Happiness Quick Fix

Happiness Energy drinks: Energy drinks are designed to give an “energy boost” to the drinker through a combination of stimulants and energy boosters.  Just like the energy drinks or meeting energizers boost the energy of the individual or a group in a meeting, the following happiness energizes come in handy whenever you find that your happiness index is headed southwards.

They are not meant to replace long-term forward-looking happiness interventions but are rather aimed at giving you a happiness boost especially if you are anticipating an anxiety inducing situation or have just gone through a negative mood experience.

Practice the following strategies with that context in mind:

1. Act out your happy emotions: The sovereign path to cheerfulness is to act cheerfully. If you act out your emotions like you do when you feel positive emotions and happiness, you will be surprised that you will in deed feel cheerful and your mood will be elevated.

Actually, our brains are not as sophisticated as we like to think they are, they cannot tell the difference between a privately stimulated feelings of cheerfulness and externally generated one – try it out and your moods will instantly become elevated.

2. Reminiscing a past happy event: If you are feeling low or are bored practice “recalling game” where you reminisce a time or event when you experienced a very happy moment – maybe it was at fun party where you laughed your heart out. Allow yourself to go back to that moment and re-live the experience just as it played out.

Chances are you will start laughing again, or more likely your body will display similar physiological reactions such as those that you had during that moment – allow yourself to revel in the moment and you will be surprised at how elevated you will feel during and after this exercise.

3. Perform a mindful exercise: Being consciously aware of the feelings we are having at the moment can work wonders. It leads to feeling more in tune with your core values, feeling serene, hopeful and experiencing gratitude – even for what you may be going through at that moment. A simple mindful exercise such as body scan exercise, breathing exercise. Mindful breathing teaches us to become aware of thoughts that are coming in and out of our attention.

With this awareness, we attend to the present moment, review our thoughts at which point we can then choose to pay attention to them or not. This exercise has the potential of calming our minds, whose immediate effect is relaxation of the body.

4. Position yourself in happy situations: There are three ways through which you can mentally and instantaneously position yourself in positive mood situations. Try anyone of these three even you read this:

• Smile – even if you don’t feel like it, smiling can trigger the release of endorphins, which are natural mood boosters. The physical act of smiling can, in turn, help improve your mood.

• Positive Visualization: Take a few moments to visualize a happy and serene place or situation. Imagine the details vividly to create a positive mental state.

• Humour and Laughter: Watch a funny video, read jokes, or engage in activities that make you laugh. Laughter releases endorphins and can instantly improve your mood.