Train your soul to be happier!!!

Happiness is not a simple goal but is progress as a result of striving, seeking, finding and keeping self-actualizing work and fun, even when it's as elusive as ever. Being happy often means finding satisfaction/contentment, feeling joyful, and sensing that your life is meaningful. Nobody is jolly and elated all the time, but some individuals are definitely more fulfilled than others.

Method 1: Developing a Happy Outlook

  

1. Change your soul (spirit). People have an unfortunate tendency to lock on to remembering negative experiences but forgetting the positive ones. However, thanks to adaptability (neuroplasticity), you can actually change the way your soul functions. You can train your soul to be happier. 
   

   • Practice mindfulness. Occupy your mind with positive thoughts and humming a tune, for happy effects on the mind and body. Focusing on your experiences in the present moment without judging them can help you become more compassionate to yourself and to others.
   • Meditate. Activities that promote meditation, including an extended, peaceful prayer, yoga, or spiritual reflection, actually change an area of your brain called the insula, which is involved in your experience of empathy/understanding others. Developing your empathy muscles (helping others) will help you lead a happier life.
   • Make small events into appreciated “experiences.” Focus on and preserve the great little moment in a photo, write a journal or facebook entry or make a short video. Make awareness of a gorgeous sunny day; accept a compliment from a friend. Why -- this will train your brain to be happier by actively acknowledging the beauty of small moments and turning them into memorable “experiences.”
   • Smile a little, hop, skip and sing in those moments, and they will not slip so quietly through the cracks of memory. Say, "Thank you, so much!"; perhaps, write thank you notes on Facebook, use text, email or snail mail, appreciating people in a big way.

   

   2 Look for the positive in all your experiences. The old saying that you find what you look for is true. Start. Because of this, make it a habit to actively seek out the positive in any experience. It’s not only good for your overall happiness, it’s good for your physical health, and boosts your immune system.
   

   • Accept harsh experiences and problems as learning opportunities. It can be tempting to let challenges or roadblocks keep us from feeling happy. Sometimes, it looks like there’s nothing good about a particular situation or experience. However, it’s important to think about even the greatest setbacks as experiences we can learn from for great results in the future/tomorrow.
   • Don't give up on your ideas. "Try, fail often, get over it quickly," as per my experience Many ideas were not successful at first. But instead of allowing myself to give up or see these challenges as failures, I used them as learning experiences for his next attempt.
   • Refocusing on the positive can help you heal from traumas(disturbing experience/physical injury.).

   

   3 Cultivate optimism. Why does winning the lottery not make people happy? In the late years researchers followed people who'd won the lottery and found that a year afterward, they were no happier than people who hadn't. This is called hedonic adaptation, which suggests that we each have a “baseline” of happiness to which we return. No matter what events occur, good or bad, the effect on our happiness is temporary, and happiness tends to quickly revert to the baseline level. Some people have a higher baseline happiness level than others, and that is due in part to genetics, but it's also largely influenced by how you think.
   

   • There is power in intentions, having a purpose: Positive thinking is an important component of self-esteem and overall life satisfaction. Optimism also tends to make your personal and work relationships better.
   • Optimism is more than just positive expectations. It’s a way of interpreting everything that happens to you. Pessimism tends to explain the world in global, unchangeable, internal terms: “Everything sucks,” “I can’t do anything to change this,” “It’s all my fault.” Developing an optimistic outlook means thinking about yourself and your world in limited, flexible terms.
   • For example, a pessimistic outlook might say, “I’m terrible at math. I’m going to fail that test tomorrow. I might as well just watch TV.” This statement suggests that your math skills are inherent and unchangeable, rather than a skill you can develop with work. Such an outlook could lead you to study less because you feel like there’s no point to it - you’re just an inherently bad mathematics student. This isn’t helpful.
   • An optimistic outlook would say something like “I’m concerned about doing well on that test tomorrow, but I’m going to study as well as I can and do my best.” Optimism doesn’t deny the reality of challenges, but it interprets how you approach them differently.
   • “Blind optimism” isn’t any healthier than pessimism. To go skydiving on your own without any preparation or training because you’re optimistic about your abilities is obviously a bad idea that could lead you to injury. True optimism acknowledges the reality of situations and equips you to face them. 

   

   4 Practice active gratitude. A multitude of research confirms that gratitude is good for you. It reduces anxiety and depression, helps you become more positive, strengthens your relationships with others, and encourages compassion. It also has been shown to increase your feelings of happiness.
   

   • Some people are naturally higher in “trait gratitude,” or the natural likelihood of feeling thankful. However, you can train yourself to develop an “attitude of gratitude” no matter how high or low your level of trait gratitude is.
   • Try to avoid approaching situations or people as if you “deserve” anything from them. This doesn’t mean that you have to put up with disrespect or being mistreated, but it does mean that you should try to take people as they are without feeling “entitled” to specific benefits or actions.
   • Accumulate all the little joyful things that happen to you during the day. They add up. You could keep a journal, and write them down. For example, if there was not bad traffic on the road, if you had a very scrumptious breakfast if your friend said something uproariously humorous that made you laugh if you took your dog out for a walk in the park and played with it, add these together. You’ll probably find that you have more to be grateful for than you even realized.
   • Share your gratitude with others. A word of thanks, even a brief one, can make someone else feel appreciated. Sharing your gratitude with others also helps you remember what you’re thankful for.
   • Let the good things sink in. It’s not enough to just note good things when they happen. Really take the time to think about them and let those experiences sink into your memory. Consciously telling yourself, “This is a wonderful moment and I want to remember how grateful I feel for it” can help you store up these memories for when times get tough.

   
   

   Staytune for  few more topics on this. Visit Again!!!    

   (to be Continued...)