Boosts of happiness can reduce stress and increase resilience.  One way to boost happiness is through gratitude.  If you think about it.  Gratitude boosts happiness.  Happiness boosts resilience.  Happy people have better life satisfaction.  It’s a massive circle of happiness.  And we get to share this by kindness, because we know kindness is contagious.   

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 I’ve been researching how happiness can help us manage our stress.  Let’s face it, even the happiest people feel stress.  What the research indicates is that 

a positive mood and positive thinking increase our ability to manage our stress in healthy ways. 

What seems to be clear is that bursts of happiness, over time, increase our resilience to stress.  We’re better able to cope with the stress when it happens. So this is like using the happiness muscle, not just when you feel sad, but all the time, so that when you do feel sad or stressed, it’s easier to manage.  

I guess it’s like anything really.  If I need to do 20 pushups in 2 weeks, I will be more prepared if I start by doing 2 a day or 7 a day and working up to 15 a day and 18 a day over the next 2 weeks so that when I need to do 20 pushups, I have some resilience built up.  My body knows what to expect.    

Even if I haven’t convinced you - yet - that happiness increases our resilience to stress, maybe  Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson’s work might.  She finds that our positive emotions have lasting benefits beyond the positive emotion experience.  Her research shows that happiness has been shown to “improve physical health as well as lower levels of depression and higher levels of life satisfaction.”

Even more exciting is that happy people attract more happiness.  Happy people are more likely to build relationships, which we know is a major factor for happiness.  

So if you are having a stressful day or you are just plain stressed out. Happiness might be a tool to help.  That includes going for a walk, something self-care related.  And of course, it also includes what we know works, like gratitude, spreading kindness and mindfulness.      

If you think about it.  Gratitude boosts happiness.  Happiness boosts resilience.  Happy people have better life satisfaction.  It’s a massive circle of happiness.  And we get to share this by kindness, because we know kindness is contagious.  

Until next time, spread that kindness. 

Inspired by this article in Verywell Mind.

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