According to Natalie Dattilo, PhD, these 5 practices will boost your happiness. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and last week my friend Jenna sent me an article about what to do to boost happiness before the end of the year.  It quoted Natalie Dattilo, PhD, licensed psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who said  "Happiness doesn’t just happen. Routine and planned activation of the pleasure and reward centers of the brain is required to feel good and to preserve our ability to feel good in the future."

She’s big on routine, on habits, and I’ve gotta say, this is right up my alley. This positive psychology Harvard professor had 5 habits to create now, in 2022 to help us boost our Happiness. 

The first is to say a positive affirmation.  If you are like me, and you don’t know where to start, then I encourage you to start with what my spiritual mentor Kate Butler says.  I am happy and grateful that [fill in the blank].  I [fill in the blank] with ease and grace.  You can write this affirmation on a post-it note, make it your home screen on your phone, write it in your daily journal page, wherever you keep it is up to you, you just need to do it and believe in the words you are saying. 

Second, assess your values.  Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up for yourself and others? 

Third is similar, it’s finding your why.  This is reminding yourself why you put in the effort to do all the things you are doing at this time.  It’s so easy to get on auto-pilot, this snaps you back for a moment to check-in and ask yourself why these tasks are important and why you want to continue to do all the things. 

Fourth is accepting your life exactly as it is right now.  Dr. Dattilo says that  "Radical self-acceptance can be powerfully transformative and essential for authentic and long-lasting happiness." The article points out that “from this place of radical self-acceptance, you'll be able to make value-driven changes to your life without being hard on yourself.” 

Finally, something we talk a lot about here at Everyday Happiness is appreciating what you have.  This is in the form of gratitude and also knowing that the things will never make us happy long term.  

So, there you have it. Five tips to a happy year. 

This episode was inspired by this article. 

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