- Question Your Thoughts. Marci shared a story of a seminar where all the individuals seemed engaged except one. She completely focused on the one, believing that she wasn't doing a good job, and completely Ego-tripping over this one man. At the end of her presentation he approached her and told her how moved he was by what she said. Our thoughts, which are usually controlled by Ego, can and will lie, so question any thoughts that bring up negative feelings. We often make assumptions about situations based on self doubt, and rarely are we correct.
- Laughter. Many of the resources I've read discuss this. Cafe Gratitude encourages one minute of laughter each day. In this book, one of the Happy 100, sat and spend 10 minutes each day in laughter. Laughter lowers cortisol in the body, an immune suppressant, it stimulates heart and lungs, improves breathing, and is great exercise. 15 minutes of laughter is equivalent to 2 hours sleep; laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your lifespan. At first it may be difficult, but set a timer, and just start chuckling. Pretty soon, real laughter will come out. Do it with a friend!
- Inviting Grace. This exercise involves thinking of a specific issue in your life that you need assistance solving. Write a letter to the Universe, ask for the correct people and situations to appear, express gratitude, and forgiveness if necessary. Now, put the letter away, take a deep breath, and let go. Believe that the Universe is working on it. Take the letter out in a month or so, and see how the Universe responded.
Showing posts with label marci shimoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marci shimoff. Show all posts
Monday, January 31, 2011
Happy For No Reason
I had the opportunity to read a wonderful book called Happy For No Reason by Marci Shimoff. In this book, Shimoff interviews people she refers to as the "Happy 100", people that despite having some horrors stories to share, have maintained true happiness regardless of situation. These amazing individuals share many tools and tips throughout the book to aid the reader in becoming happy for no reason as well. Consider this startlingly fact, "The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be second only to heart disease in terms of the global burden of illness." Yikes! I highly recommend checking this book out. Here are a few of my favorite tools:
Monday, November 15, 2010
Take Ownership of Your Happiness
Recently I've been reading a lovely book by Marci Shimoff called Happy for No Reason. This wonderful book provides tools for happiness and highlights stories of people who are simply happy. She shows us that circumstance has relatively little to do with our state of being, it's our perception that determines our level of happiness. In Chapter 3, The Foundation--Take Ownership of Your Happiness, Shimoff provides three habits that allow us to experience happiness.
1. Focus on the Solution. How often is it that a problem arises and we spend hours, days, weeks even, agonizing over how horrible it is, why me, I can't believe this is happening, etc. What would happen if instead, we used all that energy to create a solution? Wouldn't that make us feel better and reduce the number of hours wallowing in negativity. It's easy to get lost in our perception of "what is" but being stuck in the problem only causes misery and in the end we dig a deeper hole for ourselves. When facing a problem, face it. Allow yourself a few minutes of misery, than take a deep breath, and focus on the solution. You will feel better, plus, chances are, problem solved with will make you feel even better!
2. Look for the Lesson and the Gift. How often do we assign blame to a situation? My dog ate my homework, traffic was terrible, he doesn't like me, I tried my best but she wouldn't listen, it's all her fault, blah de blah blah blah. Recognize your own responsibility in the matter. Think about what you could learn from the situation and in some cases, it may even be a gift. One of the stories in Shimoff's book involves a woman who's fiancee ended their engagement just three weeks before the wedding. She spent a year wallowing in grief, blaming him for being a jerk, and playing the victim. One day her therapist said to her "If your relationship was so perfect, why is it over?" Sometimes we see only what we want to see, and in reality, her relationship had flaws that she simply did not want to face or take responsibility for, so she focused on the blame. After coming to terms with this, she focused on taking responsibility for her own actions, and ended up in a much healthier relationship. There are lessons everywhere, we just have to look.
3. Make Peace With Yourself. Taking responsibility does not beating yourself up. There is no happiness to be find there. Simply, recognize areas that may need work, forgive yourself for your errors, and be grateful for the positives. Let it go and be at peace with your decisions. We all make mistakes, but you can choose to forgive and see each trial as a lesson.
I highly recommend investing in this wonderful book. You can also download some of the exercises and happiness stories here.
1. Focus on the Solution. How often is it that a problem arises and we spend hours, days, weeks even, agonizing over how horrible it is, why me, I can't believe this is happening, etc. What would happen if instead, we used all that energy to create a solution? Wouldn't that make us feel better and reduce the number of hours wallowing in negativity. It's easy to get lost in our perception of "what is" but being stuck in the problem only causes misery and in the end we dig a deeper hole for ourselves. When facing a problem, face it. Allow yourself a few minutes of misery, than take a deep breath, and focus on the solution. You will feel better, plus, chances are, problem solved with will make you feel even better!
2. Look for the Lesson and the Gift. How often do we assign blame to a situation? My dog ate my homework, traffic was terrible, he doesn't like me, I tried my best but she wouldn't listen, it's all her fault, blah de blah blah blah. Recognize your own responsibility in the matter. Think about what you could learn from the situation and in some cases, it may even be a gift. One of the stories in Shimoff's book involves a woman who's fiancee ended their engagement just three weeks before the wedding. She spent a year wallowing in grief, blaming him for being a jerk, and playing the victim. One day her therapist said to her "If your relationship was so perfect, why is it over?" Sometimes we see only what we want to see, and in reality, her relationship had flaws that she simply did not want to face or take responsibility for, so she focused on the blame. After coming to terms with this, she focused on taking responsibility for her own actions, and ended up in a much healthier relationship. There are lessons everywhere, we just have to look.
3. Make Peace With Yourself. Taking responsibility does not beating yourself up. There is no happiness to be find there. Simply, recognize areas that may need work, forgive yourself for your errors, and be grateful for the positives. Let it go and be at peace with your decisions. We all make mistakes, but you can choose to forgive and see each trial as a lesson.
I highly recommend investing in this wonderful book. You can also download some of the exercises and happiness stories here.
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