in thoughts...
Sunday, April 11, 2004
A Program to increase happiness...
from my Personality textbook.. :) my personality textbook is like a good coffee table book - nice to read leisurely and get stuff like those below, but I'm not absorbing it much like academic material.. haha...
***
"To maintain/increase your level of trait happiness:
1. Spend time with other people, particularly friends, family and loved ones.
The one characteristic common to most happy people is a disposition to be sociable,to draw satisfaction from being with other people. Cultivate an interest in other people. Go out of your way to spend time with friends and loved ones. Try to get to know those around you.
2. Seek challenge and meaning in work.
Happy people enjoy their work and work hard at what they do. Work that is challenging, but within your skill level, is usually the most satisfying.
3. Look for ways to be helpful to others.
Helping others can make you feel good about yourself and give you the feeling that your life is meaningful. Helping others thereby provides a boost in self-esteem. Helping has a second benefit as well; helping someone else can take your mind off your own problems or can make your problems seem little by comparison.
4. Take time out for yourself; enjoy the activities that give you pleasure.
Don't wait to find time for your favorite hobby or activity. Instead, make time. Think about what gives you pleasure, and build time into your busy schedule for those activities.
5. Stay in shape.
Exercise is positively associated with emotional well-being. Exercise need not be intense or all that frequent to provide the emotional benefit.
6. Have a plan, but be open to new experiences.
Having an organized life allows a person to accomplish much. However, sometimes the most fun moments in life are unplanned. Be open to trying different things or having different experiences - try going somewhere you have never been, trying doing a routine activity a little differently, or try doing something on the spur of the moment. Be flexible, rather than rigid, and try to avoid getting stuck in any ruts.
7. Be optimistic.
Put on a smiling face, whistle a happy tune, look for the silver lining in every cloud. Sure, it sounds too good to be true, but acting happy and trying to look on the bright side of things can go a long way toward making you feel happy. Try to avoid negative thinking. Don't make pessimistic statements, even to yourself. Convince yourself that the cup really is half full.
8. Don't let things get blown out of proportion.
Sometimes when something bad happens, it seems like the end of the world. Happy people have the ability to step back and see things in perspective. Happy people think about their options and about the other things in their lives that are going well. They think about what they can do to work on their problems or what to avoid in the future. But they don't think it is the end of the world. Often asking yourself "What's the worst that can come out of this?" will help put things in perspective.
Just wishing for happiness is not likely to make it so. Psychologists agree that people have to work at being happy; they have to work at overcoming the unpleasant events of life, the losses and failures that happen to everyone. The strategies in the previous list can be though of as a personal program for working on happiness."
Larsen, R. J. & Buss D. M. (2002). Personality Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
***
***
"To maintain/increase your level of trait happiness:
1. Spend time with other people, particularly friends, family and loved ones.
The one characteristic common to most happy people is a disposition to be sociable,to draw satisfaction from being with other people. Cultivate an interest in other people. Go out of your way to spend time with friends and loved ones. Try to get to know those around you.
2. Seek challenge and meaning in work.
Happy people enjoy their work and work hard at what they do. Work that is challenging, but within your skill level, is usually the most satisfying.
3. Look for ways to be helpful to others.
Helping others can make you feel good about yourself and give you the feeling that your life is meaningful. Helping others thereby provides a boost in self-esteem. Helping has a second benefit as well; helping someone else can take your mind off your own problems or can make your problems seem little by comparison.
4. Take time out for yourself; enjoy the activities that give you pleasure.
Don't wait to find time for your favorite hobby or activity. Instead, make time. Think about what gives you pleasure, and build time into your busy schedule for those activities.
5. Stay in shape.
Exercise is positively associated with emotional well-being. Exercise need not be intense or all that frequent to provide the emotional benefit.
6. Have a plan, but be open to new experiences.
Having an organized life allows a person to accomplish much. However, sometimes the most fun moments in life are unplanned. Be open to trying different things or having different experiences - try going somewhere you have never been, trying doing a routine activity a little differently, or try doing something on the spur of the moment. Be flexible, rather than rigid, and try to avoid getting stuck in any ruts.
7. Be optimistic.
Put on a smiling face, whistle a happy tune, look for the silver lining in every cloud. Sure, it sounds too good to be true, but acting happy and trying to look on the bright side of things can go a long way toward making you feel happy. Try to avoid negative thinking. Don't make pessimistic statements, even to yourself. Convince yourself that the cup really is half full.
8. Don't let things get blown out of proportion.
Sometimes when something bad happens, it seems like the end of the world. Happy people have the ability to step back and see things in perspective. Happy people think about their options and about the other things in their lives that are going well. They think about what they can do to work on their problems or what to avoid in the future. But they don't think it is the end of the world. Often asking yourself "What's the worst that can come out of this?" will help put things in perspective.
Just wishing for happiness is not likely to make it so. Psychologists agree that people have to work at being happy; they have to work at overcoming the unpleasant events of life, the losses and failures that happen to everyone. The strategies in the previous list can be though of as a personal program for working on happiness."
Larsen, R. J. & Buss D. M. (2002). Personality Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
***
posted by Sodium-squared at 4/11/2004 09:47:00 AM
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