Simple Self Improvement

It is claimed eating berries can boost your happiness         Image:PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay My happiness tip for day 7 is to eat a healthy balanced diet. Immediately the joke about a balanced diet being a cup cake in each hand comes to my mind. Perhaps some people take food too seriously and instead of constantly stressing about the food they eat need to laugh about it sometimes. I am not qualified to provide any specific advice about what anyone should be eating or how much. My own relationship with food is sometimes a struggle. I have heard there is a connection between happiness and eating mindfully and being aware of the foods we need to nourish and respect our bodies. That makes sense to me. Some people suggest following the 80/20 rule where you concentrate on 'healthy' food as 80% of what you eat and don't get too stressed about the other 20%. It is a social thing to have a slice of cake when celebrating a birthday and it&#

                                                                                                       Image:Alexas Fotos from Pixabay Good sleep helps the body and brain in many ways and is essential for optimal functioning. It is common to feel cranky, frustrated, angry or sad when you are tired, especially if you regularly get insufficient sleep. Research has found a connection between regularly getting insufficient sleep and Depression. Therefore, it won't surprise you to hear regularly getting enough good quality sleep will contribute to your level of happiness. How much sleep do you need? Between seven and nine hours sleep per night is usually recommended but the suggested amount varies from one information source to another. Age and genetics influence the amount of sleep an individual finds optimal. Does sleeping come easily to you? Some people find it easy to get a good night's sleep but there are those who struggle to fall asleep or who fin

                                                                                   Image:Marie Vonow Following on from yesterday's tip of spending time in Nature, comes the tip for day 5, spend time gardening. If spending time in Nature makes people happy, it makes sense that time doing some gardening will contribute to happiness. As well, when you are gardening you are getting exercise which increases happiness (happiness tip day 3). Easy to grow plants can be very colourful                                Image:Marie Vonow When we come into contact with the soil and the soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, serotonin is released. Serotonin is sometimes called the happy chemical. Studies have shown those who get busy in the garden on a regular basis tend to be happier than those who don't do any gardening.  I find doing a bit of gardening encourages me to live in the moment and practice mindfulness. Observing the flowers and green shoots on my plants

                                                                                                     Image:Marie Vonow Research has found what many people know from their own experience, contact with Nature increases happiness . So, my happiness tip for day 4 is, spend more time in a natural environment. You don't have to go on a holiday to the beach, mountains, river or any other natural environment to get a boost of happiness. Time spent walking a tree lined street, pottering around in your garden or sitting in a park will increase your happiness. In fact, even looking at photos art, or videos of Nature will have a positive effect. Research was done on 10,000 people in Britain over a 17 year period. It was found the more trees and greener the area a person lived in the happier they were. Studies have also shown time spent in Nature can be beneficial to people suffering Depression. Tree lined streets increase the happiness of residents     Image:Marie Vonow

Image: Daniel Reche from Pixabay Happiness Tip 3: Get some exercise each day. Most people have heard exercise is good for one and makes one feel good. When you feel good you are likely to be happy so it makes sense there is a link between exercise and happiness. During exercise endorphins are released. Endorphins produce a positive and energising feeling and can help reduce pain. There are many different forms of exercise, places to participate in exercise and individuals will have different needs in relation to physical activity. Walking is my favourite type of exercise. Walking Now, I am personally not one to exercise just for the sake of exercising even though I know it is good for me. I would find some excuse not to bother to go for a 20 minute walk if it was just to get exercise. However, throughout my life I have enjoyed walking (but not power walking) when there is a purpose to doing it or as a social activity. For example- When I

  Image:Marie Vonow Life can be serious. There are things that are no laughing matter so I am not suggesting one would be happier by making a joke out of everything. Sometimes one needs to be serious. There are also times one needs to think a situation through carefully and give it full attention. However, there are other times when approaching life in a more light hearted way is going to make you happier so today's tip is Don't take life too seriously, don't take yourself too seriously. Worrying about bad things that could happen It's easy to worry about all the traumatic stuff that could possibly happen, especially if you are a news junkie. We hear about all sorts of catastrophes, often in great detail and it's likely the news is accompanied by visual images.  Some people just have a tendency to worry about things.They may also have a vivid imagination and picture all types of scenarios.  Annoying stuff In an average day annoying

                                                                                                                Image:Marie Vonow For the month of March I have decided to post one happiness tip each day. A blogger friend from my writing group posted a fresh poetry prompt every day for the month of February and found it increased the number of readers. I am curious to see if posting more frequently will do the same for me. Some of my posts will be very short with one or more links to other things I have published online. Definition of happiness According to Wikipedia, ' The term happiness is used in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. It is also used in the context of life satisfaction, subjective well-being, eudaimonia, flourishing and well-being.' I had to look up the meaning of eudaimonia (also spelt eudaemonia or eudemonia) and found it is a Greek w