Happiness is persistence and if we can, like brushing our teeth, create some happiness hygiene habits, for even two-minutes a day, that work for us, we can boost our levels of long term happiness.  

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2-ish 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 let’s dig into why happiness habits are a daily practice. 

Shawn Achor in one of his talks, referring to a “rational optimism” the idea that optimism starts with a realistic assessment of the present, this calling it rational optimism, he explains that “optimism is a daily spiritual practice, and when we do it, we can transform this world.”

What this naturally leads us to is the idea that happiness is habitual.  We almost can’t get around it.  Achor’s research says that if you “ spend two minutes a day scanning the world for three new things you're grateful for. And do that for 21 days” you will boost your happiness. “The reason why that's powerful is you're training your brain to scan the world in a new pattern, you're scanning for positives, instead of scanning for threats.” and he says it’s the fastest way of teaching optimism.

When we practice daily gratitude, our brains are trained to scan the world for positivity.  “At positive, our productive energy rises by 31%. Our likelihood of promotion rises to 40%. Our intelligence rises significantly, our memory deepens and our social bonds become deeper so we feel connected to one another. We are sleeping better and our physical symptoms feel less acute and the same amount of stress in someone’s life when you are positive and grateful has a 23% drop in the negative effects of stress upon your life. Headaches, backaches, fatigue drop by 23% given the same level of stress.” This is Shawn Achor’s research and how extraordinary it is in proving why happiness matters.   

What this shows us is that happiness is persistence and if we can, like brushing our teeth, create some happiness hygiene habits, for even two-minutes a day, that work for us, we can boost our levels of long term happiness.  Whether that’s saying three new things we are truly grateful for each day, whether that’s saying something nice to someone else in gratitude, whether that’s sending a note in the mail, you get to choose your recipe for what feels aligned for you in those 2-minutes a day.    

This is magic.  This is like opening the doors, knowing you have the control and the tools to create optimism in your world.  Until next time, do us a favor and follow our Instagram feed @everydayhappinesswithkatie because we are about to share some exciting news and we don’t want you to miss it. 

Inspired by The Ten Percent Happier Podcast, Episode 156, with Shawn Achor.    

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