You Docs: Seven steps to happiness
January 31, 2012
You Docs
Like the treasures of the Sierra Madre, happiness sometimes seems more myth than reality. But we You Docs want to help you to pursue the real thing. You deserve true happiness and much of your emotional and physical health depends on it. Positive emotions cancel out stress-related risks such as heart disease and cancer, and make you younger.
So how do you get happy? Follow these seven steps:
1. Talk nice to yourself. Trade put-downs (What an idiot I am!) for encouraging words (Nice going!).
2. Connect. Really talk with people you care about. Get physical, too. Hugs stimulate oxytocin, the “cuddle hormone,” spreading a feel-good boost.
3. Keep a daily gratitude journal. Writing down what you are thankful for makes you healthier and more optimistic.
4. Don’t sit around. Being active at least 30 minutes a day boosts happiness — and makes your body’s RealAge seven or more years younger.
5. Meditate. It eases stress, strengthens immunity, ups happiness — big time.
6. Understand unhappiness. When it happens (it will), learn from it. It’s a chance for you to make positive changes.
7. Go for gentle and generous. The real secret to being happy may be realizing that true peace is about slowing down enough to recognize the gifts you have — gifts you can be passing along to others.
The payoff? Huge. You’ll be better able to cope with stress or pain and to fight off colds, flu, heart disease, even cancer. And a big plus: You’ll be happier!
YouDocs Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen are authors of YOU: Losing Weight. Order it at StarStore.ca. Submit questions and find more info at RealAge.com
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