10. Focus your feelings to elevate your mood.
It is never good to tell someone to “get over it” when they can’t shake the blues. Whether that person is suffering from clinical depression or mourning the loss of a beloved family pet, there are countless reasons why it can be difficult to get over feeling down. While getting over it may not be an option, focusing on your own feelings and just trying to feel happier can actually elevate your mood.
According to two researchers from Knox College and the University of Missouri, just trying to be happier can improve your sense of well-being. The researchers concluded that concentrating on being happy led to happy results.
9. Unplug Your Electronics
Studies show that people who are fiddling with electronic devices all the time are more likely to suffer from physical and mental problems such as stress, depression, and sleeping issues. Children are at risk for anxiety and depression when they spend too much time watching TV, playing on the computer, or looking at mom’s cell phone.
Switch it off! It’s important to find a way to deliberately disconnect from a life constantly connected via technology, whether it’s taking a ten minutes to stand up and stretch or choosing times where you don’t look at a screen. Positive things come from unplugging including improved sleep patterns, better productivity, and higher self-esteem.
8. Go Outside
We all know its not healthy to stay indoors all day. Studies say that vitamin D supplements aren’t enough to replace natural sunlight. Just 10–15 minutes of direct sunlight produces health benefits.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh concur that getting outside and soaking in the sun might have more benefits than risks. When our skin is exposed to the sunlight, the chemical nitric oxide is released into the bloodstream that combats high blood pressure, a benefit that reduces the risk of heart disease and can prolong life. Furthermore, getting in touch with nature has been shown to improve moods and reduce stress.
7. Meditate
Meditation might not be an instant fix, but it’s one of the most effective long term ways to strengthen your spirit. Meditation can not only make you happier and healthier, but it can alter your genetic expression. Early Western scientific studies on focused meditation showed how it could be a treatment for physical issues like migraine headaches and even diabetes. Everyone has a “set point” for their emotions, from which we move up or down to experience positive or negative feelings. This starting line can be changed with long-term meditative practice, starting after only two months of meditation. Meditation also makes people kinder and improves immune system responses.
6. Help Other People
Thats right you heard me. Spend money on other people. There are blessings in giving. If you keep that mantra all year round, you’re likely to be happier than those who don’t give to others. According to researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University, Money can buy happiness-but only when you are buying things for other people. It isn’t all about money, either—daily acts of kindness and can promote happiness and higher overall life satisfaction. You can strengthen your spirit in a 10 day period with new activities and acts of giving, that will significantly improve our satisfaction in life.
5. Smile
Before you say no one likes a fake who is smiling when they’re actually miserable, hear these researchers out. Smiling is not just a response to feeling happy—it can also make us happy. Our physical response to our feelings in turn affects our emotional states, and for many of us, it is easier to control our facial muscles than it is to control our minds. Researchers point to this as proof of the mind-body connection when it comes to happiness—if frowning can make you feel sadder, smiling can make you feel happier.
The reason this works is because your facial muscles give direct neurological feedback to your brain. If you are smiling, the muscle combination in use is associated with happiness and your brain receives those signals. This will spark some great happy feelings, because your brain realizes that smiling has to do with joy.
....and guess what? If your smile is particularly big, you’ll be working the muscle in the corner of your eyes. When this muscle gets flexed, your brain is even more convinced that you should be feeling good, because that muscle is only used when you are truly smiling.Keep in mind that suppressing negative emotions was not shown to improve long-term happiness, and being emotionally stifled can have negative effects in other areas of our lives. So let off some steam. It’s important to express negative emotions, but trying to crack a smile can make you feel better whenever your not feeling so great.
