By
Katy Winter
It can be easy to get a bit blue at this time of year.
Luckily,
the good people at the United Nations have declared today their very
first International Day of Happiness and have even provided some helpful
tips on how to be joyful for those not in the spirit of the day.
As
part of the UN’s Action for Happiness campaign they have compiled a
list of the key elements to happier living, based on scientific studies
and surveys of what makes people feel the most content and satisfied in
their life.
The 10 essentials for happier living can be summed up as a GREAT DREAM as seen on the UN action for happiness website
The ten keys to a more cheerful
life have, rather handily, be condensed into the acronym GREAT DREAM:
giving, relating, exercising, appreciating, trying out, direction,
resilience, emotion, acceptance and meaning.
Unsurprisingly several of the tips focus on increasing the number and quality of relationships in our lives.
Connecting with people both on a personal, and on a large societal level, is important to our happiness
Connecting with people, both on
a one-on-one basis, and feeling more connected with society as a whole
has been show to increase our sense of well being.
We
all know the warm feeling we get when we spontaneously reach out and
help someone, or a stranger performs a random act of kindness, such as
helping you carry your bags, or even offering a smile on a hellish
commute.
A study published in the
Review of Personality and Social Psychology, showed that helping others
increases life satisfaction, provides a
sense of meaning, increases feelings of competence, improves our mood
and reduces stress and can help distract us from our own troubles.
The
UN also point out that while connecting with friends and loved ones our
hectic modern lifestyles mean that while we may constantly plan that
long overdue catch up without it ever happening.
The key to a happier you ...
1.Be part of something bigger
2.Do things for others
3.Connect with people
4.Take care of your body
5.Notice the world around you
6.Keep learning new things
7.Have goals and things to look forward to
8.Find ways to bounce back
9.Take a positive approach
10.Be comfortable with who you are
2.Do things for others
3.Connect with people
4.Take care of your body
5.Notice the world around you
6.Keep learning new things
7.Have goals and things to look forward to
8.Find ways to bounce back
9.Take a positive approach
10.Be comfortable with who you are
Being connected to something bigger,
whether it's society or something spiritual, has also been found to be a
common trait of those with an omni-smile as it can make you feel like
your life has a purpose - even when you are taking out the rubbish in
the rain!
Other tips to a contented life are to take care of your body and to notice the world around you.
While
these might sound easy, a treadmill type life of work to TV to bed is
all to common for many people, which doesn't only lead to a sluggish
body and mind, but can make you feel downright blue.
Exercise will not only help you tone up, but releases feel-good endorphins to boost your mood and concentration.
Taking
your workout outside will double its happiness boosting qualities as
taking note of nature and being more mindful of what we are doing is
shown to help our mood.
And its
not just keeping your body in good shape that will help you keep
smiling - your mind matters too: learning new things and having goals
and things to look forward to also increases our happiness levels.
Feeling
good about the future is important for our happiness so the UN suggest
not only to keep learning new things, but also to have goals for the
future.
However, it is
probably best not to set a goal of becoming the next supermodel if
you're 5ft 2, as unrealistic, unobtainable goals cause stress and can
reduce happiness.
While
following these tips should leave you beaming ear-to-ear most of the
time, life may unfortunately throw a few rainy days your way.
In
preparation for this eventuality, the UN says finding coping strategies
for hard times to increase our resilience to them, is a key to
remaining in good spirits.
Taking care of your body by exercising
regularly, drinking plenty of water, having a good diet and getting
plenty of sleep is essential to happiness
Approaching everything - including the negative- with a positive attitude is a trait found in happy people.
Research
published in the Clinical Psychology Review has found that that
positive emotions actually foster more happy emotions, in a phenomenon
called the 'upward spiral.
In
other words, if you think positive about a few things, you will be more
likely to end up feeling positive about a whole host of other things
too.
The final tip from the UN is an age old truth: be comfortable with who you are.
Accept
your flaws, appreciate your good points, be kind to yourself if things
go wrong, and try not to compare yourself to others!
Read more tips on being happy from the UN here
