Get Happy! Rose-Colored Glasses Not Required.

July 21, 4:16 PMOakland Healthy Living ExaminerLakenda Wallace

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   Anyone can be optimistic. Look up!  [credit: maiteali, istockphoto.com]

Waiting to be happy? Waiting for your ideal weight or perfect job so everything will magically be perfect in your life? You are deferring happiness that may never come.

Happiness is not thrust upon us once we have the “things” we’ve been waiting for. Happiness is cultivated every day through big and small acts. In fact, people who suddenly get their dream—like lottery winners—often find themselves more unhappy. These “things” come with their own set of ups and downs. Unless you have cultivated joy along the way, the new set of responsibilities and unrequited happy can leave you more depressed.

Cultivating Happiness
We can choose to be joyful in any situation. To choose joy, one does not need rose-colored glasses. Make the choice to see each situation in its best light—as a gift.

1. Accept the situation you find yourself in. Whether it is a job or your life, by accepting and acknowledging the truth, you choose to start. If we deny, we ignore. If we ignore, we are stuck. To see the truth is to have the power to change it.

2. Forgive everyone blamed for your current situation. The blame game is not productive. It’s poison. One philosopher said, “Non-forgiveness is drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Non-forgiveness is opting to hold a grudge rather than moving past it to your best self.

Forgiveness is not forgetting. Remember the hurt was caused because they couldn’t do any better. Find compassion and move on. Don’t continue putting yourself in the firing line. Forgive and move on to a happier you.

3. Do things that bring you joy. Just as you can choose to be joyful doing, you can find tasks that bring you joy. Experiment with new looks, new art, new exercises and, even, new people. Find the places, people and things that lift your spirits and make time for them. Bring joy consciously into your life and more joy automatically follows.

4. Eat Happy. Add foods to your diet that boost serotonin. Pineapples, tomatoes, granola, dark chocolate, and fish are among the foods that, literally, boost your mood.

5. Tell yourself you are happy. “Fake it till you make it” is not a new concept. Repeating self-affirming joyful mantras retrains the brain. The more you think it, the more you create optimistic neuropathways in the brain. In other words, say it, practice it and, eventually, it’s true. Now THAT is using your brain.

Happiness is available to you right now. Make it! “Don’t Worry. Be Happy!”