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wellbeing
joy
Positive changes don’t need
to be prescriptive. These tips
will get you off to a great start.
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e all know that eating well, ditching
screens, moving more and practising
mindfulness can have positive
effects on our overall sense of
satisfaction. But did you know that
laughter, childlike curiosity and putting others first can
be equally good for your health? Read on for more
unexpected ways to boost your happiness in 2023.
1
Go the extra smile
According to Wellington-based psychologist
and life coach Dr Pamela Stoodley, every time
you smile you trigger a range of facial muscles,
which tricks your brain into thinking you’re
happy. In her book Cracking the Happiness
Code, she explains, “When your muscles
say you’re happy, you’ll more than likely see
the world around you in a positive way. This in turn
will initiate feelings of happiness.” Tip: You can put
on a smile anywhere, such as in the shower or when
you’re getting ready for the day. Also, before you leave
home, have that one last look in the mirror and smile
– consciously. And if you have a few extra seconds to
spare, tell yourself: “It’s a great day to be alive!”
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Discover awe
Engage in activities filled with wonder.
Pamela suggests that if you’re an avid
reader, try to read books about wonder
or watch movies about wonderful things.
“Awe expands people’s perception of
time,” she says. “Wonder alters decisionmaking and enhances wellbeing.” She
cites a 2012 Stanford University and University of
Minnesota study in which researchers carried out three
experiments to determine the effects of wonderment.
They found that people who experienced awe felt like
they had the luxury of time, were more patient and
described their level of satisfaction with life as “great”.
6 | THE HOUSE OF
wellness
Give up on perfection
Although setting goals and challenging
yourself have merit, striving for
perfection is unrealistic. In the
upcoming book The Good Life and
How To Live It, Harvard psychiatry
professor and Zen master Robert
Waldinger and clinical psychologist
Marc Schulz suggest that the key to happiness is to
acknowledge that life is both joyful and challenging.
“The good life unfolds, through time,” they say. “Life,
even when it’s good, is not easy. There is simply no
way to make life perfect, and if there were, then it
wouldn’t be good.”
Focus on
relationships
Elsewhere in their book, the Harvard
academics express the idea that
positive connections are essential
to human wellbeing. “Living in the
midst of warm relationships is
protective of both mind and body,”
they say. “Life is hard, and sometimes it comes at you
in full attack mode. Connected relationships protect
against the slings and arrows of life and of getting old.”
The frequency and quality of our contact with other
people are two major predictors of happiness. “Basic
relationship needs are not complicated,” they add.
“We need love, connection and a feeling of belonging.”
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The 60-second rule
In Japanese culture there is a notion
that you can master anything if
you give it your full attention for
one minute a day. Masaaki Imai,
a Japanese organisational theorist,
developed the concept of Kaizen,
also known as the one-minute
principle, with kai representing change and Zen
meaning wisdom. “If you want to incorporate a routine
into your life, or make a change, you will need to do
that particular task every day at the same time for
one minute only,” says Pamela. “Sixty seconds sounds
a lot more achievable than thirty minutes or one hour.”
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Heat your body
If you want to reduce stress, try
adding intense heat to your wellness
routine. At Auckland spa Hana,
which means “to shine, radiate and
glow” in te reo Māori, supporting
positive mental health is one of the
key benefits of their infrared saunas.
“Our whole ethos is to encourage people to slow down
and take time for themselves to replenish and restore,”
says founder Sara Higgins. “Used regularly, infrared
saunas can reduce cortisol and increase production of
dopamine and serotonin, our natural antidepressants.”
Up in smoke
The notion that quitting smoking
makes you grumpy has been
debunked by researchers at Brown
University. While it has long been
known that going smoke-free is
good for heart health, their 2010
study found that many people in the
process of quitting smoking were happier than ever.
Smokers thinking of quitting should be encouraged
by the double benefit – both physical and mental –
especially as researchers believe that giving up
smoking actually relieves symptoms of depression
and it’s a myth that smoking eases anxiety.
Generosity rules
“Sharing with others fills us with
a sense of purpose,” says Pamela.
This is backed up by a 2020 paper
published in the Journal of Happiness
Studies, which found that people
who’d volunteered in the year
before the pandemic were more
satisfied with their lives and rated their overall health
as better, compared with those who hadn’t. Research
clearly shows that helping others benefits the person
who helps. There is both a neural and a practical link
between generosity and happiness – being generous is
a way to prime your brain for good feelings, and those
good feelings in turn make us more likely to help others
in the future. Generosity is an upward spiral. W
Words: Vanessa Marshall Photo: Getty Images Cracking the Happiness Code by Dr Pamela Stoodley published by Jane Publishing,
The Good Life and How To Live It by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz published by Penguin Random House
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