Welcome to our second edition of the Motivation Monday series. Last week we discussed changing our expectations, and taking charge of our future. This week’s post will be centered around Finding Happiness so you can live your best life. Are you seeking the key to happiness? You’re not alone. Each year people spend hundreds of millions of dollars on self help books. Is finding happiness really that complicated?
Motivation Monday #2 Finding Happiness
What is happiness to you? Think about that for a moment and really reflect on the thought of finding true happiness. What would it look like? Does it involve reaching the top of your career? Or is it finding your true love and starting a family? Maybe it’s something completely different like getting (and staying) healthy or quitting a bad habit for good.
Here’s three ways to find personal happiness:
First, let’s take a moment by closing our eyes and taking a deep breath in through our nose, and out through our mouth. Lower your head and relax your jaw. Now think of one good thing that’s happened in the last 24 hours. Visualize what that positive thing was, and reflect on it. How did it make you happy? Take a few more deep breaths, then open your eyes. You’ve just meditated! Is this something you can do each morning before getting out of bed? Training yourself to look for the good in each day takes practice, but it’s completely doable. So often we’re in a hurry to get somewhere and go through the motions of the day, but taking a few moments to yourself to reflect and hone in on the positive can make a huge difference in your journey.
Do you acknowledge daily gratitude? A gratitude journal has been linked to positive emotion, connection to others, and helping us complete our goals. Writing down what we are thankful for can instill a more positive outlook on life. If you don’t have a gratitude journal, a piece of paper will work fine until you get one. Each day write a few sentences about someone you are grateful for, or an experience that you are grateful for. The experience may have been a difficult journey that lead to a better outcome, or something positive that happened to you.
A tradition I began with my family a few years ago is “daily thankfuls.” We make a point to eat as a family at least once a day, typically at dinner time, and at the end of our meal we go around the table sharing what we are thankful for that day. It can be one thing, or ten things. The point is sharing and listening to others. It’s a great way to end a meal, and focus on the positive.
Create a vision board. It doesn’t take much to get started. You’ll need a dry erase/cork board and a few magazines or a printer. On the cork side of the board, add pictures you’ve cut out or printed with visual goals you’d like to accomplish. The pictures may be words like “finding happiness” or images like your ideal house or dream car you’re saving up for. Possibly it’s a beach vacation or career oriented. Focus on 10 or less items on your vision board. On the dry erase side, write out your goals, and as you work towards them, cross them off. Really enjoy the journey of the vision board and the progress you make.
Only Good Vibes
In closing, finding happiness is absolutely attainable, if you focus on it. Take a few moments each day to meditate on one positive thing that happened to you, write in your gratitude journal, and focus on your vision board. Once this becomes your new routine, you will notice a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life.
- Train yourself to look for the good each day
- Start a gratitude journal
- Create a vision board
Share your thoughts below on this week’s Finding Happiness chat. Let’s discuss it as a community. Tell me what you need help with – you may just see it in next week’s series!
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