What makes you happy? (Tips 6-11)
Besides the big stuff like family, health, work and faith, you probably treasure at least one small, regular ritual that brings you peace, joy, sanity, flow and reflection. Unwittingly over the years, you have probably developed and perfected a strategy for cultivating qualities proven to feed a positive outlook: gratitude, optimism, awe, compassion, mindfulness and physical health, for instance. And it’s probably not by writing in a leather-bound gratitude journal every night or sitting in the lotus position chanting “om” each morning. Happy habits don’t need to be formal or fit idealized notions of tranquility or all-out jubilation, but they should be personalized.
My ritual is going for a long walk through the neighborhood with my headphones on, music providing a dramatic soundtrack to my everyday worries, hopes and fantasies. But you might lift your mood by gardening, sipping coffee while reading a book, doodling on a sketchpad, reading your child a bedtime story or hiking with a friend.
We asked positive-psychology leaders how they practice what they preach. How do they stay centered, optimistic, grateful and satisfied in their busy lives? They share their surprising answers below.
6. “Every other week, I take my 1-year-old son Leo to the Dallas aquarium. Very few things in this world make me as happy as watching someone I love become overwhelmed with awe at something as ordinary as a swimming turtle. Awe, like joy, is contagious, and I want to see the world through eyes like Leo’s.”
—Shawn Achor, happiness researcher
7. “I love to run and/or walk along the Charles River here in Boston, in all seasons. But the biggest delight I share with my wife, Alicia, is our annual weeklong visit to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. We look forward to it all year as a boost and culmination of being active, outside, with a new group of friends, doing yoga and tai chi, participating in new dances, and being almost completely away from our digital connections and devices.”
—John J. Ratey, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
8. “Kickboxing class is my coffee-free pickup. It is not violent (I box to a four-count beat with music) but rather an exhilarating way to get my feel-good hormones racing through my body.”
—Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., author of Better than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love
9. “I try to reflect on human kindness by thinking of those who have reached out to me or offered help.”
—Fred Luskin, Ph.D., director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects at Stanford University
10. “For me, it’s going on a brisk walk through parklands or by the water. I walk fast enough to get my blood pumping and clear my head. Sometimes I listen to music or an audio program, but mostly I just breathe deeply and listen to my own thoughts, allowing them to untangle in my mind.”
—Domonique Bertolucci, author of The Happiness Code: Ten Keys to Being the Best You Can Be
and 100 Days Happier: Daily Inspiration for Life-Long Happiness
and 100 Days Happier: Daily Inspiration for Life-Long Happiness
11. “I just try to make anything I have to do, or that I can do, into something that I enjoy—by learning about it, savoring it, doing it better than I did it before. When I was younger, I depended much more on specific activities like rock climbing, mountain climbing, painting or reading…. Now, in the ninth decade of life, I am just grateful to be alive…. [And] the people I love… are just as essential now as they ever were.”
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., professor of psychology and management at Claremont (Calif.) Graduate University
P.S. Follow the link to see all the books that you can read from each of these people!
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