All you ever wanted to know about happiness and then some

[nandm]

Day 1

Never look for happiness from other people---you will be expecting too much of others if you demand that they should make you happy. You will only find happiness if you are content with yourself.

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Get rid of the feeling of only being content with yourself when you have achieved a great success, be it at work or in your private life. There are far more reasons to be satisfied than you might think possible; you could, for example, be content with yourself, if you were able to relax at least for a brief moment or if you have prepared a nice meal.

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If you sart to experience the little successesss or the pleasures in everyday life more strongly and learn to savour them, you will soon develop a completely different attitude towards yourself----you will become more self-confident and at the same times more satisfied. The most important step towards happiness has thus been taken.

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You will find self-confidence and inner peace if you don't constntly criticise yourself. Why not praise yourself now and again for something that you have achieved and reward yourself for it.

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Spoil yourself a little as a reward for a success that you achieved in the upbringing of your children, at work of in some other field. Prepare a nice meal for youself, relax in a hot bath, take a long walk --- simply do something that is good for you.

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Everyone has an entirely different perception of happiness: some people can only be happy if they are shown time and again how much they are loved; others are happy when they see their children grow up to become contented, self-confident people; and still others are happy when they have time to read a book in peace. You alone must find out what happiness means for you on a personal level.

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Most people think about the highlights in life (getting married, the birth of a child, a big advance in their career) when asked to associate a specific event with their notion of happiness. But there are far more situations when we are happy or could be happy, even if they are not quite as spectacular.

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Think about the last time you really felt at ease, when you felt like smiling or laughing, or when you simply thought, "What a wonderful moment!" Was it when you went for a walk in the rain, or maybe when your child smiled at you? Try and perceive these moments more intensely in the future --- you will notice that there are far more happy moments in life than you previously thought.

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In a moment of happiness, pause for a second. Take a deep breath and try and savour this moment with all your senses and enjoy it. This will help you later to recall the feeling that you experienced at that moment.

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If you have savoured a moment of happiness with all your senses,you will be able to recapture this feeling of happiness consciously with the help of a certain smell or taste or a specific piece of music. Use this "trigger" to call back this feeling!

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Do you put on "armour" so that you can better deal with criticism and handle disappointments more easily? Try and discard it quickly, because this armour often ensures that you are no longer able to register the positive things in life. It is much better to take the risk of being hurt occassionally. This is far better than not being able to recognize happiness when it is there right in front of you.

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We would not be able to perceive happiness as such if the opposite didn't exist: pain, bad luck or whatever you want to call it. Consider this when you are feeling down in the dumps.

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Painful times seem to last twice as long as times of happiness. When you experience bad times, try and think back to good experiences more often --- you could daydream, for example, and let the happy times float by.

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People who are searching for happiness should know that happy feelings are triggered by certain substances, so-called neurotransmitters, that circulate in your brain. They transmit positive message to the nerve cesll and improve the mood of the respective person. Unfortunately, these substances can only be produced by the human body in certain amounts and are used up again after some time. This is the most important reason why we don't always feel on top of the world.

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If you think that your body might be able to produce the happiness hormones circulating in your brain with the aid of a medicine or a drug, you are mistaken. Even if the release of such substances can be stimulated by certain drugs, a low will follow quickly once these drugs lose their effect. The consequence of this is mental and -- in many cases --- physical dependence.

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One of the substances that give you feelings of happiness is the so-called happiness hormone serotonin. It is especially responsible for the feeling of inner balance. Sometimes the body's seretonin production can temporarily be interrupted, and some people believe that this could be the cause of depression.