If you want to start to feel happy, it starts with you wanting to feel happy. Make sure you’re spending time every single day whether it’s 15-20 minutes whether it’s an hour – two hours. Take time to allow your mind separation from the stresses of your day.
If you expect to fail you will fail. On the other hand, if you expect to win, you will win and it’s right because doctors and psychologists both alike agree that worrying actually does shorten your life and it does damage your body. We need to clear our thinking before we go to sleep. Let’s talk about a book that Norman Vincent Peal wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking”.
1- Creating your own inner happiness
You are responsible for your own happiness because unhappiness is usually the byproduct of your sad thoughts. You have these negative feelings, resentment towards others, and just an overall crappy outlook on life. So if you think bad things are going to happen, you have to force yourself not to think those negative thoughts.
We must get into the happiness habit by thinking upbeat cheery thoughts throughout the day. We like to sit and dwell in our own sadness… Even if you don’t like to do that but sometimes your brain forces you to do that. You have to put on upbeat music, do something productive, get in the gym, hang around with friends who will make you laugh… At first, it doesn’t feel right. It feels like you’re forcing it because you are forcing it but eventually, it starts to make you feel better.
There are miracles happening all around you. There is beauty all around you. Open your eyes and look. Can you see the sun shining? Can you hear the birds chirping? Can you feel the warmth of the sun on your skin? Awesome! There are simple beauties all around us to be happy.
If you want to start to feel happy, it starts with you. Let’s short-circuit those negative thoughts. Turn that around, force yourself to think positively, and do positive things, and while it doesn’t feel right at first. Keep going! You’re on the right path.
2 – Accept there are things we cannot control
People waste a lot of their time and energy on what they cannot control. Go back to Stephen Covey’s circle of concern and circle of influence, focusing only on those things in the circle of influence. Everything else in the circle of concern, you can’t control or affect that. So move on! Don’t allow your mind to just spend time in that space. You’re wasting your mind’s energy.
So as part of this antidote to anxiety, we need to slow down to relieve our anxiety and attain peace. Devote at least 15 minutes daily to calming and relaxing by thinking peaceful thoughts or not thinking anything at all.
Relax and spend a few minutes thinking about beautiful peaceful settings, hearing the birds chirping, and feeling the sun on our faces. All these things are just a matter of you actually thinking in your mind however where you are. If you’re at work or in your house, it doesn’t matter! Close your eyes and open your mind to maybe a place where you were on vacation before and go there for 15 minutes smell the smells, feel what the sand feels like on your feet, and feel yourself plunging into the ocean.
The antidote to anxiety is clearing your mind. However, if you choose to do that, make sure you’re spending time every single day whether it’s 15-20 minutes. If you’re working out at the gym, doing yoga, going to cycling class, whatever… take time to allow your mind separation from the stresses of your day.
3 – Focusing on the positive
What seeds are you planting in your mind? Are you planting seeds of positivity or these seeds of negativity? Your life is going to give you back more of that.
Are you planting seeds of doubt and “Oh… I’m not going to make this work or something bad is going to happen…”. If you’re planting seeds of that, guess what you’re going to get more of that.
Start focusing on the positive, and how things can go right. And when things go wrong say “Hmm there’s a lesson in that for me. Everything that’s happening is to teach me a lesson. This isn’t a setback. That’s really bad, it happened for a reason. I’m going to learn from it! I’m going to be happy!”
4 – Clear our thinking before we go to sleep
Because doctors and psychologists both agree that worrying actually does shorten your life and damage your body. We need to clear our thinking before we go to sleep. We need to imagine our worries flowing out of our bodies like water out of a glass.
This path is good for me, I replaced worry with hope. Back in the day when I was going through those stresses, I was worrying a lot. I was having a tough time sleeping. I was having chest pains. My heart was palpitating all the time and I really just could not get a high level of satisfaction in life.
I built myself a plan that gave me hope, something that got me excited, something that I wanted to work towards, something I wanted to achieve. Because I knew that if I did, it would get me out of this mess and my life would be better as a result.
5 – Problem Solving
Believe that your problem can be solved! Yes it’s hard and you don’t have a solution right now but there is a solution. There’s more than one, try to maintain your serenity as you address a problem. So don’t feel anxious. You need to be calm. You need to be hopeful. There’s going to be a solution to this problem.
Don’t try to force an answer or so don’t try to say like “Oh my god! I need an answer by Saturday at noon. If I don’t get it by Saturday at noon then it’s too late.” Sometimes you just need time for that to reveal itself to you.
- Gather all relevant information pretty simply and do as much research as possible.
- Write down all facts about the situation again, and get an understanding of the problem and what’s going on. You need to get clarity on the problem so you can get clear on what solutions you need to solve it.
- When you’re walking in nature, take time to think in nature and allow your mind to flow but when you separate yourself from the stresses, the anxieties the busyness of the day, allow your time to think about solutions.
