When it comes to happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky will be glad to tell you how to find it and keep it. After all, she is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside, and she's been at this chase for 30 years now, studying happiness and how to keep it around.
Pro tip from Dr Lyubormirsky - it ain't easy!
She says it's one thing to know the basics, such as maintaining connections with other humans, staying exercised, meditating, but knowing how to fit it all into your life while you're working, shopping for food, taking the Dodge to the dealer for new tires...it's a lot.
Connecting with people, exercising regularly, meditating — all of these research-backed strategies to improve health and happiness take effort. Like many of us, said it’s challenging to fit it all in.
Like so many in her line, Lyubomirsky wrote a book for you to read, called “The How of Happiness.”
Here's how!
- Exercise every day, even if only for a half a minute. It's invigorating.
- Reach out to people, literally. Being social makes us happier.
- Go beyond small talk. Lyubomirsky says, “So many of us are really hesitant to share ourselves and it just seems scary." Learn to be honest and vulnerable when sharing your thoughts.
- Practice spirituality, because people who identify as religious are happier, according to research.
- Breathe deeply. Breathing exercises can calm us down. And in times of anxiety, consciously slowing our breathing will take our body to a more physiologically relaxed place.
- List the good things. She says you don't have to maintain a formal gratitude journal, but just keeping a running list of good things coming your way on your phone or pc is a benefit.
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