IMPROVE YOUR WELL BEING BY ACQUIRING THE GRATITUDE ATTITUDE. Listing three things that you are grateful for in life or three events that have gone especially well over the past week can significantly increase your level of happiness for up to a month. This, in turn, will cause you to be more optimistic about the future, which can improve your physical health. The best way of doing this is to develop the routine of writing your “happy” diary weekly, but even writing up a list of things that you are grateful for, and that makes you happy, on an occasional basis will have a significant positive effect on your well being.
BECOME HAPPIER BY BEING A GIVER. People become much happier when performing the smallest acts of kindness. Those who give a pound to a busker, buy a small surprise gift for a friend or a loved one, donate blood, or simply hold the door for a fellow commuter on the underground are inclined to experience a fast-acting and significant boost in happiness instantly. Interestingly performing five small acts of kindness during the course of one day will result in a greater and more long-lasting effect than if the same acts of kindness were spread over five days.
EAT MORE HEALTHILY BY HANGING A MIRROR IN YOUR KITCHEN. If you want to eat more healthily place a mirror on your kitchen wall. Seeing your own reflection whilst cooking makes you more aware of your body and more likely to eat food that is good for you. Standing in front of a mirror when you are presented with different food options can result in a remarkable 32 percent reduction in consumption of unhealthy food.
STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP BY WRITING ABOUT IT. Partners who spend a few moments each week committing their deepest thoughts and feelings about their relationship to paper boost the chances that they will stick together by more than 20 percent. Such “expressive writing” results in partners’ using more positive language when they speak to each other, leading to a healthier and happier relationship, many fewer rows and much longer lasting marriages.
BE MORE SUCCESSFUL BY VISUALISING YOURSELF DOING, NOT ACHIEVING. If you visualise yourself taking the practical steps needed to achieve your goals you are far more likely to succeed than if you simply fantasise about your dreams becoming a reality. One especially effective technique involves adopting a third-person perspective: in other words to visualise yourself as others see you. This can make you about 20 percent more successful than those who adopt a first-person point of view where you only see your actions from your own perspective.
STAY ON TRACK WITH YOUR GOALS BY CONSIDERING YOUR LEGACY. Staying on track with your long-term goals is hard and requires discipline and determination. It’s all too easy to loose your focus. Spending just a minute imagining a close friend standing up at your funeral and reflecting on your personal and professional legacy can help you confirm your long-term goals and assess the degree to which you are progressing toward making those goals a reality.