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Color Me Happy

Remember mood rings, popular in the ’70s for magically changing color to indicate the wearer's emotions? They were more fashion accessory than emotional gauge—glass orbs filled with liquid crystals that reflected light differently in response to changes in body temperature. But even if a shade-shifting bauble isn’t a true indicator of mood, color can be a meaningful way to represent, and even elicit, strong emotions.The science is not black and whiteIn different cultures, ideas vary on what colors mean. Much of the science has not yet been conclusive, and a lot of information about color and mood is subjective and intuitive. In the West, orange is believed to make you happy, while red increases your appetite (that’s why fast-food restaurants are often decked out in bright oranges, reds, and yellows). Warm colors can make you feel, well, warm and cozy, while cool colors such as blue and lavender seem to have a calming effect.“It’s a burgeoning field of research,” says Arielle Eckstut, co-author of The Secret Language of Color. “In 10 years it’s likely we’ll have more information about how color affects us biologically, and it may turn out that orange really does affect mood-lifting power.”Meanwhile, here are a few things we do know about how color can affect wellbeing:1. Red, the lusty colorResearch shows that men tend to find a woman wearing red to be more sexually desirable than a woman wearing another color. It’s a trait that guys likely share with monkeys: Non-human male primates are attracted to the red hues that females exhibit on their chests and private parts when they’re ovulating and ready for romance.2. Red can also make us jealousWhile a man may find a woman in red sexy, another woman is likely to perceive her as a threat. A recent study found that women perceive other women as both sexually receptive and more likely to cheat if they’re wearing red. The same study found that women were more likely to keep a closer eye on their romantic partners while around a woman wearing red rather than green.3. It’s actually pretty easy being greenSpending time outside, in nature, has been found to be an effective way to relieve stress. A recent study suggests that looking at the color green may have something to do with that. Scientists had people work out on exercise bikes while watching a video that simulated a rural cycling course; the video was either unedited, so that the leaves, grass, and other aspects of the scenery were natural shades of greens and browns and so forth, tinted red, or achromatic (gray). The subjects who watched the green scene found the exercise easier and more pleasurable; those who watched the red video even had increased feelings of anger afterwards.“This makes sense,” says Arielle. Millions of years ago, when our brains were still developing, "our environment was primarily blue and green, so our brains had to learn to be comfortable surrounded by those colors.”4. Tangled up in blueConsidering that blue is one of the first colors humans needed to be comfortable with, it’s surprising that we use the word “blue” to describe feeling sad or depressed. It’s even more ironic given that, according to studies, when photoreceptors in the eye detect blue light, they send messages to parts of the brain that control alertness, hormones, sleep, and other functions. For this reason, blue light is used to treat all sorts of medical conditions, including depression, dementia and seasonal effective disorder.Color your life with your favorite hues“Intuitively we know that color affects us in profound ways. Everyone can tell you what their favorite color is, or that they love so many colors it’s hard for them to choose, or that they really can’t stand a certain hue. Few folks don’t care,” says Arielle. Color preferences arise from a number of sources, starting with cultural influences. For instance, yellow is one of the least popular colors in the Western world, while in China it’s profoundly meaningful.It makes sense for us to think about the hues that give us a good feeling and use them in our wardrobes, our homes and our workspaces. “Even if you love a very intense color that would overpower a room or an outfit, you can get a mood-lifting payoff by using it as an accent color that ‘pops,’ ” says Arielle, who loves bright red but wouldn’t necessarily dress herself in ruby from head to foot. “I have red glasses, a red purse and red clogs that I wear with neutral colors,” she says. “That’s enough for me to get the feel-good effect.”

relationships

5 Tips to Help Kids Become Happier Students

The dawn of a new school year canbe stressful for students and,inevitably, for parents as well! The charter school KIPP, which focuses on student achievement and empowerment, offers these tips for parents, as we help our kids navigate the social and academic difficulties of school. Giving kids the toolsthey need to be resilient when adversity strikes can ensure their success in theclassroom, as well as later in life. Dallas-Fort Worth’s KnowledgeIs Power Program (KIPP) shares fiveof the most common issues studentsface—and how you can prepare themfor the challenges that lie ahead: 1. Managing stress in a healthy way Everyone faces stress, andyour kids will, too. Establish schedulesand routines, and then stick to them.Consistency and predictability willhelp control the environment and easestress levels for the whole family. 2. Building and maintaining self-confidence Identify students’strengths to boost their confidence.Find out why they excel in one subject,and then apply that reason to areaswhere they may be struggling. 3. Handling rejection—and moving forward As much as wehate to think about our children beingrejected, at some point, it’s bound tohappen. Create leadership roles athome, giving them the opportunityto learn how to handle failure in asafe place. 4. Being respectful Be theexample for your children. Modelingpositive behavior shows them theproper way to treat and respect people. 5. Interacting with friends and adults, online and in person Set clear boundaries onwhom they should and should not be contacting, especially through socialmedia. Teach students to be responsiblefor their actions.

Lifestyle

Hollywood Takes on the Pursuit of Happiness

Searching for a lost cell phone or set of keys makes sense. But when you’ve misplaced what the French call joie de vivre—a hearty joy of living—searching will only lead you astray. Happiness happens not through a hunt, says film director Peter Chelsom, but by happenstance.“True authentic happiness,” he says, “is a byproduct of full immersion in something else—communicating, teaching, learning, giving, dancing, singing.” Or as the happiness researcher in Peter’s new comedy-drama, Hector and the Search for Happiness, puts it, “We should concern ourselves not so much with the pursuit of happiness, but with the happiness of pursuit.”Trapped by routineBased on a best-selling French novel by François Lelord, the movie follows the around-the-world journey of Hector, played by British actor Simon Pegg(Shaun of the Dead), as he seeks the secret to happiness. A successful psychiatrist with a tricked-out London flat and a beautiful, smart and solicitous girlfriend, Hector is feeling trapped by the cautious routine of his life and infuriated by his patients, what with their depression and never-ending laments about their marital woes.Searching high and lowAfter he finds himself ranting at a hapless patient, Hector sets out on a quest, backpack and journal in tow. His travels take him to China, Africa, a monastery in Tibet and Los Angeles, where he reunites with an old girlfriend. Along the way, he comes close to getting killed more than once; falls for a woman who turns out to be a prostitute; and fills his journal with aphorisms like “Listening is loving,” “Happiness means being loved for who you are,” and “Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness.”Peter admits, “These are the kinds of things you might find in fortune cookies,” but that he found power in the simple fable. “I felt transformed by making this movie,” he says. “It filled me with such a sense of gratitude”—and a new understanding of what comprises happiness.Your brain lights up like the aurora borealisHe says he talked to happiness researchers to make sure that a final scene of the movie, which has a neuroscientist mapping Hector’s brain waves, was accurate. “I was so gratified when researchers told me we got the details right,” says Peter, who co-wrote the script. “When you’re truly happy, your brain lights up like the aurora borealis. Happiness is not one color or one experience; it’s embracing the dark along with the light, the good with the bad.”So, where does Hector eventually find happiness? Let’s just say—spoiler alert—you don’t need a plane ticket to get there.

Lifestyle

About the Wake Up Happy guest speakers

Don't miss the May Wake Up Happy series!Dani DiPirro is an author, blogger, and designer living in a suburb of Washington, DC. In 2009, she launched the websitePositivelyPresent.comwith the intention of sharing her insights about living a positive and present life (something that didn’t always come easy to her!).Anything and everything focused on positive personal development has a home on Positively Present including: tips for being more positive; advice for living in the moment; articles on how positivity can improve you; information on positive personal development; insights on how to share positivity with others; and resources and inspiration for being positively present.In 2012, Dani left her full-time job in Marketing to pursue a career with Positively Present. Since then, she has self-publishedStay Positive: Daily Reminders from Positively Present(learn more atStayPositive365.com) and publishedThe Positively Present Guide to Lifewith Watkins Publishing. Dani has also created e-books on specific topics such as self-love, holiday planning, and organization. She is currently working on her next book.Dani and her work have been featured in a variety of websites and print media, includingGlamour,The Washington Post Express,Forbes,The Huffington Post,The Globe and Mail, andThe Happiness Project. In 2015, Dani was featured byELLE Magazineas a Coach of the Month, writing weekly articles for the publication on mindfulness.While expanding her career as an author and blogger, Dani also began learning about graphic design and illustration. In 2012 she took her firstNicole’s Classescourse online and fell in love with creating illustrations, typography, and design. She has since launched a design studio,Twenty3,in which she creates downloadable content onEtsy, designs products forSociety 6, and works withindividuals and businessesto help create modern, uplifting illustrations and designs.When she’s not designing, blogging, or writing, Dani can be found with her head in a book (check out what she’s reading onGoodReads), creating images for Instagram (follow her on@positivelypresent), or pinning like a madwoman (take a peek at herPinterestboards).Arthur Woods is an entrepreneur, speaker and writer on the future of work. He is the co-founder and COO ofImperative, the first professional platform to help people manage a fulfilling career. Arthur's deep expertise engaging the millennial generation has enabled him to lead both the conversation and innovation around the next generation of work. His efforts have been featuredin Forbes,Fast Company, Huffington Post, Washington Post and ABC7’s Washington Business Tonight.Arthur previously led operations forYouTube EDUatGooglewhere he oversaw operations ofYouTube for Schools,managed the development of YouTube’s first guide for education and co-organized YouTube’s inaugural Education Summit.He previously co-founded theCompass Fellowship, the world's largest collegiatesocial enterprise training program, inover 18 universities worldwide. He also co-foundedOut in Tech, the largesttechnology meet-up for New York's LGBT community.Arthur studied Operations and information Management at Georgetown University and Project Management at Stanford University. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and sits on the Boards of the Sierra Institute, Georgetown TechnologyAlliance and Compass Partners.Mitchel Adler, Psy.D., CGP is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Group Psychotherapist and the creator of MindBody Intelligence™ (MBI). He has served on the faculty of the UC Davis School of Medicine andis co-author of the book,Promoting Emotional Intelligence in Organizations(ASTD press) and other research articles.As a professional speaker and consultant, Dr. Adler has worked with numerous organizations including the USDA Forest Service, the City of Sacramento, The UC Davis, Graduate School of Management, The Monitor Group, the Organizational Development Network of Sacramento, and Calgene, Inc. As a member of the steering committee of California’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award Program, Dr. Adler participated in reviewing and selecting organizations that supported their employees in outstanding ways. He also has a private psychotherapy practice in Davis, California where he works with individuals and facilitates psychotherapy groups.As a staff psychologist at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Adler co-developed the university’s mind-body wellness program and established the inter-departmental mind-body wellness task force. He also created and facilitated mind-body workshops, seminars, and groups, as well as trained psychologists, social workers, physicians, and nurses in mind-body theory and interventions.Dr. Adler has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology fromthe Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers Universitywhere he was the recipient of the GSAPP Scholar’s Award, the Graduate Scholar’s Award, and the GSAPP Alumni Scholarship. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where he graduated with Distinction and was a James B. Angell Scholar.Thomas Bradbury is a Professor of Clinical Psychology. After earning his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1990 from the University of Illinois, he moved to Los Angeles to start the Marriage and Family Development Laboratory at UCLA. Since then, Bradbury and his team have conducted several longitudinal studies that help explain how marriages change and how couples can keep their relationship healthy and strong. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, Bradbury and his collaborators have published more than 100 research articles and three edited books, including The Psychology of Marriage.Recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the UCLA Psychology Department, Bradbury has also been honored with several awards for his research on marriage and intimate relationships, including the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Achievements from the American Psychological Association. Bradbury is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at eHarmony.com, and he is an affiliated professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He speaks regularly at universities and conferences in the US, and he has presented his research findings in London, Cambridge, Tel Aviv, Milan, Heidelberg, Zurich, Geneva, Wellington, Christchurch, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Self-Care

Catch the Wholesome Wave

“Superfood” is a buzzword that’s been thrown around a lot recently. It’s generally used to tout the health benefits of specific nutritionally dense foods. But the folks at nonprofit Wholesome Wave have shown that in addition to being essential for vital health, fresh, locally grown produce actually has many other superpowers, as well—such as helping economically disadvantaged families stay healthier, for a start.Imagine this situation that low-income parents face daily: You rely heavily on government benefits to get food on the table, and regularly have to stretch just a few dollars to buy and cook dinner for your family. When a pack of ramen noodles costs under 20 cents and boxed mac ’n’ cheese can be had for 50 cents, a parent faced with hungry children is unlikely to choose a $2 head of organic broccoli (that she then has to prep and cook) instead of inexpensive convenience foods, which are precisely engineered to tantalize kids’ taste buds.The hidden costs of “cheap” foodThis situation is leading to a public health catastrophe, and the consequences will be immense (and costly) if it is not curtailed. Because many of the least expensive and most accessible foods are also over-processed and filled with fat, salt and sugar (as well as other additives), the number of overweight and undernourished children and adults has risen greatly, along with rates of obesity-related diseases found in very young children.Studies show that children from poor families are most likely to be obeseand mothers in food-insecure families will often limit their food intake so their children can eat, setting them up for obesity as well.Farmer, chef and healthy food advocateBy making fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables available and affordable, Wholesome Wave enables underserved community members to make healthier food choices. Founder Michel Nischan is the son of farmers who became a celebrity chef and award-winning author. He then followed his convictions and his passion, founding Wholesome Wave in 2007 in order to advocate for a more healthful, organic and sustainable food future.Innovation at workWith Nischan at the helm, Wholesome Wave has rolled out several trailblazing programs that help improve health outcomes among low-income families, generate additional revenue for small- and mid-sized farm businesses, and bolster local and regional economies—as well as reducing the ecological food footprint. Programs are currently running in 25 states and Washington, D.C., with more than 3,500 farmers and 350 markets participating.One such program, the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Programworks hand in hand with physicians, families and farmers marketsto provide resources for overweight and obese children and their families.Another, theDouble Value Coupon Programdoubles the value of low-income consumers’ federal nutrition benefits when spent at farmers markets on locally grown fruits and vegetables.Ride the Wholesome WaveIf all that great news has whet your appetite to learn more about the state of our food system and what we can do to help, follow along with the Farm to Table Cycle: A Journey for Change. Sponsored by Wholesome Wave, photographer, bicyclist and advocate Glenn Charles is taking a 16-day, 400-mile journey, cycling through New England to raise awareness about local food systems.Check the web updates to keep up with Glenn, and to learn more about farming and sustainability, dairy and livestock production, farm-to-table chefs, local food processing and institutional food purchasing.“What you will see is that "farm-to-table" is the way of the future," says Michel. "This ride tells story of so many Americans who work tirelessly to shape our food system into one that is more equitable, more sustainable and more delicious.” In Michel's estimation, and now in his own experience, “food can fix anything.”

Well-Being

10 Happy Tips to Boost Your Wellbeing Today

1.Choose hope. Hope isn’t the same thing as optimism. Hope is believing the future will be better than the present, and working to make it so. Pick a goal you are excited about, and write down two things you can do to make it happen.2. Look for your child’s spark. Connect with your children on a deep emotional level by looking for their essence. What are your kids’ positive qualities? What is your child really interested and invested in? Make a list.3. Take your sweat session outside. The great outdoors and exercise have something in common—both improve your mood and reduce stress. Now you can reap all the benefits to your mental and physical well-being by working out in nature.4. Write a To-Do list that boosts your productivity. Overwhelmed by your To-Do list? Break down bigger projects into steps that feel the opposite of overwhelming. Don’t stop until your list turns into a “gladly do” list.5. Name your mood to improve it. Just by saying “I’m worried” or “I’m anxious” to friends or family can dissipate those negative emotions according to researchers. Share away.6. Read happy. Surround yourself with the positive influences and associations and read a book from our Live Happy book list.7. Cultivate compassion. Acknowledge your mistakes and remind yourself that mistakes are something you share with every other human on the planet. When you are compassionate with yourself, you can be more compassionate toward others.8. Eat happiness-boosting foods.Eggs, seafood, nuts and leafy greens all contain happiness-boosting nutrients. Not sure what to do with these ingredients? Here are some easy, delicious recipes that will point you in the right direction.9. Find your flow. Positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term flow—being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. Finding yours can make you happier. When do you lose track of time or feel totally in the zone? That’s your flow activity. Make sure it’s on your calendar.10. Give back. Give a compliment. Tell a joke. Put an extra dollar in the tip jar. Need more ideas to get into giving mode? We’ve got 30!

Self-Care

Embrace Life

Everyone must deal with grief in his or her own way, but because of all that I have been through, I can offer some ideas for surviving—and even thriving—after great loss.In the space of a decade, I lost several members of my family, including my husband, brother and son. Some days it felt like a battering ram of grief was aimed directly at my gut; others, like I was a bowling pin, barely reset only to have another ball knock me down.As a chaplain at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, with years of experience working with grieving families, I thought I should be able to handle this. But I couldn't—not without seeking help and spiritual reflection, as well as connecting to other people through a grief recovery group.Coming back to lifeHere are a few things that rejuvenated my soul and helped me find my way back to living fully again.1. Read something positive every morningIt might be scriptures, poetry or just something funny, but I find that starting the day with positive input helps my perspective. Waiting until afternoon or night doesn’t have the same effect. Jump-starting the day with something energizing or inspiring helps me focus on what I have, not what I’ve lost. I end every reading session with a prayer for strength, and that seems to help, too.2. Make some major changesDuring my recovery, I had to take some time for myself and take care of myself. In my case that meant taking time off from a stressful job and admitting I could not continue working as a chaplain focused on people near the end of life and their loved ones. It meant learning to accept that occasional waves of tears were natural healing agents to be welcomed, not avoided. It meant there were days when I would lapse back into deep sadness. Eventually, I sought out professional counseling, which proved invaluable.3. Find a grief recovery group that fits youI stumbled upon the bookThe Grief Recovery Handbookby Russell Friedman and John W. James. First, I worked through the handbook’s method informally with a friend, then I trained at The Grief Recovery Institute with Russell Friedman to be a certified group facilitator. I began to offer an outreach program in groups at work and church. The method worked for me because it helped me look at all my life's losses, my patterns of dealing with them and the points at which I was getting stuck.4. Find a recovery method you trustUsing the Grief Recovery Outreach Program method,I identified the relationship that was causing me the most emotional pain, and learned that I needed to complete any unfinished communications with that person in order to move on with my life.I was able to make peace with the suicide of my brother partly by writing a letter to him that included all my pent-up feelings about our relationship and his death. Surrounded by the love and support of our group, I read the letter aloud and felt a remarkable wave of release and pure joy. I was finally able to disassociate from the pain of his suicide, and be thankful once more for his life.5. Suspend disbeliefIt helped me greatly to imagine that I would stay spiritually connected to those who "lift off," as my son Jonathan described his impending death. I noticed not long after my father died that when I was feeling dejected and missing him, a cardinal would fly over or pause on a branch above me. It happened so frequently I came to see cardinals as messengers from my father.Jonathan knew about this and promised that, once he was gone, he would send a blue jay as his messenger of love and encouragement. (There are two blue jays playing in my birdbath this morning as I write this.)6. Find fun againDuring my grieving, I spent several months being a morose couch potato. That could have continued indefinitely, because people assumed I might not be ready. And they were often right. But I needed to get out, and I really appreciated the ones who let me invite myself to join in whatever they were doing. For example, I put myself “up for adoption” for the first Christmas after my husband died, and I had a lovely time in Birmingham, Alabama, with a best friend’s extended family.7. Embrace lifeC.S. Lewis wrote, "To grieve is to know you have loved and loved well." That is true, and grief is, as theGrief Recovery Handbookdefines, "the normal reaction to loss." But living happy is, I would add, the normal reaction tolife...one that is possible to achieve even during times of grief. One graduate of the grief group said it perfectly, when we were all sharing our main takeaway from the program: "I learned that I didn't die—he did, and I want toliveagain!" I claimed his theory for my own, and life is good.

Self-Care

Wake Up Happy!

Listen in on Five Conversations With Happiness Experts Join Live Happy CEO Kym Yancey for Wake Up Happy—a weeklong series of free call-in webinars designed to help you achieve and maintain lasting, authentic happiness. The latest scientific research proves that we have the power and ability to achieve greater happiness—we just need to know how to tap into it. Join us for the next series, May 26-29, 2015, as we hold in-depth conversations with bestselling authors and experts in the fields of happiness, success and positive psychology. Our guests will share powerful insights about how to enhance your own wellbeing, as well as anecdotes about ways in which they achieve mindfulness and meaning in their own lives. "Today was my first time trying it and I have to say, that was awesome. Science-based, interesting, practical, engaging … just awesome. I'm pretty much hooked." —Jeanne Bliss, Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, George Mason University Join Kym Yancey as he speaks with:

Self-Care

Creative Thinking Helped Me Find a New Path

I have a confession to make: Despite a deep academic interest in play, I’m not the most playful person. I’m too results-focused, too enamored with rules and often too serious to just spontaneously play. Yet playing creatively—with ideas in my head, by looking at things in new ways—helped change my future.Several years ago, I was completely stuck. Stuck in a career that had run out of growth opportunities. Stuck in an organization where I struggled to find meaning. Stuck with financial responsibilities that shackled me to my job.Finding a new pathWhen it came to my career all I could see ahead of me were years and years of gray.My options—or lack of options—seemed pretty straightforward. I could try to find another big, high-paying corporate job—but it was unlikely to satisfy my craving for more purpose. I could quit my job and start my dream business, but I needed a consistent stream of income. Or I could try to stick it out, find joy in other parts of my life, and accept that this was what it meant to be a grown-up.But, I thought to myself at the time, surely there has to be more to life. That’s when I decided to start playing.The benefits of playNot just part of childhood fun, play is in fact a profound biological process that has evolved to promote our survival. It shapes our brain, improves our flexibility and lies at the core of creativity.When it comes to our work, far from being a distraction, Dr. Stuart Brown, author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soulbelievesplay and work are mutually supportive. Why? Because both rely on creativity.“Respecting our biologically programmed need for play can transform work,” writes Dr. Brown in his book. “It can bring back excitement and novelty to the job. Play helps us deal with difficulties, provides a sense of expansiveness, promotes mastery of our craft, and is an essential part of the creative process. In the long run, work does not work without play.”Creative thinking opens up new possibilitiesOften play takes place in an imaginative world, but is also firmly grounded in reality. To activate the functionally diverse regions of the brain and create new opportunities, I decided to just play—to imagine, explore and have fun—with the possibilities of what might happen next in my career. I let go of the need for serious outcomes and unleashed my creativity.Each day for one week I played with completing this sentence: “To make my work more purposeful, joyful and rewarding I could…”For 15 minutes I’d let my mind run free; there were no right or wrong answers. At the end of the week, I read everything I had written and found five genuine possibilities for what I might do next in my career—things that I had never previously imagined. One in particular filled me with excitement.Play breaks down perceived barriersWhen Monday arrived, I went to my boss and proposed an unorthodox win-win solution. I’d give six months’ notice, during which I would work part-time while I began building my own business. To avoid losing my skills (on which he relied), at the end of this period he would become my first client. The ink was dry on my paperwork before the end of the week.It was only when I allowed myself to “play” and to be creative in my thinking that I was able to move beyond my self-imposed limitations. It gave me the freedom to find new patterns, and it sparked the “aha” moment that I needed in order to envision a different future.Work and play are not mutually exclusiveNo wonder, as Brown says, a growing number of corporations are identifying play as their most precious commodity.So when it comes to your work—be it your own career, a project you’re struggling with or a colleague who’s driving you mad—ask yourself if you are playing enough, thinking creatively about future possibilities. Your future happiness may rely on it.For more on creativity, see the special section in the October issue of Live Happy magazine.Michelle McQuaid is a best-selling author, workplace well-being teacher and change activator.To learn more about Michelle visitwww.michellemcquaid.com.

Self-Care

30 Days of Creativity

Pick and choose your favorite ideas from our list of things to do, watch, read, contemplate…and share! 1. “There is a fountain of youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” —Sophia Loren 2. Attend an art party. 3. Listen to “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane. 4. Read Where the Wild Things Areby Maurice Sendak. 5. Watch The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. 6. “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.” —Pablo Picasso 7. Write a haiku. 8. Listen to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon album. 9. Read Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creativeby Austin Kleon. 10. Watch Fantasia. 11. “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.” —Dr. Seuss 12. Start a new hobby—something that is totally different for you. 13. Listen to Tori Amos’ Unrepentant Geraldines album. 14. Read Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Inventionby Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 15. Watch Big Fish. 16. “The idea is not to live forever; it is to create something that will.” —Andy Warhol 17. Build a treehouse with your family. 18. Listen to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. 19. Read The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Noticeby Todd Henry. 20. Watch The LEGO Movie. 21. “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks.” —Yo-Yo Ma 22. Write a family song. 23. Make a family cookbook. 24. Read The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Lifeby Eric Booth. 25. Watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 26. “This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” —Henry David Thoreau. 27. Have a campout in your living room. 28. Read Imagine: How Creativity Worksby Jonah Lehrer. 29. Watch Creative Galaxy. 30. Paint a self-portrait. What sparks your creativity? Let us know, below, or on our Facebook page.

Color Me Happy

5 Tips to Help Kids Become Happier Students

Hollywood Takes on the Pursuit of Happiness

About the Wake Up Happy guest speakers

Catch the Wholesome Wave

10 Happy Tips to Boost Your Wellbeing Today

Embrace Life

Wake Up Happy!

Creative Thinking Helped Me Find a New Path

30 Days of Creativity

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