout, or a 10-minute fast walk around your neighbourhood, just getting to that first workout can be insurmountable. So, make it as easy as possible to get going. For the first few weeks, why not select the HIIT workout you want to try the night before and set it up on the TV and go to bed in your gym clothes with your gym shoes next to the bed. Or organise to meet a friend for that walk, so you have to cancel (which is a hassle) if you aren’t feeling like it. Anything you can do to make it easier to do the activity than not will help you to do it.
Make tiny, easy changes that deliver big results. Again, don’t go for it all at once. Go easy on yourself. Start with twice a week, or even once a week. And if you don’t hit your target, forgive yourself, BUT KEEP GOING the next week. This will happen at some point, so be prepared and know that you’ll still keep pushing forward. Only once your habit has become second nature should you even attempt to add more time to your workout or do it more often in your week. You don’t want to scare yourself off!
Bring Some Laughter Into Your Day
Laughter is natures wonder drug. It makes you feel happier, not only in the moment, but also in the long-term; it also helps to dull pain. It lowers blood pressure and reduce stress. The list goes on and on – see The Mayo Clinic for a range of research and writing on the positive effects of laughter for stress reduction.
But did you know that you can really easily and simply add it into your day in only 60-second!?
Grab your phone and start the timer. For the first 10 seconds, laugh out loud. You don’t have to feel it, you just need to vocalise ‘ha-ha-ha’ a few times. Think of it like an acting class with really bad acting. It doesn’t have to be authentic laughter to begin with, just do it.
Once you’ve done 10-seconds of ‘ha-ha-has,’ breathe deeply for the next 10-seconds. Repeat these two steps two more times and you’re done. That’s it! It really couldn’t be more simple! The key to this exercise is to commit to doing it every morning for a couple of weeks (at least). What have you got to lose?
Related reading: Yep, laughter really is the best medicine