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How do you happy?

#41
agent77 said:
Fake it till ya make it.
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At first glance, this may seem silly. But it is absolutely true. If you are striving for success in an area, ACT as though you are already there. If you want to BE happy, ACT happy until you actually are. Smile. Be cheerful (on the outside). It will make all the difference in the world.

I actually read in Men's Health or some other mag a while back that when you smile, there are glands in your face that release chemicals to the brain that actually make you feel better. Even if your smile is "fake", the contracting muscles squeeze glands that squirt happy juice into your brain. And who doesn't like a shot of happy juice to the brain?

Just take one look at this guy. ---------> :D

Happy juice. It works.
 
#44
I have an addictive personality, so I indulge/distract myself (from my bad addictive traits)- play bass, sing, fight the cat :)

Failing that I actively defy some of the personality traits that come with addictive personality, makes me feel like I've accomplished something. - you could try this with depression?

My one fail safe is to turn up some rock or metal full blast and bounce around.
 
#45
I think sometimes we confuse happiness with a couple of other words: euphoria and serenity. These three words are not interchangeable.

Euphoria is that giddy excitement when we've just scratched off a winning lottery ticket, or when our team has just won the Super Bowl. We cannot expect to be in a state of euphoria all the time. Even when we're "happy" we're not necessarily euphoric. Suppose I've just mowed my yard, now I'm looking out over the cut greenery with a cold glass of tea in my hand. I'm certainly not euphoric, but I'm happy the grass is cut.

Serenity goes deeper than happiness. Things have happened in my life recently that have not made me happy: losing jobs, the death of loved ones. I am trying to life in a state of serenity even though I'm not really happy at the moment. This involves acceptance: I cannot change the things that have happened-- but I can change the situation I'm in now.

I believe that when things happen in life that make us miserable (the opposite of serenity), we have two choices: either continue to be miserable, or change something. Let's suppose we are in a lousy job; perhaps we merely accept the situation but change our attitude: "well, maybe I'll try to be happy with this job after all", or we work to change our situation, by looking for a better job. Otherwise we've made a choice to just continue to be miserable and complain about the job.
 
#46
two fingers said:
As to the second, set a goal. Nothing will make you feel better than working TOWARD something. Even if the rest of your life seems a bit hopeless, if you set one (hard but not impossible) goal, just the effort to get you there will make you feel better inside. Try learning how to play some instrument that is sitting around your house. If you don't have one, go buy a $10 harmonica and hit YouTube hard for how to videos. If you need to lose weight or change some other aspect of your health, the quit pouting and go for it. It costs zero. If you can't afford equipment, lift books, walk/run and do push ups. Those are free. It really doesn't matter what the goal is. Learn Spanish. Take a cabinet building class. The subject is less important than the goal. But trust me, just inching toward ANY goal will make you feel better about YOURSELF. And feeling better about yourself is just about the only thing that will drag you out of a funk. (bad funk, not good funk :bassist:)
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I agree with this. My life hasn't changed in the past year at all, technically i have no more reasons to be happy than the year before....except I set myself a goal and started working on it and getting closer to it every day and every week. And i can honestly say that i am a bit more serene and happy than i was the year before JUST because of that.
 
#47
Some things that help with happiness.

Keep your gratitude above your expectations

Learn to handle your unhappy times in a positive manner where you are dealing with them then moving on as soon as possible. Dwelling on the bad is the single largest killer of happiness in the known universe.

Never expect to live without some measure of sorrow from time to time.

This one sounds silly, but it is a very effective tool. If you find yourself on a hamster wheel of unhappiness you can't seem to get off of, make a point to tell yourself (out loud) you like what you see when you look in the mirror first thing in the morning.
 
#51
Robus said:
The secret to being happy is to quit asking yourself whether our not you're happy.
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It's fine to accept that you're unhappy. The key is to figure out why. Even more important is to figure out solutions.

Some of the people I know who are unhappy may have been dealt a bad hand. Most of the unhappy people I know are 100% responsible. ALL of the ones who stay unhappy are completely unable to solve any of their problems.
 
#52
Most of us would be a lot happier if we stopped beating ourselves up......

Forget about being "reasonably happy"....what the hell is that? be totally happy...if anything.

Expectations of ourselves get in the way of happiness.

However I'm in the G.O.F. Club here.......so that excludes me from being happy.........:bawl:
 

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