This time we look at three ways to become happier; time affluence, physical exercise and gratitude.
1. Time affluence
The number one predictor of the well-being of happiness is the quality time we spend with our family, friends, people we care about, and those who care about us. In our modern world, unfortunately, this quality of time is eroding. Time affluence is the feeling that we have time to spend with those we care about not while being on a phone at the same time or text messaging at the same time but with that person.
2. Physical exercise
Research is showing that exercising three times a week, 30 to 40 minutes each time, is equivalent to some of our most powerful psychiatric drugs in dealing with depression, sadness, or anxiety. We have adopted a sedentary culture.
A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socialising, watching TV, playing video games, reading, or using a mobile phone or computer for much of the day.
A sedentary lifestyle contributes to poor health quality, diseases as well as many preventable causes of death. We pay a high price for this because we were made and wired to be physically active.
3. Gratitude
There are choices of happiness all around us and within us. The problem is that we only appreciate them when something terrible happens or when we become sick.
We appreciate our health and when we lose someone dear to us, we appreciate our lives. We don’t need to wait, if we cultivate the habit of gratitude, we can significantly increase our level of happiness.
Research shows that people who keep a gratitude journal, who each time before going to sleep write at least five things for which they are grateful – big things or little things, are happier and more optimistic. This can take about five minutes, even less a day but has significant ramifications.
