Category: Self Compassion, The Best You, Spread the Movement
i knew i was running away from it all. never in my life had i felt so helpless, lost… and the worst feeling of all, so miserably alone. the easiest way for me to cope with it all was to throw it into this mountainous, ever-growing pile of crap and essentially neglect my problems. i thought hey, ‘out of sight, out of mind right?’
surely that wasn’t the case.
after so many months of being sad and upset at life i decided it was time i needed to make a perspective change and opened up The Happiness Advantage written by John Achor.
here are his Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that he discusses in the book.
1. meditate – neuroscientists found that monks who spend years meditating actually grow their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most responsible for feeling happy.
2. find something to look forward to – anticipating future rewards can actually light up the pleasure centers in your brain much as the actual reward will.
3. commit conscious acts of kindness – a long line of empirical research, including one study of over 2,000 people has shown that acts of altruism decrease stress and strongly contribute to mental health.
4. infuse positivity into your surroundings – decorate your office, make time to go outside on a nice day, or clean your room or your house
5. exercise – release those endorphins, that’s obvious.
6. spend money – spend money on experiences or other people. one experiment found that students who were given money to spend on other people such as buying a friend lunch or coffee reported more positive emotions than a control group who was given money to spend on anything they wanted.
7. exercise a signature strength – find a character strength of yours and practice it daily. (find yours at www.viasurvey.org) one of mine is kindness so what i’m thinking is doing one random act of kindness a day and writing it down.
John says that we obviously can’t focus on all 7 points of his book so prioritize one, own it and see what happens. so what are you going to work on to help you feel more beYOUtiful?
love simply, love beyoutifully,
anh thu
