By Sally P
The one thing that we all strive for in our lives is to be happy. There are lots of ways that happiness impacts on how we feel; including our health, our levels of creativity and even how much we experience physical pain. One study found that happiness, optimism and life satisfaction are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
We also know that there is a strong link between our mental health and happiness, so the more we look after our mental health and wellbeing the more this impacts on our levels of happiness. For example, Action for Happiness report that each of the happy habits in the list below have been linked to a more positive emotional state. Try to see how many of these you can bring these into each day!
· Giving: do things for others
· Relating: connect with people
· Exercising: take care of your body
· Appreciating: notice the world around
· Trying out: keep learning new things
· Direction: have goals to look forward to
· Resilience: find ways to bounce back
· Emotion: take a positive approach
· Acceptance: be comfortable with who you are
· Meaning: be part of something bigger
We also know that a technique called mindfulness can help improve our appreciation of our day to day lives. It works by focusing on the present, rather than focusing on the past or future. At Leeds IAPT we provide web based mindfulness courses that run over an 8 week period that you can access online for free. Our next course is running in April, if you would like any further information please contact info@kindminds.org for more information.
