Five things you can do to stay happy.

Last night, I wasn't able to sleep.( I am a chronic insomniac and not being able to sleep doesn't bother me any more. I use the time well instead.) I read a wonderful article by Erin Pavlina-- "How to be happy when your life really sucks."
I really liked the analogy she used about being in prison and not having any choices. (With everyone and their aunt  talking about Kasab, the prison analogy struck a  slightly deeper chord.)

She is very right in what she says. (Do read the article linked. It is worth your time). We do have choices, no matter how bad the situation.

It is of course not possible to be 100 percent happy ALL the time! (Unless you are on dope and that too comes to an end)  And yes, sometimes life really sucks because whatever it is that is making you unhappy is not in your control. What can you do about it?

Here are five things that you CAN do, no matter how horrible you feel your situation is.

1. Do the best you can and then shift focus

 Ask yourself these questions--Under the current circumstances, what is the best that you can do? Have you done it? Is there anything further you can do to ease the problem? If you have done all that you can, box up the issue. Leave it there. Give it room. Trust me, more often than not, we create more problems for ourselves. If we leave things be, time has a way of resolving many issues.

2.Take time out and listen to yourself.

 I am a great believer in listening to your own voice. With the invasion of the great Internet, our lives have become so busy and we become totally entangled in ways to connect with other people through social media. I am a fan of social media--no doubt. For example, yesterday I connected with my cousin who had recently been to Antananarivo (yeah, I learnt it for the first time yesterday too) and saw all the photos. I felt wonderful talking to another cousin based in U.S. who had recently celebrated her birthday. But I do think, we all need to take a breather from the constant bombardment of these external stimuli and listen to our own voices. That can come only when you sit in quiet introspection. I am a huge fan of meditation--and no it is not some mumbo-jumbo which old people do. There are so many depths, so many kinds, so many levels at which one can meditate. If you want to start and do not know how to, I found this article to be a well written one.


3.Watch a great movie or read a great book.

I find movies inspiring. Not all movies of course, but certain ones. The ones I highly recommend as 'must watch' are 'The Shawshank Redemption', 'Pursuit of Happyness' (it is spelled that way) and 'The Bucket list'. The books I highly recommend are 'Tuesdays with Morrie' (Mitch Albom), 'Who will cry when you die.'(Robin Sharma) and 'Creative visualization' ( Shakti Gawain). I also loved Albom's latest book 'The time keeper'.
Books and movies truly make me feel alive when I am down in the dumps. (and yes, I go through tough times too, like all of you :) I am not happy and positive and chirpy all the time :) )

4. Do something small that changes your physical environment.

Sometimes a small thing can make a big difference. Do something that alters your physical environment. Clear your bedroom or workspace of clutter.
Get new curtains, a lovely rug and some throw cushions. Get a potted plant and look after it. If its too much of trouble, get a wine bottle, and grow money plant in it. (my home is full of money plants in wine bottles. See this picture)

 Clear your closet, desk--anything.
Choose some of your happiest memories and make a collage, get it framed and display where you can see it. I have a collage with pictures of me and my closest friends and our happiest memories together, which I have put up in my special sanctuary (where I work. See linked post) and I feel very happy whenever I look at it, knowing I have so many genuine, supportive friends who deeply care for me.



5. Use visualisation technique.

I found the following video explaining this very well:

So, there you have it--five things that you have perfect control of and are not so hard to do. Hope you find these useful.

Leave me a comment if you do. I like to hear what you have to say. Have a great day and stay positive!
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 ps:  You can pre-order my fourth book 'The Secret wish list' by clicking here. And yes, if you pre-order from this link, you will get a copy signed by me :) (Signed copies are not available from other sites as my publishers have tied up with this one.) You get a whopping 30 percent discount and you can even pay cash on delivery. You can follow the FB page of the book too (which has got more than 740 likes at the time of publishing this post. Thanks folks!)

Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/TheSecretWishlist