Happy & Healthy
5 things that make you happy
Earlier I told you about my free moments of happiness. And also May told you that there is indeed happiness to be found outside the walls of Chanel and Shoebaloo.
UCLA Neuroscience researcher Alex Korb researched the path to happiness for us and came to the conclusion that there are indeed five factors that make us happier.
His research shows that your thoughts and the emotions that arise from them have a profound impact on the so-called surprising areas of our brains. I have five nice habits that you might not even know give you an extra piece of happiness for free.
1. Gratitude causes your serotonin and dopamine levels to rise, which gives us that feeling of happiness. I also know where that huge smile on my face comes from when I realize on my way to work how happy, content, and grateful I am with my new life here in Amsterdam. And okay, Amsterdam is just fantastically beautiful.
2. Writing down your negative thoughts and feelings is relieving. Hence that huge collection of Moleskines I have created over the years. A separate notebook for each topic. My little black notebook is for my emotions, the little brown notebook is filled with the moments of happiness I experience daily, and the pink notebook without lines is for my to-do’s and is almost falling apart, it is used so frequently. Writing down what bothers you really works, just try it.
3. Making your own decisions. The key is to make a ‘as good as possible’ decision and not the perfect decision. Because yes, that perfect decision causes stress again. I think that, especially from a female perspective, making our own decisions gives us a sense of being able to handle the world and independence. And yes: who run the world?
4. Offering someone help. Giving your colleague a helping hand not only makes him/her happy, but it also gives you a boost of positivity. Helping another person gives you a wave of oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine, each of which gives you a good feeling. A study at Harvard showed that employees who helped each other were 10 times more focused than those who did not, and as much as 40% of them had a higher chance of promotion. So every morning at 9:30 I standardly place a perfectly layered latte macchiato on the desk next to me. A good start to the day for her, a good start to the day for me. That’s what colleagues are for. And what do you actually do for your colleague?
5. Our brains are sensitive to touch. We humans are social animals and our brains react the same way to social contacts as they do to physical pain. In short, we associate touch with social acceptance. Touch calms your emotions, reduces stress, alleviates pain and fatigue, and promotes sleep. A massage even leads to 30% more serotonin production. Volunteers, anyone?
Korb shows us how fantastic our brain actually is and that everything is interconnected. Gratitude promotes sleep, sleep reduces pain, pain reduction improves your mood, and a good mood reduces anxiety which in turn leads to better focus. Good focus helps you make decisions more easily, being decisive makes you confident, confidence makes us happy, and when we are happy, we are grateful, and thus we complete the circle.
And we can also learn something from the Dalai Lama: “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
Drop the mic.
