Happiness takes effort

It's true, happiness takes effort.
Sure, there are lots of people who are optimistic naturally, who see the brighter side of a situation but that's a little different from happiness (although it helps). Happiness is often measured, in scientific terms, as life satisfaction.

In a recent article, Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, positive psychology researcher, stated that happiness can in some ways be compared to maintaining a healthy weight. If you want to lose weight you go on a diet, if you want to keep the weight off, you make the effort to maintain it.

The same goes for happiness. Being actively engaged - thinking happy thoughts - can help increase your happiness. No kidding, she's even done research on this. Her team found that people who spent about 8 minutes a day thinking about happy events in their life scored higher on happiness and satisfaction scales four weeks later. This is without making any changes in their lives.

Taking the time to think about happy events, or learning how to put these events into perspective is something that a coach can help you do. Shifting your thinking, finding those happy thoughts may take effort but the payoff is priceless.

I want you to be happy, happy people make a happy world. I'd love to work on that with you.

Feel free to share your happy thoughts and inspire others here on my blog.

New Workshops Scheduled

I have two new workshops scheduled and I'm very excited about them. Both are taking place at the Center for Relaxation & Healing at Plainsboro. But you don't have be involved with the center to attend these workshops. These two workshops are all about becoming empowered in the everyday.

Workshop 1: Creating Positive Relationships with Food - February 22, 2010 from 7:00pm to 8:30 pm. This workshop is about you finding your inner strengths and the truly unlimited options that you possess to cope with stressful and emotional events in your life.

Workshop 2: Creating Your Visual Empowerment Map. My previous post referred to this as a Visual Empowerment Plan. I have decided to go with "map" because it's more intuitive. March 7, 2010, from 11:00am to 1:00pm. This is a 2 hour workshop, hands on, where you get to start creating your VEM.

RSVP and registration is required for both workshops. Please go to my website to the Calendar tab for more details. See you there!