Happiness

@generousCity9163 Cat videos. Sunshine. Gratitude. Tea. Long hot shower. Repeat.

But honestly. If you are looking for a more concrete evidence based strathegies:

- practice gratitude. You will see more of what you focus on. You can start as small as saying one thing a day that you are grateful for, no matter if big or small. It sounds cliché, but it is a strategy that is a long play, slowly reprogramming your mind to notice beauty and enjoy the happy little moments 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

- evaluate your active to passive challenges ratio. Basically. Active challenge is something you choose to do, despite no obligation. Could be learning a language, going for a walk, working on a project, anything you choose to challenge yourself that you wouldn't have to do. Passive challenges are things life just throws at you and you have to deal with it (and often don't want to do it at all). One of the most key information I learnt that help me to this day is that your active challenges should outweight the passive ones, cause if you have more passive then active ones, your happyness will take a nose dive, but by increasing the number of active challenges, you will feel more in control of your life. Can confirm, I have my worst OCD time when I lack active challenges in my days.

- take care of yourself but also have self discipline. The thing is. You know yourself the best, and let's say you have a mood where you just want to stay in bed. The staying in bed will either help you or make you feel worse, depending on your circumstances, despite wanting to go to bed in both cases. So take a look at an action you are about to take and what will the most likely outcome be. If you had a busy day, the bed will help you relax. If this is your 5th day in row where you just hide in bed on your phone, it will not help you at all and you would benefit much more from dragging yourself out on a short walk or journaling a bit. There is a very fine line between knowing when to let yourself have the thing you want and when to be strict on yourself, so don't feel bad if it takes a while to figure out, you will find your balance eventually 😊

- take care of your health - if you have any underlying/unaddressed health issues, address them asap

- adjust your posture/lay on your back for a little - sounds silly, but it honestly does wonders

- regulate from the body up, not head down - we often try to solve the mess in our head first, but the thing is, that's the problem. The brain is a wonderful organ that will do anything but what you want it to do, but is easily trickable. Sooo. When feeling bad, pull a sneaky on it and do something that makes your body regulated. Check if you sit in a cramped position. If you are hungry. When did you drink water last time. Take a hot shower. Stretch if you need to. And when the body will send a message up about the pleasant sensations, the brain will be much more likely to go oh okay we feel pretty good actually and calm down 😊

- do some kind of physical movement - going to the gym, taking a dance class, trying aerial hoop, getting into martial arts or just taking a walk - anything goes. You just need sunshine, fresh air and movement of some sort 💃

And last but not least

- evaluate your life choices and where is your life heading. Maybe you realise you want to drop out of school. Or quite the opposite and go back to it. Maybe you want to switch jobs. Maybe you want to go altogether like screw this and have a small business. Basically look into where you are at life right now, if you are happy with it and if no, what is the thing you are not happy with and what can you do about it. My life changed so much to the better after dropping out of uni. I was so scared to do it, but I was hard depressed and didn't want it anymore. Upon re-evaluation of where I am and what would it mean most likely for my future if I keep this direction (a career I do not align with by my lifestyle). It is like 3/4th of a year since I left. And I have never been happier. So I can't recommend doing the evaluation enough. Maybe you will discover that everything is ok, and your unhappyness is caused by a mental health problem like depression, in which case refer back to previous points. But maybe you will discover you want to make a change. No matter what conclusions you come to, remember that you are not alone 🌻 finding happiness can take quite a while, but remember, take it one baby step at a time ☺️

i love going on nature walks. Going on hikes on forest trails, walks on the beach, or walks in my neighborhood. It’s so helpful for me and my depression. The fresh air allows me to clear my head and appreciate the beauty around me.