Dwelling on the Positive
"To dwell on the things that depress or anger us does not help in overcoming them. One must knock them down alone.."
- Albert Einstein
A woman whose blog I've been following, ForcingMyselfHappy, has a plan. Her plan is:"A commitment is to do one thing per day that is supposed to make me happier for 6 months and blog about it."I think it's awesome that she has that commitment, so I made a commitment to help where I can.I have a great list that reflects the core of Positive Psychology, from a book by Miriam Akhtar:
Savour the moment: Relish, cherish, marvel, bask in and feast on life’s good stuff to maximise your enjoyment of a positive experience and generate positive emotions.Practise gratitude: The attitude of gratitude helps you to grow your awareness of the good things in life and overcome the brain’s negativity bias, which spots what’s wrong before it notices what’s right.Cultivate positivity: Make a ‘playlist’ of fun, enjoyable activities to act as a memory jogger when you’re low. Positive emotions build your resilience and undo the effects of negativity.Learn optimism: Pessimism puts you on the fast track to depression while optimism’s cognitive tools act as psychological self-defence.Nurture your relationships: Depression can lead to you withdrawing from social contact but relationships are vital for your happiness, so prioritise time in the company of your loved ones.Meditate: Mindfulness meditation develops the brain’s capacity for positive emotions and helps you to detach from negativity.Discover your strengths: Depression saps energy, undermines your functioning and may highlight a lack of meaning in life. Your strengths act as energisers to support your recovery and provide a clue to a positive direction to take. (*Added note from me, you can take the Character Strengths Test here.)
I truly believe that this is a life changing list!And to close, here's a little video clip from my home, New Zealand. Short, Sweet and Happy![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/user/MercuryEnergyNZ?v=uBCgWDTzIsI] Good Luck with The Plan. I hope this list helps.And as always thank you for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it.