The Happiness Factor

At the end of the day, we all really want one thing.  

To be happy.  

You know how the saying goes... Happiness is a choice.  I always envy the individuals who are always able to see the glass as half full, and I always strive to see things that way.  Sometimes I just need to stop, sit down, and remind myself happiness is a choice.  It is a choice, it is so beneficial for our health and well being, and guess what, you can practice and teach yourself to be well... happier. 

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I really love listening to Ted Talks in my free time and I really enjoyed some main points from Shawn Achor's talk "The Happy Secret to Better Work "

(You can watch them on Netflix!)

Watch the full video here or below 

Achor discusses the Happiness Advantage 

and I pulled some of my favorite excerpts out below. 

" If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present,then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, we've found that every single business outcome improves. Your brain at positive is 31% more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. You're 37% better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed.

We've found there are ways that you can train your brain to be able to become more positive. In just a two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully. We've done these things in research now in every company that I've worked with, getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new things each day. And at the end of that, their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world not for the negative, but for the positive first.

11:31Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it.Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand. And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness.We get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their support network.

11:58And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but a real revolution".
So to recap from Shawn's speech, I urge you all to start and train your brain to be more positive.Set yourself up to be happy.  

How to train your brain to be more positive 

Gratitude  (write down three things you are grateful for every day) 

Meditation (focus on the task at hand)

Journaling (relive positive experiences)

Exercise (teaches your brain that behavior matters)

Random acts of kindness (as simple as a praising or positive email)

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Happy weekend friends and I hope you all have the happiness advantage this weekend