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6 Secrets of Better Body Language

Need a quick pick-me-up? Skip the coffee, and instead, stand straighter, smile and even try imitating a cheerful walk to lift your spirits.Here are six easy ways to beat the blues with your body language:1. Walk the walkScientists at Canada’s Institute for Advanced Research had two groups of study participants walk on a treadmill, one with their shoulders slumped and with a slow gait, and the other in a more cheerful fashion. As they walked, the test subjects were shown a list of positive and negative words.The depressed walkers recalled more negative words, while the cheerful walkers remembered the upbeat words on the list, suggesting that their body language during the test had affected their moods and memory. The lesson here? Lift your head and stand tall, and you may just see your spirits look up as well. 2. Smile!You know the saying “Fake it until you make it”? Well, it’s actually true when it comes to smiling. Since the 1970s, research has shown that even a manipulated smile can boost your mood. A genuine smile—one that involves both the mouth and the eyes—does all kinds of great things for you, like releasing endorphins into your bloodstream and boosting your immune system.What’s more, researchers at the University of Kansas found that people who smile have better heart recovery rates after stressful events. So, if you find yourself in a stressful situation, a smile could just be what the doctor ordered.3. Power poseTry a power pose to restore your confidence. Either raise your arms in the victory post or put your hands on your hips like Superman, and then hold your pose for a few moments. “Power posing” can help us reduce our cortisol (our stress hormone) while increasing our feel-good hormones, says Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, Ph.D.4. Become a mirrorBody language expert Christopher Carter says subtly mirroring others is a great way to build an instant connection, but warns mirroring exactly can feel like mocking. For example, if the person you’re with sits down and adopts a relaxed posture, do the same. And if the person's energy is very "up," you can build rapport with him or her by mirroring their energy. Later, once your rapport is established, try lowering your energy, says Carter, and the other person will lower their energy, too.5. LaughLaughter is a great mood booster—it allows your muscles to relax, improves our blood sugar, and raises and then beneficially lowers our blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. Because laughing is a social thing (you’re 30 percent more likely to laugh with others than alone), it decreases isolation. But that laughter better be the real thing: It turns out, the brain can easily detect the difference between real and faked laughter.6. Spread outWhen you’re feeling nervous, uncertain and or afraid, you may find yourself crossing your arms or legs or may be putting your hands in front of our face or mouth. That’s called “body blocking,” and it’s a universal sign of discomfort, Carter says. To feel better, he advises flinging your limbs out and taking up more space. Making yourself and your space bigger conveys confidence, not just to those around you, but also to your brain.Peggy Conger is a freelance writer who lives on a ranch in New Mexico with 32 horses, assorted dogs and cats, and the occasional mountain lion. She writes about issues important to women at Moxie Lady.

Well-Being

Did You Spring Forward Into Exhaustion?

By now we’ve all reset our clocks for the start of daylight saving time, but we wish we could hit snooze bars on our internal biological clocks. Besides costing an hour of sleep, the time change wreaks havoc with our circadian rhythms—even threatening our well-being, researchers warn.Resetting the inner clock“An hour seems like a minor change, but moving the clock ahead one hour can be very stressful or disruptive for some people, particularly for those who are already sleep deprived,” warnsDr. Jeffrey P. Barasch, medical director of The Valley Hospital Center for Sleep Medicine in Ridgewood, New Jersey.Our circadian rhythm, the biological clock located in a part of the brain behind the eyes, determines when we feel alert and when we are sleepy, he says. The clock needs time to adjust to synchronize our bodies with the daily light-dark cycle of the world.The lost hour: Where does it go?With daylight savings, a 7 a.m. wakeup becomes 6 a.m. Previously sunlit mornings are dark—at least for a while—slowing the clock adjustment and leaving us feeling tired for more than the one day on which the clocks change, Jeffrey says.Some German researchers believe ourbodies never adjust fully to daylight saving time.“When you change clocks to daylight saving time, you don't change anything related to sun time,”lead researcher Till Roenneberg of Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich said in a 2007 study of time-change disruption. “This is one of those human arrogances—that we can do whatever we want as long as we are disciplined. We forget that there is a biological clock that is as old as living organisms, a clock that cannot be fooled. The pure social change of time cannot fool the clock.”Be careful out thereOn average, we sleep 40 minutes less than our normal times on the Sunday nights following the springtime changes, theNational Sleep Foundation says. The consequences show the next day in terms of increased listlessness at work,according to a Penn State study; and even an increase in heart attacks and workplace injuries.“Pay close attention to light exposures since it will be brighter outside at bedtime now,” advises Lauren Hale, Ph.D., Stony Brook University School of Medicine professor and inaugural editor of Sleep Health journal. “This means you should be sure to shut your shades in addition to shutting off your screens at bedtime,” she said.Here are more tips to help us restore our well-being:Go to bed at your usual time after the time change.Get up at your usual time.Get sunlight soon after awakening.Avoid sunlight or bright light in the evening.Don’t nap within a few hours of your regular bedtime.Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol for several hours before bedtime.Jim Gold is a veteran journalist who splits his time between Seattle and San Francisco.

Self-Care

33 Ideas to Bring Happiness Into Your Life

As the International Day of Happiness approaches on March 20, we’re highlighting some of the things that we think make life great. Pick and choose your favorites from our list to watch, read, contemplate and share happiness!1. “People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” —H. Jackson Brown2. Read The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau.3. Listen to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.4. Watch E.T.5. Make someone else happy.6. “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” —Sydney J. Harris7. Read Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill by Matthieu Ricard and Daniel Goleman.8. Listen to “Love and Happiness” by Al Green.9. Watch Amelie.10. Smile. It’s contagious.11. “At some point, you gotta let go, and sit still, and allow contentment to come to you.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love12. Read Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence by Rick Hanson.13. Listen to “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.14. Watch I Love You, Man.15. Celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Happiness by visiting a happiness wall on March 20.16. “I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.” —The Temptations17. Read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.18. Listen to “Happy Together” by The Turtles.19. Watch or read Julie and Julia.20. Take a walk on a nice day.21. “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” —Jack Kerouac22. Read The Wisdom of Compassion by the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan.23. Listen to “If It Makes You Happy,” by Sheryl Crow.24. Watch Yes Man.25. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson.26. Read You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh and Melvin McLeod27. Take the #HappyActs Challenge.28. Enjoy the silence.29. Watch Happy Feet.30. Listen to “The Hallelujah Chorus,” Handel’s Messiah (Easter is April 5)31. Be kind—to yourself and others.32. Send a letter of gratitude to a positive influence in your life.33. Come back in April for 33 Ideas on Green Living.

Self-Care

Wake Up Happy: Series 6

As a thank you for being part of our Wake Up Happy series we wanted to do something special for you.So we are providing you with immediate access to our inspiring Wake Up Happy Series 6 conversations--at no cost.Listen in on five powerful interviews with New York Times best-selling authors and experts in the fields of happiness and positive psychology. These insights and strategies to make your life better are now at your fingertips; no matter what time of day. Plus we're including transcripts and info-graphics of each session!We hope you'll find these interviews inspiring and helpful. Thank you again for being part of our Wake Up Happy series.Listen in as Dr. Drew Ramsey, author of best-seller Fifty Shades of Kale and The Happiness Diet, talks about Foods that Boost your Mood. Tune in as Mike Duffy, Founder of the Happiness Hall of Fame and author of The Happiness Book for Men, talks about the Happiness Hall of Fame. Catch Dr. Jay Kumar, renowned thought leader, public speaker, and author of e-book Five Secrets to Achieving Authentic Health & Happiness, as he talks about Happiness Beyond Sex and Success. Join in as Mark Fernandes, Chief Leadership Officer at Luck Companies, active member of the Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurship and one of the 100 Top Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business 2014 by Trust Across America, talks about Flourishing at Home and in the Workplace. Get excited as Christine Carter, sociologist and happiness expert at UC-Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, talks about The Sweet Spot: Find Your Groove at Home and Work.

Profiles

Bill McKibben Is Trying to Save the Planet

Many of us who grew up bribing our moms to drive us to the movies in the family gas guzzler and merrily spraying ourselves with insecticide at camp had no idea that, molecule by molecule, we were tossing damaged carbon particles into the atmosphere and contributing to a larger global problem. Fortunately, while so many of us were picking out a new shade of petroleum-based nail polish at the dime store counter, Bill McKibben, a tall, lanky kid from Boston, was hiking with his dad through the mountains and falling in love with the beauty of the planet’s forests, lakes, mountains and deserts. What we do matters That love, plus an avid curiosity and a sharp intellect that demanded to know how and who and why about everything, have thrust Bill into the forefront of a worldwide movement to reduce carbon particles thrown into the atmosphere by deforestation, aging agricultural practices, idling cars, home furnaces and fossil fuel-burning industries. His awareness of the sheer physicality of the universe—and how we are impacting it on a daily basis—reached critical mass after he finished college and went to work for The New Yorker in Manhattan. Getting in touch with the physical world “I wrote a long piece about where everything in my apartment came from,” Bill says. “I followed the electric lines back to the oil wells in Brazil and the uranium mines in the Grand Canyon, traced New York’s water system, on and on. It taught me that the world is a remarkably physical place, which is a lesson that’s easy to forget. That set me up nicely for reading the early science on climate change in the 1980s and recognizing the planet’s vulnerability.” It also gave him a purpose, one that drove everything he did from the minute he got up in the morning until he went to bed at night, and lit a passion within him to share what was happening to the planet with every one of us. Passion for the planet Bill’s passion to save the planet also led him to big questions—“How much human intervention can a place stand before it loses the essence of its nature?”—and to a purposeful exploration of one strategy after another: simple living, alternative energy, locally sourced food, birth control, new ways of living off the land. Eventually, his belief that the planet could be saved by such seemingly simple practices led him to take action. So he and a group of friends took to the streets and founded the climate change organization 350.org. In the past few years, the organization, with Bill at its helm, has organized more than 15,000 rallies in nearly 200 countries, including the People’s Climate March in New York just before the U.N.’s September climate change summit. Effective activism The group’s tactics are working. They’ve helped raise the whole concept of sustainability to a national debate and have attracted enough attention that decision makers are hearing the roar. In one case, that roar helped convince the World Council of Churches, which represents 500 million Christians in 110 countries and territories around the globe, to dump its investments in fossil fuels. While some don’t agree with some of Bill’s stances, his efforts have won accolades from others. He received the Right Livelihood Award, considered the “alternative Nobel,” in 2014 and has been named the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 2013 winner of both the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize—and Foreign Policy, a journal, named him to its 2009 list of the 100 most important global thinkers. Bill continues to move forward boldly and with purpose to achieve even more.

Self-Care

Do What You Love

I am a believer in maximizing life. I think we should be who we want to be and live the life we hope to live. I believe all of us have a responsibility to ourselves to find whatever strength, power, support, tools and ideas we can to be who we truly want to be. Perhaps one of the greatest forces that we have inside to propel ourselves into living our most meaningful life is the energy we call passion. Passion is the accelerator to our car; it is the warmth that helps a cake rise; it is the feeling that drives us to grow, change and persevere. A passion for life When you think of the term “passion,” several different things may come to mind. For most people, romantic passion may be the first image that pops into their brains. While romantic passion is wonderful and important, for the purposes of this piece, I am talking about the activities, people and experiences that give us a rush of energy and excitement and drives us to greater success and happiness. More than a feeling While passion is a feeling that motivates us, it is something that does not always come easily or work under any circumstance. Of course, we have all either had or heard of experiences where a passion literally appears out of nowhere and fits perfectly into the constructs of a person’s life. Maybe you tried out a new activity and knew instantly that you would love doing this and you were able to make it happen. Sadly, these types of experiences are rare and may only occur once in a lifetime. For most of us, it is challenging to find something that we love with so much passion and then be able to carve out enough time to spend focused on it. If you are able to find something you are passionate about, investing time into it typically relates to how easily you can work it into your daily schedule and other commitments. Whether you have yet to discover your passions or you already have a long list of them, it is always great to find more. Here are my five tips to help you find what you are passionate about: 1. Brainstorm and research If you’re not completely sure what you are passionate about, spend time exchanging ideas with people who are close to you and finding out more about the activities, people, places or things that interest you. Try them out, and if you love and enjoy them and they give you an adrenaline rush, then you’ve just found new passions. 2. Look into your past Perhaps when you were a child, teenager or even a young adult, there was something that you were passionate about. Maybe there was something you loved to collect, a place you loved going, or an activity that you loved doing. Bring those old experiences back into your current life. 3. Spend time around people who are passionate Passion is contagious. Being around happy, enthusiastic and driven people can ignite some extra passion inside of you. 4. Make a mood board Print out pictures or cut them out of a magazine. Put them on a board to help stimulate your creativity and to remind you about things that you love. Once you have some ideas, go out and do them. (You can do this exercise on a big board, or even on Pinterest!) 5. Make a bucket list If the word “passion” has you stuck, and there is nothing that you feel that strongly about, make a list of all of the things you want to do that you have never done. Get excited about planning to do those things so that you can cross them off of your list. If there is already something you love doing, do more of it. Do you love baking? Spending time with great friends? Reading books? Going for a hike? Do more of those things. Taking the time and energy to focus on doing more of what you love allows you to live a more passionate life. Stacy Kaiser is a successful Southern California-based licensed psychotherapist and author of How to Be a Grown Up. A top relationship expert and media personality, Stacy contributes frequently to Live Happy.

work

The Happiest Job in the World

If you had to guess what’s the happiest job in the world, what would your answer be? Movie star? Wealthy NFL player? Footloose and fancy-free travel writer? We have the science-based answer.Most of us spend more than a third of our waking lives at work, so figuring out how to make that time happy and productive is important. Given that we are in the midst of some of the highest levels of work dissatisfaction and lowest levels of engagement in recorded history, it’s a question we must look at now.While researching this topic, we asked people what they consider the “least happy jobs.” The responses ranged from janitor in a retirement home to tollbooth operator, trash man and doctor for kids with terminal cancer.Which job is right for you?If you’ve seen Mike Rowe’s TV show, Somebody’s Gotta Do It, you know there are a lot of dirty or difficult jobs out there. But the problem with this list of “worst jobs” is that it’s often made by people who do not actually work in those fields; rather, they only envision how miserable they would be if they did.Just like with the research about which country is the happiest, when we attempt to determine the happiest job, we fall into a trap. The research might tell you what would make the average person happy, but not whether you would be happy living there. Most people might be happy in Denmark, but if you hate the cold with a vengeance, then you might be miserable in scientifically one of the happiest countries in the world.A job or a calling?So in our quest to find the happiest job in the world, the question becomes: What job would make you happy? Being a travel writer sounds great, unless your spouse and kids can’t travel with you and you’re away from your loved ones all the time. Playing football for the NFL sounds like a blast, unless you need job security, because the average career lasts three years. And not all movie stars are happy, as we’ve witnessed through the daily dramas unfolding in entertainment news.Therefore, it is all in how you view your job. According to the brilliant researcher Amy Wrzesniewski, Ph.D., associate professor of organizational behavior at Yale University’s School of Management, people view their occupations one of three ways: as a job, career or calling. A job is merely something we endure in order to get a paycheck. A career is work that also gives us prestige or position within society. A calling is work that you view as integral to your identity and meaning in life, an expression of who you are and a feeling of fulfillment in the present.You can be very happy in any of these categories. In fact, Amy’s research shows nearly every profession has a nearly equal number of people who view it as a job, career or calling Therefore, it is not the occupation that determines the meaning or the happiness you feel at work—it’s how you view it. Our research in positive psychology shows that, scientifically,happiness is a choice. At an unconscious or conscious level you can choose how you view your work and the satisfaction you draw from it.If you’re feeling like you don’t have the happiest job in the world, here are three proven ways to turn it into one:1. Ask yourself, "What's the point?"To be motivated at work, consciously identify ways in which your work has meaning. Are you able to connect with people at a deeper level because of what you do? Do you have an opportunity to brighten someone’s day occupation. Many of us romanticize our future desired employment to the detriment of our current happiness. For those of us who are career-oriented, the key to being happy now is investing in the present while continuing to strive for advancement. Instead of dreaming about future successes, be fully present to maximize your experience today.Plan small, actionable steps to work toward your goals. Our research shows the happiest among us are 40 percent more likely to receive a promotion in the next year. Finding ways to make the most of your job, career or calling will not only help you find greater happiness, but investing in your happiness today is worth big dividends in the future.Whether you’re a CEO or a janitor, doing so will help transform your job into the happiest one in the world. through your work interactions? Are you helping improve the world in even a small way? Journaling each day for two minutes about a meaningful experience at work helps your brain not only identify these moments, but also to see a trajectory of meaning at work.2. Remember, you're there for the paycheckMany people work to fund their life, and that brings them happiness. Yet, ultimately, we all work to pay our bills and to have some extra spending money. (Unless we are independently wealthy!) Reconnect with all you can do with your income outside the office. Invest in painting lessons or plane tickets for a vacation or to visit your grandkids. Don’t forget your job transforms your personal life, too.3. Stop dreaming, start doingDon’t get stuck waiting for future happiness. We’ve found this to be the greatest barrier to finding happiness in your current occupation. Many of us romanticize our future desired employment to the detriment of our current happiness. For those of us who are career-oriented, the key to being happy now is investing in the present while continuing to strive for advancement.Instead of dreaming about future successes, be fully present to maximize your experience today. Plan small, actionable steps to work toward your goals. Our research shows the happiest among us are 40 percent more likely to receive a promotion in the next year.Finding ways to make the most of your job, career or calling will not only help you find greater happiness, but investing in your happiness today is worth big dividends in the future. Whether you’re a CEO or a janitor, doing so will help transform your job into the happiest one in the world.

relationships

Your Brain on Love

Ah, love. We all want it, and we all get high on it. Who can resist the intoxicating flush in our cheeks, the weak knees, the butterflies in our stomachs, or the way our hearts go pitter-patter when we see the object of our desires? Or that heartwarming sense of joy and wellbeing that seems to infuse our very souls?The best feeling in the worldWhen you’re in the throes of romantic love, certain areas of your brain are flooded with feel-good neurochemicals such as dopamine and oxytocin, which spur feelings of pleasure, euphoria and satisfaction.You experience such a surge of energy that you may forget to sleep or eat, get a sudden rush of exhilaration and develop a laser-like focus on the one you love and feel profoundly attached to. When these neurochemicals are released, they make you feel so good that you crave another hit of them (and another, and another).The emotional rollercoasterBut as the saying goes, what goes up must come down. As good as love feels, there can also be a flip side to that emotional high. When you lose that love—whether it’s through a breakup, divorce or death—those chemicals plummet. In their place, stress hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and epinephrine come marching in, launching your nervous system into fight-or-flight mode.Extra blood flows to your muscles, which tense up for action and leads to that all-too-familiar side effect of heartbreak: the tight, squeezing sensation in your chest. At the same time, your brain diverts blood away from your digestive system, which may lead to loss of appetite or diarrhea, and your immune system function can become compromised, leaving you vulnerable to bugs and viruses.Addicted to loveApparently, singer-songwriter Robert Palmer knew what he was talking about when he famously sang, “You’re Addicted to Love.” A 2010 study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology supports the notion that romantic love can actually be an addiction, because it activates the same reward systems in the brain as cocaine and nicotine. When you lose that love, your brain still craves dopamine and oxytocin—and your heart, of course, still craves the love your partner lavished on you.That’s why the researchers of that study—biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, neuroscientist Lucy Brown and social psychologist Arthur Aron—refer to love not so much as an emotion, but as “a goal-oriented motivational state.” It feels good, and we want more.Love hurts (when it's gone)Using brain mapping studies, these researchers found that the areas of your brain associated with cravings and addictions (the nucleus accumbens and the orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex) also light up during a breakup. We go through withdrawals of sorts, which may lead us to obsess about our lost loves or try to get them back in our lives. (One study of lovelorn participants showed they spent more than 85 percent of their time thinking of their lost loves!)Now for the good news ...Since love affects both your heart and brain, they can also work together to help you heal when love goes awry. The adage “time heals all wounds” actually carries some scientific weight; research conducted at Stony Brook University (SUNY) indicates that the area of the brain called the right ventral putamen/pallidum, which is associated with attachments, becomes less activated by images of a subject’s lost love as time passes.Heal your heartAnd there are signs you can take an active role in speeding up the healing process, both in your heart and your brain. Yoga and meditation have been shown to effectively treat the stress and depression that can be associated with any kind of loss.Seane Corn, a yoga teacher based in Topanga, California, even leads “Yoga for a Broken Heart” workshops at retreat centers and yoga conferences across the U.S. She says yoga is a form of self-care that can recharge your emotional batteries and tap into your inner strength, enabling you to feel more resilient and ready to laugh (and love) again.Just breatheSo how, exactly, do yoga and meditation help the heart heal? Research has shown that they can help relieve numerous symptoms of grief, including fatigue, sleep problems, muscle tension, anxiety and depression. Meditation triggers activity in the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, which combats depression and is responsible for producing positive emotions.And a growing body of research shows that yoga poses and yogic breathing practices can improve your mood and soothe your nerves so that you can be happier and calmer under pressure, and therefore more resilient, even while mending a broken heart. According to Seane, by devoting even 15 minutes a day to yoga and meditation, you can start releasing the physical and emotional energy associated with grief and be ready to experience love and joy again.

Practice

Ultimate Happiness Hot List

According to Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, 50 percent of your happiness set point is genetically determined. The other half of your happiness is in your hands. Use your actions and behavior to make your life happier with this roundup of happiness tips, quotes, insights, resources and gifts. 1. Wake Up Happy. “The main key to being happy is self-acceptance. It puts a smile on your face.” – Stacy Kaiser 2. Scale down and simplify. Downsizing can be liberating. Go through your possessions and make sure everything you keep has purpose or gives you joy. 3. Let go of perfection. Do you beat yourself up? Practice self-kindness especially when things don’t go the way you hoped. 4. Let your emotions happen. Allow yourself to experience a full-range of emotions, and don’t label happiness as good and sadness as bad. In the long run, you will be happier. 4. Forgive for you. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person who hurt you, or condoning of his or her action. What you’re looking for is a sense of peace and closure. 5. Invest in your health. Make vegetables the center of your meal. 6. “A key to happiness is strong, intimate bonds with other people.” – Gretchen Rubin 7. Take the couple’s quiz. Being happy in a relationship is crucial to your wellbeing. 8. Get adequate sleep. A lack of sleep can result in foggy thinking and can contribute to obesity, heart disease and a host of other health ailments. 9. Create Monday momentum. It’s the blank slate of your week. Set the tone right on Monday by accomplishing something big and enjoy a happier week. 10. Connect face-to-face. Research shows that positive social interaction makes a huge difference in our wellbeing. Swap out Facebook for a real conversation in person with someone you care about. 11. Get grit to succeed at work. Have a growth-mindset and believe that things can improve, failure is not permanent and there is reason to persist. 12. Hug and hold hands. The power of touch can lower stress-induced spikes in blood pressure and raise levels of oxytocin, the famous “love” hormone. 13. “When we broadcast a happier and positive mindset, it unlocks the brain’s higher potential.” – Michelle Gielan 14. Hone your skill. Take charge of your professional development at work and invest in yourself with a book, webinar or class. 15. Surround yourself with love. Who you are around impacts your mood and outlook. Choose people who give freely with their compliments. 16. Color yourself happy. Think about the hues that give you a good feeling and use them in your wardrobe, home and workspace. 17. Model positive education. Show your children how to master challenges and overcome frustrations with an optimistic and not a defeatist approach. 18. “An act of kindness is the fastest way out of a negative spiral.” – Dan Tomasulo 19. Take a walk outdoors. This simple activity can lift your mood and you can spread your positive mood with others. 20. Plan vacations carefully. Poorly planned vacations can result in stress and defeat the purpose of your getaway. 21. Make your life extraordinary. Movie director Ron Howard says, “Happiness is about love—loving what you do and loving who you do it with.” 22. “Journal about your intention for the day.” – Michelle McQuaid 23. Go for contentment. The good is better than the perfect. Strive for a state of inner calm. 24. Discover if your job is “the one.” If it doesn’t feel like work, you might be on to something. 25. Brighten your mood. Gratitude is fuel for the soul, and it’s the ultimate emotional tonic for sustained wellbeing. Make a list of your blessings. 26. Don’t take your sense of touch for granted. When we use our hands, we activate large parts of our brains. Cook or bake something and dive in fingertips first. 27. Share your goals to be accountable. Have a support system to cheer you on or lift you up as you work toward positive change. 28. “You ensure your happiness when you give to others.” – Bubba Paris 29. Let your child make mistakes. Learn to love the words “trial” and “error.” 30. Use money as a happiness tool. After a modest level of income is reached, more money doesn’t necessarily equate to more happiness. Use money to create a life you desire. 31. Find your purpose. Your purpose is the intersection between what you are good at and care about with value and need in the marketplace. 32. Spread your happiness. Get some Live Happy notes to leave around town. 33. Skip the brooding. Excessive thinking about what you should have done differently can negatively impact the present moment. Tell yourself: I did the best I could with what I knew at the time. 34. “Happiness is the belief that we can change.” – Shawn Achor 35. Fill your mind with happy. Follow Live Happy on Pinterest. 36. Replicate your success. Study the areas of your life that are going well, and see if you can recreate that success in other areas of your life. 37. Join a community group. Belonging to something bigger than yourself can boost your happiness. 38. Plan a friendship date. Have a Friends marathon, walk and talk, or have a game night. 39. “Let go of junk from your past. If you don’t forgive, it gets in the way of your happiness.” – Dr. Fred Luskin 40. Appreciate random acts of kindness. Share the love by creating a happy moment for someone else. 41. Reflect on happy memories. Any time we like, we can boost our mood by focusing on a happy memory. Make it better by engaging more of your senses. 42. Become a dynamic communicator. Care more about the long-term outcome than the immediate gratification of being heard, being louder, winning, getting that last word, or being right. 43. Be lighthearted. It could protect your health and prevent a heart attack. 44. Find your passion. Look at your actions. Where your flow goes, so goes your energy. If time flies by while you are doing it, you are in true flow and you will create magic. 45. Send an appreciative email. When you open your inbox each day, take two minutes to send an appreciative email to someone in your social support network (family member, friend, teacher, coach, or coworker) thanking that person. 46. “Get out of your head and into your life.” – Todd Kashdan 47. Get involved. People who join a spiritual or religious community and people who volunteer regularly are shown to live longer than those who don’t. 48. Try this To-Do List trick. Break overwhelming projects into smaller tasks until your list becomes a “gladly do” list. 49. Take your kids downtown. If you live in the suburbs, drive or take public transit downtown to the nearest big city to check out the amenities and culture. 50. Take a nap. A well-timed nap can boost productivity. Aim for 20 to 30 minutes max. 51. Live in the moment. And this is just one lesson your dog can teach you about joy. 52. Don’t surrender to adversity. Figure out what you have control over and what you don’t and come up with a plan. 53. Model optimism. Create a positive environment for your kids and shape their reality. 54. Give a happy gift. Find a great gift for a coworker, friend or love. Sandra Bienkowski worked as the national columns editor for SUCCESS magazine for three years, and is widely published in print and on the web. See more about Sandra at The Media Concierge.

Well-Being

Do You Have These Hidden Symptoms of Depression?

We talk a lot about happiness and how to achieve it on this website and in the pages of our magazine. We strongly believe that the research-driven tools and tips that we offer can help anyone, whether you struggle with negative emotions or are already pretty darn happy. But even Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, asserts that these tools are meant mostly for those already at a baseline of mental wellness. There are times when remedies such as keeping a gratitude journal or taking a walk in the sunshine just won’t cut it. Major depression is a serious disease, and one that should be addressed by medical and psychological professionals. It’s important to recognize the signs that differentiate between the walking well and those who might need professional treatment. Sneaky symptoms Depression can be sneaky. It doesn’t always look like a Lifetime TV movie depiction of a woman too despondent to get out of bed. “Intense sadness is certainly part of it,” says Carol Landau, Ph.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry at Brown University, “but depression can also express itself in other feelings and behaviors.” This may help explain why only a third of people with severe depression seek treatment and only 20 percent of those with moderate depression get help, according to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention. They may have symptoms that they do not recognize as depression. Beyond the blues Even the “official” symptoms of depression, below, cover a wide spectrum: Feeling sad or empty. Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. Loss of appetite or overeating or weight loss or gain. Changes in sleep: trouble sleeping or sleeping too much. Feeling agitated (pacing, nail-biting, cheek-chewing) or lethargic. Fatigue or loss of energy. Feeling worthless or excessively guilty. Trouble concentrating or making decisions. Suicidal thoughts or intentions. Here are four more important symptoms that you might miss: 1. Anger “It’s not so much anger as irritability,” says Landau. “You’re impatient or overly critical of yourself or others. The co-worker everyone secretly calls the “B” word may actually be suffering from depression.” A person with irritable depression may lash out at loved ones or break down in tears over seemingly nothing. Such emotional outbursts are so common among depressed people — in one study of nearly 1,500 depressed people, 40 percent reported feeling angry more than half the time—that some experts argue that irritable depression should be a subcategory of major depressive disorder. 2. Rumination Rumination is defined as thinking and worrying excessively about a problem without doing anything about it. “When rumination is an aspect of depression, you may not feel all that sad but you may find yourself fixated on something that didn’t go well at work or a problem with a friend,” says Landau. “You believe that if you think about it long enough it will get better.” This tactic may sound reasonable, but a depressed person will take it to an extreme, often losing sleep (which is a classic symptom of depression). “A person who’s functioning well would say, ‘It’s 3 a.m. I’ll deal with this tomorrow,’” explains Landau. When rumination is a symptom of depression, it also can interfere with decision-making and relationships. 3. Change in habits Turning to food is one way a depressed person might try to feel better. But while overeating is on the classic checklist, other methods of “self-medication” are not. One is amping up alcohol or prescription pill consumption. “Anecdotally this is especially common among young mothers who feel isolated or don’t get much help from their partner. By 4 a.m., they may be reaching for a glass of wine,” says Landau. 4. Body aches and pains The same biological pathways and neurotransmitters that are affected by depression are also involved in pain. By some estimates, depressed people have three times the average risk of developing chronic pain. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 75 percent of primary care patients with depression complained only about physical discomfort, often leading doctors to miss their depression. “Depression is often under-recognized and thus frequently undertreated,” the study authors wrote. “Providers frequently assess for physical causes of pain and treat medically instead of exploring the pain symptoms in a broader, biophysical context.” It’s controversial, but some experts believe that pain associated with depression may sometimes be a symptom of chronic inflammation—the same immune-response-gone-awry condition that’s been linked to heart attack, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. In fact, adding anti-inflammatory medications to anti-depressants has helped some people with depression. Better safe than sorry If you see unusual changes in your habits, behavior or pain levels, you may want to see your doctor. “General internists and gynecologists are better trained at spotting mental illness than they used to,” says Landau. “Depression is treatable, but if it’s not treated, it will get worse.”

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Do You Have These Hidden Symptoms of Depression?

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