Simple strategies to be more happy

Here’s a question for you. In today’s world, when you hear negative news and challenges in the world, how do you stay positive and happy? That’s an important question because everyone wants to be positive and happy and it’s not always easy to do. We know people who purposely avoid listening to or watching the news because it seems to be, in their words, “a real downer.” Whether you feel that way or not, we wanted to share some strategies to be more positive and happy.

I (Lynn) was fortunate to be a trainer for Dr. Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness and known as the “Father of Positive Psychology.” Here’s one of his strategies that we used to help hundreds of people around the world to be happier. It involves finding three things you are grateful for each day. Take time to write them down and review them just before going to sleep. Research shows that by doing this consistently it can help you sleep better and it may also help you have some pleasant dreams. The good thing about this strategy is that it takes focus away from negative things that are happening and helps you to be looking for good things each day. It might seem easy to say that nothing positive happened today to be grateful for – but take another look. There are so many big and little things happening in our life that we sometimes take for granted. How about the beauty in nature or a smile from someone. What about hearing birds singing and children laughing as they play. Did you watch a sunrise or a sunset today? Are you able to see and hear? What else?

Another happiness strategy we like was shared by Shawn Achor in his entertaining TED talk online. We encourage you to watch it. This strategy is to do random acts of kindness. Find ways to do something kind or special for someone even when it is not expected. Here are some ideas for starters. Send an email or a hand-written note to people saying that you appreciate them. Look for different opportunities to do something nice. When you are out shopping, you might be able to open a door for someone. Offer some kind and affirming words to people. When you make a positive difference in someone’s day, you will find a positive difference in your day, too!

Most professionals suggest doing these strategies for twenty-one days and this helps strategies to become habits. We went out to talk to some people to find out about their happiness.

We met Dave and Penny Donelson at Lake Ann Park and asked them how they stay positive and happy in today’s world. Penny said, “That’s a very good question. I think that it’s hard to stay positive when you listen to the news and you hear all these things going on. However, when you think about your children and your grandchildren, for us that’s just huge. It’s hard to be negative because they are so happy and energetic and positive. And I think for David and me both, just our faith in Christ and knowing that God is in control of all of this. He knows what is going on and we just put our hope in Him and our trust in Him.”

Dave agreed with Penny, “We get great satisfaction from our family, our kids and our grandkids but it is our faith that really sustains us and gives us hope for the future. We’re also very involved in a wonderful church where we have great support and great friends. So we really find a lot of faith and hope through our church, along with our family.”

The couple we talked to found happiness and positivity through their family and their faith and these are the things that also sustain us. What about you? What helps you to be happy and positive when there are challenges in your life and in the world?

Here’s a challenge: We encourage you to use these strategies of writing down three things you are grateful for each day and also to do random acts of kindness for at least three weeks. Notice the results in your life and possibly also in the people around you. As we all use these strategies, hopefully it will cause a ripple effect and more people will also feel like passing them on. Through our combined efforts, we will be contributing to a more happy, positive and peaceful world. We invite you to let us know what happens in your life.

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2017 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.