Instant Happiness

25 actions you can take to improve your mood, enliven your spirits and increase your happiness

1. Exercise. It doesn’t matter how, just move your body. Get your heart pumping. 
2. Laugh.  Watch a funny movie.  Go to a local comedy show. Tell a joke. Or just laugh at life’s little surprises.
3. Talk. Open the floodgates and let it all out.
4. Play. Let out your inner child. Don’t worry about looking foolish. Swing on the swings. Splash in rain puddles. Lie in the grass and watch the clouds roll by. Allow yourself to have fun. You deserve it.

5. Color. Embrace color.  Colors are widely known to influence your mood. Surround yourself with happy bright colors.

6. Music.  Listen to upbeat happy music with positive messages.

7. Get outside. Natural settings enhance your mood. Spend time appreciating nature, even if it’s just a walk in the park.  

8. Novelty.  Do something different.  Anything positive as long as it is out of your normal routine.

9. Aromatherapy. Take advantage of uplifting scents such as basil, bergamot, lemon, Clary sage, rose, rosemary and sandalwood.

10. Smile.

11. Appreciate.  Count your blessings, literally.  Make a list of all the good aspects in your life. You may be surprised.

12. Do a kindness for someone. It feels great. a win win situation for everyone.

13. Sing. Sing along to your favorite song. Any song will do. Be loud and proud.

14. Challenge yourself.  Go out of your comfort zone.  Whether it is climbing a mountain, learning a language or just saying “Hello” to the mail carrier.

15. Friends. Look up an old friend. Make a new one. Friends are like gold.

16. Vacation.  Play tourist in your own town.  Visit the local attractions, take pictures.

17. Dance. Wherever, whenever you can.  

18. Garden. Dig in the dirt. Plant a tree. Pot up a tomato plant. No space is too small. Even a few herbs on the windowsill can lift one’s mood.

19. Animals.  Pet your pet and if you don’t have one consider getting one.  Maybe befriend a neighborhood cat or visit the animals in the zoo.

20. Touch.  Reach out and touch someone. Give a hug.  Get a hug. Human contact is essential to happiness.

21. Create.  Make something, anything counts. You are only limited by your own imagination.

22. Listen. Stop. Be still and just listen for 5 minutes. Notice all the sounds you hear and try to identify each one.

23. Eat. Healthy food is happy food.

    

    Image via Wikipedia

24. Sleep. Take a nap.  Linger in bed on the weekends a little longer. Sleep can do wonders.

25. Nothing. Learn the art of nothingness. Allow yourself this luxury once in a while. 

There are really a million actions one can take for an excellent dose of instant happiness.  These scant 25 are only a beginning….what I think is of real importance here is a person’s attitude.  Happiness is a state of mind, after all.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

**Helen Keller**

What do you do for a dose of Instant happiness.  Let me know and we can add it to the list.

Have a happy day!

Image via Wikipedia

Strawberryindigo.

A wicked bout of overdoneness

I have just now emerged mostly victorious from a wicked bout of overdoneness that has led to me being sidelined for the past month.  2011 was such an exquisitely ugly year for me personally that I needed a rest from it. A good long rest from everything.

2011 came on me hard and fast and I resolved to take it on with all the gusto I could manage. It was a year of “one damn thing after another”  and I’m glad that it’s over.

I did however learn a great deal from my experiences of the past year, though many of the lessons  learned still haven’t begun to gel in my stubborn brain. Perhaps some reflection is needed here or at least a semblance of reason on my behalf. What follows my attempt to do so:

I’d like to start with the bathroom scale. this haughty and taunting device has plagued me for years and I have thrown it out. Yes I have.  Really, and I will never get another one.

It’s destructive influence led me to exist on a steady diet of black coffee and nothing. That is bad enough but when mixed with constant and unusual stress, adding a few generous dollops of sleep deprivation, stirring in a flurry of creative manic activity with equal parts of needless worry and anxiety and you have the recipe, well I had the recipe all right, for a total breakdown of all systems.

Stress can be a killer and sometimes life can throw a lot of it at you.  That cannot be helped.  What really matters is how you react to it, what you do with it.  I bottled it all inside and it turned to anger and that can poison you if you let it. I’m trying to learn not to let it.

I’m also learning not to worry so much.  I am learning to let go of the things I cannot change and to act decisively on the things I can.  Be it about money or whatever, nothing is as important as my loving family and my health…nothing. Worry is useless and it’s toxic.

And sleep..sleep is wonderful, its wonderous and it will do wonders. Seven or eight hours a night really does the trick.  I used to think it a waste of time, but no more, it’s vital and very kind to my 42-year-old face.  Perhaps now I could pass for 35? With a full night of sleep behind me I know I feel 25. I cannot say enough good things about sleep and I recommend it highly.

I have turned off the morning news programs and the stock market reports. I have replaced them with relaxing music and good old-fashioned silence.  I allow myself time to ponder. I  have stopped being so damn hard on myself and I have turned off the ringer to my phone.

I have resolved to eat sensibly and try to find time for important issues such as bubble baths and naps. Life is not a race or a contest, it’s a journey and I got a little lost but now I have found my way once again.

I have learned that I am not remotely as smart or as powerful as I thought I was but I also learned that I don’t have to be.  I can sing just as loud. I don’t have to know everything or be everything or do everything, I can just exist and be happy.  Money cannot buy you that.

Happy to be back,

Strawberryindigo.

MY LIFE IN COLOR: 2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for My Life in Color by Strawberryindigo.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 23 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.