Be Happy For No Reason
5 Tips to Get You Started
By Marci Shimoff
What would it take to make you happy? A fulfilling career, a big bank account or the perfect mate? What if it didn't take anything to make you happy? What if you could experience happiness from the inside out — no matter what’s going on in your life?
I can tell you that this is possible. Real happiness isn't based on what we have or achieve in life — it's a physiological state of lasting inner peace and well being that isn't dependent of any conditions in our day-to-day lives.
Here are a few tips from my newly published book, Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happier from the Inside Out that will get you started:
#1 People who are Happy for No Reason incline their minds toward joy. You have 60,000 thoughts each day; 95 percent of them are the same thoughts you had yesterday and the day before, and for the average person, 80% are negative. The reason for this is a primitive survival mechanism that scientists call our "negativity bias" - we pay more attention to the negative than the positive. To reverse the negativity bias, get into the daily habit of consciously registering the positive around you. Once you notice something positive, take a moment to savor it. Take the good experience in deeply and feel it; make it more than just a mental observation. Spend 30 seconds soaking up the happiness you feel.
#2 People who are Happy for No Reason let love lead in their life. They recognize that their heart is key to their happiness. The Institute of Heartmath found that the heart has an electromagnetic field around it that is 5,000 times more powerful than the mind's. You can power up your heart's flow by sending lovingkindness to anyone and everyone you see. Next time you're stuck in a line at the store, caught up in traffic or simply walking down the street, look around and send a silent wish to the people you see for their happiness, well-being and health. It doesn't have to be dramatic; merely wishing others well switches on the "pump" that generates love in the heart and creates a strong current of happiness.
#3 People who are Happy for No Reason make the cells in their body happy - they create the physiology of happiness. One important way of doing this is through proper deep breathing. Stop and notice how you're breathing right now. If you're like most people, you breathe shallowly from your chest cavity alone and not deeply from your belly. Shallow breathing merely keeps you alive, while deep belly breathing cleanses your cellular pathways and opens the way for happiness-enhancing chemicals to flow. To help train your body to breathe deeply, place your hand on your belly and as you inhale through your nose, make sure your hand moves out on your inhale and back in on your exhale. Take 10 deep breathes this way at least three times a day.
#4 People who are Happy for No Reason feel plugged into Spirit. By Spirit I mean universal source, unified field, God — whatever you choose to call it. One way to feel plugged in is to listen the voice of your higher wisdom. The next time you have a question or perplexing situation, write your question or situation on the top of a piece of paper. Then sit quietly, open yourself to listen to your inner voice. Then write whatever comes to you without censoring, not reading what you have written as you go. Let the deepest part of your being flow through you. Now read over what you've written—you may be quite surprised at what wisdom has come out.
#5 People who are Happy for No Reason surround themselves with support. Spending time with those you love — family, friends, or pets — can help reset the balance of your biology towards happiness, so it's important to make wise choices about the company you keep. Create appropriate boundaries with emotional bullies and "happiness vampires" who suck the life out of you. Develop your happiness "dream team" — a mastermind group or support group you meet with regularly to keep you steady on the path of raising your happiness set point.
About the Author: Marci Shimoff is author of the new book Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out; plus Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, making her one of the bestselling female nonfiction authors of all time. She's also a featured teacher in the international film and book phenomenon, The Secret. Visit Happy for No Reason.
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