Be Happy – Enhance Your Knowledge

Sometime, we feel restlessness without knowing the reason of that state of affairs. One day, a person when he lost his peace of mind in search of God, went to his Guru and requested him to guide him how he can meet God. The Guru understood his restlessness and asked him to go with a pot to the ocean in the mornings, gather some water in it and, sitting on the sands, meditate for some time before beginning his morning jobs.

After thanking him, that person immediately bought a pot and eagerly went to the ocean near his house. He filled the pot with seawater and sat down nearby. On what should he meditate, he wondered. He tried repeatedly for a number of days, many supposedly potent verses and powerful mantras but no result.

Though he had got puzzled on account of no results, he again went through the discussions he had held with his Guru. He recollected that he had not given any special mantra but he advised him to just relax. Meditate and relax! The two seemed to him a little contradictory. Meditating, to him, meant concentration and action and relaxing meant idling and letting go. He thought over this dichotomy for some time but suddenly remembered an important chore. He poured the water back on the sand as he had been told to do, and hurried to home.

Contradiction notwithstanding, he somehow felt a little soothed and relaxed. He even felt a little energised too in course of time. So he went again the next morning, and every morning thereafter. Now this became his routine. Every day, he felt a little better and even learnt to relax fairly well. Repeatedly, the contradiction between relaxation and concentration presented itself to him and each time he slipped a little deeper in its grips. He was not aware that, unknown to him, the cogitation itself had become a mantra. He got effortless, unwavering, natural and a relaxed concentration ultimately.

The seeker looked meditatively at the ocean that stretched far to the horizon, almost endless. Now it surrounded him too and encompassed him. He looked at the water in the pot. That water too came from the ocean. Although the water in his pot was a minuscule part of the ocean, it had the same properties what were there in the drop of water in the ocean. One was vast and infinite, and the other, a tiny part of it. One was called the ocean, and the contents were the same. The difference was in the measure. The infinite sustained a multitude of life, even untold filth, all turbulence, and yet, a deep silence and calm beneath. The ocean itself was not affected by any of this. It remained pure and clear within itself, full of energy and dancing with joy.

Suddenly it hit him, This is God! Vast, endless, pure and knowledgeable, engulfing everything, including himself. Only, instead of water, now it was Consciousness. Immaculate and crystal clear, despite all the festering scum of anger, violence, hatred, prejudice generated by the murky mind.

The seeker poured the water back into the sea. It disappeared in the lapping waves and became one with the sea again. The seeker saw that he, too, was part of that vast ocean of Consciousness, had merged in it and become Consciousness itself, infinite, eternal, pure, sheer joy, and knowledge. He was in every atom, every cell, in every individual. His persona was micro and macro, the Entirety. He was here and he was everywhere. He was the past, the present and the future. He was the elements of the universe. He was time and he was space. He was knowledge incarnate. The seeker felt enlightened that God he was seeking to meet was present around him – he needed to feel his presence with true and sincere heart.

Before you loose your peace of mind, be happy by going through the process of searching out ultimate truth, the reason of your restlessness and finding out what is the solution – definitely as deeper you will attempt, you will feel relaxed after a short time of getting results, if you have a strong will to do so. Make your will strong once you proceed on to take up any course of action after thorough thinking.

Be Happy – Avoid Stress Creating Circumstances

Feelings of stress are caused by the body's instinct to defend it. This instinct is good in emergencies, such as getting out of the way of a speeding car. But stress can cause physical symptoms if it goes on for too long, such as in response to life's daily challenges and changes.

When this happens, it's as though your body gets ready to jump out of the way of the car, but you're sitting still. Your body is working overtime, with no place to put all the extra energy. This can make you feel anxious, afraid, worried and uptight. Continuation of the like circumstances can create a number of affects on your health. Avoid them to the best of your endeavor.

• Workplace stresses can double the rate of death from heart disease, according to a 2002 study of 812 healthy employees. High demands, low control, low job security and few career opportunities contributed to the overall stress measured in the study.
• One study found that workers who had little control over their jobs were up to 50 percent more likely to die during a period of five to 10 years than workers who had high-stress jobs but more decision-making responsibilities.
• Office workers who are exposed to low-level office noises, including quiet conversations, have higher levels of the stress hormone epinephrine than those working in silent offices.
• Clerical workers show more signs of biological stress during the workday than those in executive or more senior positions, according to a British study.
• Stress can thwart the heart-healthy aspects of a physically active job, according to a study of utility workers. Thicker arteries (a sign of atherosclerosis) were found among physically active but stressed workers. Those who were physically active but not stressed had thinner arteries.
• Low-income workers who work long hours say that family nutrition is one of the first things sacrificed to the demands of their job. The workers say that they skip meals, eat on the run, eat too much junk food and have trouble preparing healthy meals for their children.
• Work-related stress (including job insecurity) and fatigue may increase the risk of cold, flu and stomach inflammation. In one study, employees in demanding jobs developed colds 20 percent more often than those in less demanding positions.
• Men, who work in physically violent or dangerous occupations, as well as those who work in female-dominated professions, may commit more domestic violence than men in managerial positions.
• Social support seems to help New York City traffic enforcement agents keep their blood pressure down: Female agents get the most benefit from supportive supervisors, while men tend to rely on co-worker support.
• In some cases, work stress can be beneficial to health: A 2001 study found that the immune system got a boost when faced with the active stress of meeting a work deadline, while the passive stress of watching violent scenes on TV can weaken immunity.

Be Happy - Live Life Joyfully

Sometime, we miss to celebrate the most important things because they are so much with us. We do not enjoy with the sheer joy of being alive. Everything we do celebrate is a celebration of life, whether it is a birth, a wedding, or an anniversary. Religious festivals all celebrate some aspect of festivals, some aspect of life as represented by the attributes of the deity, or the passage of some event of our lives.

What we need to do is remind ourselves to consecrate every day, take time out at least once a day to quietly experience being alive. And the simplest way to that is to just pay attention to our breathing, which is another wonderful reason to be joyful. Breath is the key to life. Each breath feeds the fire of the heart.

Most of us don’t eat gourmet food three times a day, but we are blessed with sufficient food, and I don’t just mean enough to provide the basic calorie intake to keep us alive. We are blessed with all the associations of a loving mother that comes with the taste of some food, the memories of discovering new wonderful tastes every time we eat them again, and the love that we imbibe with food made by those who care enough about life to prepare good food, a spouse or a friend. I believe that food made by people who love to feed people has special nutritional properties with their love.

If you think that nobody cares enough about you to prepare delicious food, please get a banana and pay attention to it. What a marvel of packaging, flavour and nutrition God provides to you! It grew, it made its way to you and it will sustain you. Now I can hear you arguing that it was provided by a chain of commerce. What if that chain was forged to that banana to you with out any of the links being aware of the chain’s purpose? Might be, and even if it isn’t, the banana is still pretty amazing in its colour, utility, taste and ability to keep us alive. Think about those who only ate bananas, and remained very healthy. And think about bread. I know that it is not much more than grain, salt and water but think about what that means. Bread, naan, chapatti, roti or whatever you call it provides us with the elements of the earth. The process of growing, threshing and milling the grain transforms the earth into a form that we can use. It is the optimism which leads to that confidence.

Almost every spiritual tradition uses the fruit of the earth to impart spiritual nourishment along with the calories, whether as communion, Prasad, dates at Iftar or Karah Prashad in some Gurudwara. I would invite you everyday to take a few minutes to pay attention to the joy that is imbibed in food. Find something simple to eat, maybe a piece of fruit and take time to eat it with focus, eat it slowly, pay attention to the colour and texture than the smell, and the smell, and the taste. Charles Camilleri, Malta’s greatest composer once told that he had learned not do anything while he ate; not listen to music, watch television, or read. I think he wanted to experience the transformation of one form of life to another. What a wonderful lesson!

All of us have enough to drink and hope that everybody enjoys at least one drink a day like first cup of tea, juice or a glass of milk in the breakfast. Throughout the day we enjoy a wide variety of things to choose from tea, coffee, lassi, juice and a whole lot more. But how often do we appreciate the miracle that is the liquid we drink? We are 70% water. Without a steady supply of water we would only live a few days. Having access to water is really reason to be joyful, throughout the day. Sit in a comfortable chair with a large glass of water and take a small sip of water. Notice something about the water as you swallow. Feel it with you, feel the water’s presence. Take more small sips, noticing different about the water each time until you drink one third of the water. Now take more small sips, this time noticing something about yourself each time. Keep sipping and noticing until two thirds of the water is gone. Now spend time with the remaining third of the water, notice its relationship with the glass, its relationship to you and your relationship to other things in the room.

So, there are a number of really elemental reasons to be joyful. Celebrate them everyday. Is this simple? Yes, but that doesn’t mean easy. We are all too often caught up in the drama of the day, our pain, effort of work, the demands of family and friends to be full of joy. Yet, we each have a few minutes to celebrate the fire, earth and water and remind our selves to be joyful. We must remain happy and joyful with the facilities whatever provided by God to us, individually and collectively. Be happy and live life joyfully.

Be Happy – Forget About Your Own Identity

One of the symbols of the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic is a ‘faceless’ doll. It is a doll which wears different kinds of clothes, is made from a wide selection of different materials ranging from the porcelain to coconut fibre and clay in different colours. However That Caribbean doll has a face with no features.

The Dominican Republic has people of different descents having migrated from different parts of the world. Some are of Spanish descent, some are of French origin and others have African antecedents, besides many others from different cultures and regions. In order to show an acceptance for all, to symbolize an inclusive society, this doll stands out as a symbol of an all-embracing culture, representing that which has brought together people so different from one another to create one big family.

A folk story from India says that once upon a time all animals looked the same. It is true that some were fat and some short, but for anything else they were identical. The animals found themselves in a quandary. They could not recognise one another… each one looked the same. No relationship could be built for the partners making the relationship could never be all identified. A solution had to be found.

The animals called a meeting and it was decided they would each seek some identification mark and place it before the others in the next meeting. A busy week followed. Some animals chose striped furs, but then the zebra and the squirrel had to work out the differences, not to mention the tiger. The elephant did not have enough time to spend on this and so went for a full Grey or brown, but he looked so boring that someone pulled his nose and made it long, so the elephant would always look different. Finally when they met a week later, they all looked distinctly different. The peacock had chosen lovely clothes, but had not tired by the time it had to choose a vocal chord.

Those of the animal who had chosen thick fur went to live on the hills. The ones who had opted for slippery costumes went into water. The chameleon was the trendiest for it changed colour in keeping with the context. Thereafter the animals lived happily, appreciative of each other. Whenever a fight broke out, they had to remind themselves that once upon a time they had all been the same. The differences had been created by them. This reminder brought them back to a harmonious state and once again they shared water and meals amicably.

To recognise and understand that all beings are fundamentally similar with similar hopes and aspirations became the basic teaching of all traditions, for peaceful coexistence. Different religions articulated it differently. If Jainism said, “He who knows one, knows all,” Hinduism said “Yat pinde tat brahmande,” or that which in the atom is in the world. Buddhism sees the Buddha in every living being while Christianity sees all beings as children of the same God. There is none different from one-another ultimately

Maulana Wahiduddin recollects how Prophet Mohammad was lying down when a funeral procession passed by. He immediately stood up in reverence. “But he is not a Muslim, the one who died,” Said one of his followers. “But was he also not a human being?” Maulana is said to have asked.

The Caribbean doll without a face is a reminder that cosmetic differences of colour and appearance mean nothing; what counts is what you are inside. It is therefore advised that to be happy, you need to forget your own identity and take every other one’s feelings that they are your own and you must try to treat him in the way you wish yourself to be treated with.

Be Happy – Our Destiny is Designed by Our Working Only

In any event of our grievances, we must not take our Destiny as a curse to us. It is directly correlated to our own karma. Our personal attitude and approach towards life and values decide our destiny. The cumulative factor precedent to actions and collective offerings create the agony and ecstasy of life.

We may look at the monotonous realities of life as they unfold. The pattern changes, for better or for worse. No circumstance lasts forever. To defer and build resistance only aggravate misery. Instead we will have to live through the experience.

We do not need to be a saint to practise virtue. Mere awareness of what is right and wrong and thoughtfulness of identifying ourselves with God would do well. We must perform actions without expectations. Actions performed to achieve good bring joy and happiness. Our brain is a chemical laboratory; a delicate balance must be maintained. Imagine a troupe a ballet cancers performing in unison. Anyone out-of-step would throw the entire performance off-balance. Similarly, brain chemistry could also go haywire.

No one is capable of absolute evil. Good always triumphs over evil. Many a time we come across some people do harm to society, but they spend inconspicuously on charitable causes to get over the guilt. Mind over matter dictates the truth. One can accept unconditional thinking and filter the undesirable. We may practice virtue and pursue virtuous deeds. One cannot escape destiny, we need to understand it as it presents itself.

Every moment in life poses its own opportunity in life for us to relish and experience life. What is important is not how we struggled but how we reconciled and won.

The ability to continue in the circumstance is divine. In the pursuit of finding we own destiny, we can change its course by exercising control with better judgment. Common sense could help us chart our future course. By perpetually surrendering to the state of purity we can change our destiny. Destiny is amenable to thought and right action. We only need to subtly understand our limitations and practice humility.

The turmoil within is only momentary; as time passes what we have construed earlier will fall off like dry leaves. God created us with a purpose. We need to understand the values and gifts He has showered upon us. However, He does not believe in orchestrating our entire life.

Destiny is what we do to fight against vice and temptation. If the perception of destiny is misunderstood, and we resign ourselves to it, not paying heed to of how we can better our lives, thinking that it is totally a predestined issue – we are wrong. If we condemn ourselves to suffer and feel damned, the existence of whatever good has no meaning. It is not by reprimand alone that one learns the truth. One can overcome the impediments by devotion and prayer. If a conscious mind with clear intentions evaluates right and wrong, it can overcome.

Destiny is choice. Honest application and focused action leads to tangible achievements. It is the passion and commitment to purpose that uplifts. We must uphold values of higher planes to overcome deficiencies and inadequacies. We need to constantly upgrade and resurrect thoughts and better ourselves, may be to transcend and live again in a superior world free from the cycle of birth and death, for which we need to be prepared.

Be Happy – Keep Vigilance Over Matter

MIND is the powerful tool of the human body. The body will never fully respond to your workouts until you train the mind as well. Many a time, fear and insecurity within us stop us from reaching our maximum potential. When the mind and body work in harmony, the end result is spectacular.

Whatever be your age, you need to have a clear vision of the outcome of your efforts. One way to help yourself is to choose an idol. Someone you want to emulate. In this way, you develop a single-minded purpose. Concentration allows the neuron-muscular system to respond to the fullest.

You need to define your goal clearly. This commitment is the first step. When your goals are clear with determination, discipline and regime automatically follow. Confidence increases as you workout. Much of what can intimidate or cause anxiety is simply fear of the unknown. Follow your goal firmly and don’t worry what other people have to say.

You need to learn to ‘Be here and now’ to master a ‘present time’ consciousness. It is what you do today that will determine how well you perform tomorrow. Be realistic. Presently, if you can run for 30 minutes while other around are running for 45 minutes, don’t get worked up. Aim at progressing slowly over a few weeks.

You need to learn from failure. It defines limits and makes you realise which parts of your programme are working and ones which aren’t. It is not failure per se that perturbs most of us, but the fear of failure that often gets in the way. Failure, whether in lifting weights, running, or working out, tells you more about yourself. Hence, plan accordingly.

You need to use imagination to feed your programmes. Positive mental forces can be evoked to realise your maximum.

You need to listen to your body. It gets affected by your mental state, fatigue, stress, nutrition, climate and numerous other factors. Hence, if you are aware of its salient features, you will adapt and do accordingly. When the mind and body work in harmony, the end result is spectacular as positive thinking nourishes the mind the way food nourishes the body. Be happy – keep vigilance over the matter before you.

Be Happy – Feel Yourself Freely

It is generally observed that for the sake of being pleasant, some people extinguish their anxiety, fear and anger and in the process of getting others to accept them in the society, they do not present themselves truly. Most of the time, they crush their actual feelings to come out. It becomes injurious to their hearts in due course of time.

To live in the society and pose ourselves to be highly cultured, we learn to suppress our base instincts, to civilize our uncivilised urges – to hide our raw feelings and tame the ignoble savage. It is also true that social ties would not hold, things would fall apart, if our emotions were always exposed. If we expose an indecent feeling toward our colleague or best friend, that would definitely endanger a partnership or relationship.

So we become socialised and learn to impose emotion controls, issue restraining orders on our feelings. There are clear benefits to concealing some emotions, but there are also costs: like most human interventions with nature, the socialisation process produces side effects.

While it is at times necessary to keep certain emotions out of sight (when we’re on the street), it’s harmful to try to keep them out of mind (when we are alone). Denying ourselves the permission to experience unwanted emotions or feel indecent feelings when we are alone, is potentially harmful to our well-being.

We are told that it is “improper” to display our anxiety when delivering a lecture, so we suppress any form of anxiety when we’re writing in our journal. We learn that it is indecent to cry while sitting on the bus, and so we hold our tears even when we are in the shower. Anger does not win us friends, and over time we lose our ability to express anger in solitude. We extinguish our anxiety, fear, and anger for the sake of being pleasant, nice to be around-and in the process of getting others to accept us, we reject ourselves.

When we keep emotions in when we suppress or repress, ignore or avoid-we pay a high price. Much has been written about the cost of suppression to our psychological well-being.

Sigmund Freud and his followers have established the connection between established the connection between repression and unhappiness; eminent psychologists like Nathaniel Braden and Carl Rogers have illustrated how we hurt our self-esteem when we deny our feelings. And it is not only our psychological well being that is influenced by our emotions, but our physical well-being as well. Since emotions are both cognitive and physical-influencing and being influenced by our thoughts and physiology-suppressing emotions influence the mind and the body.

The link between the mind and the body in the field of medicine has been well established-from the placebo effect to the evidence tying stress and suppression with physical aches and pains. According to Dr, John Sarno, a physician and a professor at New York University School of Medicine, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, headaches, and other symptoms are often “a response to the need to keep those terrible, antisocial, unkind, childish, angry, selfish feelings… from becoming conscious.” Because there is less of stigma in our culture against physical pain than against emotional disease, our subconscious mind diverts attention-our own and others’-from the emotional to the physical.

The prescription Sarno offers to thousands of his patients is to acknowledge their negative feelings, to accept their anxiety, anger, fear, jealousy, or confusion. In many of the cases, the mere permission to experience one’s emotions does not only make the physical symptom go away, it alleviates the negative feelings as well.

Psychotherapy works because the client allows the free flow of emotions-positive and negative. In a set experiments, psychologist James Pennebaker demonstrated that students who, on four consecutive days, spent twenty minutes writing about difficult experiences, were happier and physically healthier in the long run.

The mere act of “opening up” can set us free. Pennebaker, supporting Sarno’s findings, recognizes that “Once we understand the link between a psychological event and a recurring health problem, our health improves.”

While we do not need to scream while walking on Main Street, or shout at our boss who makes us angry, we should, when possible, provide ourselves a channel for the expression of our emotions. We can talk to a friend about our anger and anxiety, write in our journal about our fear or jealousy, and, at times, in solitude or in the presence of someone we trust, allow ourselves to shed a tear – of sorrow or of joy.

We would be happy if we feel ourselves freely and express, whenever there is an appropriate opportunity without hurting others. Be happy and allow yourself to feel freely.

Be Happy – Don’t Worry About Death

Many of us keep ourselves, throughout our lives, afraid of death. Every incident causing even a little mental/physical pain makes us leading to fear if that incident may culminate into our death. We should not forget that death is a universal truth for every thing perceivable in this world. If something has got life to start the period of living, ultimately that is to perish one day.

It is, therefore, important for us to know that life and death are two sides of the same coin. And the coin is Soul. When the soul assumes a physical body it is life and when it discards the physical body, it is death. Actually, life and death are transitory phases till the soul completes it cycle of life and death. Our physical bodies are vehicles for the soul, for its journey towards the ultimate destination, uniting with the Supreme Soul. That’s salvation. Life and death are steps to reach Him.

Our soul is an embodiment of Supreme Consciousness or energy flow that keeps the body alive, just the way electricity powers light, fan television or any micro-function. We can switch off any electrical gadget; God, too, switches off this energy flow when His work is complete. The journey of our soul continues.

It is an evolving course and evolution is a continuous process every beginning has an end and every end has a beginning. A plant flowers, the flower in turn sheds its petals giving way for fruits or seeds. Then the plant wilts but continues as a new plant through its fruits or seeds. Death, too, is a process in the evolution of soul. Death is just an out-of-body experience.

Then why fear death? Fear of death arises when we identify ourselves with our physical bodies forgetting we are pure consciousness which is eternal. Senses and mind control our body. We identify pain and pleasure with the illusory material world and body. When we celebrate birthdays, in a way, we are also celebrating death, as each year carries us towards a new life and conclusion of the present chapter.

Life can be compared with the phases of the moon. The waxing moon reaches its prime with the full moon and then wanes to become what we call the ‘new’ moon which is in fact is a moonless night. Like life, death too is an illusion. What is real is that your soul is eternal.

Your identity, as you are addressed, lives and dies. The real you goes on in which as in nature, there are changes of seasons. Life and death are a succession of change of scenes, till our role ends in the play scripted by the Supreme Soul.

Failure to comprehend the true nature of the Universal Self causes turmoil and torments in our life. Accept life as His wish, let His will flow. When the mind is not peaceful and the body is not stable, the struggle becomes formidable. Our endeavour should be to live in harmony with nature. Whenever some grief may strike us, we must immediately jump into searching out the reason of its coming up. This process will involve our time and anxiety towards improvement of our worldly status, side-by-side reducing the impact of the grief on our life. It is therefore advisable that we must give up the fear of death, the fear of torments in our life assuming that it is His wish. We can only try that the things which are happening not according to our wishes should not happen again during our life time. We must try sincerely so for the rest time of our present life time but not to forget that the bad things happen due to some reason which might have been created out of our faults or someone else had done.

Ultimately, we must not forget that life and death are natural part of a process. Be happy and give up the fear of death.

Be Happy – Have Faith In The Divine Will

When we pray to God, we do it for health, wealth, the longevity of the parents and beloved ones, the safety of the children or that some other desire fulfilled. These prayers, like all others, have power and energy that bring us to life in the time of depression.

The only difference between a prayer and a desire is that a prayer is directed towards God with faith. Faith plays an important role in whether the prayer is answered or not. But we do with an intensity of the heartfelt hope that the prayer will be answered – if not immediately, some time later.

We may be intensely praying for things or relationships that may not be good for us. But the intensity of our prayers creates a vibratory ripple in the Cosmos that will have its answer, its result – the fruit of the desire seed. This is why it is important for our spiritual growth to let God decide what is best for us. As the saying goes, ‘be careful of what you wish for, because you might get it’.

When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, he knew the fate he would suffer the next day. Though he was divine in nature, he was also in human form and naturally did not want to die. So, in Luke 22:42, we learn that he said the following prayer: “Father, if Thou be willing, remover this cup from me: nevertheless not my Will, but Thine, be done.” Christ put God’s will above his own. “Thy will be done” is also part of the Lord’s Prayer. This is the essence of faith in its truest and purest form.

Putting everything into God’s hands and saying simply, “Let Thy Will be done” requires a tremendous amount of courage. It requires a lot of faith. Because somewhere deep down inside your heart and mind, you wish and hope that the Lord’s will coincides with your own.

But true and pure faith knows that the Will of God is best for you. That is true faith. Like in the case of Christ, if he had not died on the cross, he would not have therefore been glorified through resurrection and thus his mission would not have been accomplished. So, his will in this case, would not have been the best for him. God knew what was best and since Christ Said, “Let Thy will be done”, it was done.

At the same time it is fine to put your request before the Lord like Christ did when he said, “If Thou be willing, remove this cup from me.” So you can ask God – “If thou Art be willing then let Thy will be done, not mine.”

This prayer – if said with utmost faith and sincerity and with the knowledge that God loves you and will do whatever is in your best interest – will yield the sweetest fruit.

That is why whenever you go to pray, please do it with utmost sincerity at heart for the welfare of all; God is there to do the right for you. Leave everything upon Him to decide and be happy thereafter, assuming that you have done your best, you have surrendered yourself to His will for the results and now your worries stand transferred to Him to solve in the way best for you.

Be Happy - Take Charge Of Your Life

Sometime when we see that things don’t happen the way we want them to, we name it destiny. This is how we people deal with failure; to console ourselves. Whatever situations we are living in, to be human means that we can mould situations the way we want them. But today, most people in the world are moulded by the situations in which they exist in reaction to the situations they are placed in. So their question will be, “why was I placed in such a situation? Is it my bad luck, is it my destiny?”

In course of time, we have acquired certain tendencies depending upon the type of impressions we gathered. This can be changed. Irrespective of our current tendencies, our past experience of life, our genetics, irrespective of who our parents were, where we were born, where we grew up, if we do certain things with ourselves, it is sure that we can change this. We can completely rewire ourselves in 24 hours time.

A century ago, many things that people believed to be destiny of God’s will, like diseases, infections and death are today in our hands because we have taken charge of certain things. What we call technology today is just this: Within the laws of nature, everything on the outside that can be taken charge of, we will take charge of someday.

Everything that this life is, is naturally happening to a certain law. If we come to know what the nature of life within us is, we can completely take charge of the way it happens. Then we would not let any unpleasantness happen to us?

Unhappiness is happening to us in the form of anger, fear, anxiety and stress because our basic faculties – our body, mind, emotions and our life energies – are doing their own thing as if they don’t belong to us.

It doesn’t matter who we are. Life doesn’t work for us unless we do the right things. Good, bad, all essentially human and socially conditioned. Every society has its own idea of what is good and bad, but existence is treating all of us equally. We should not get disappointed with our failures. We can win again if we take over ourselves to the right direction. What is the right direction will have to be searched by deeply studying ourselves where we committed fault. Then, we may carry on corrective action in our future attempts.

If we wish to be happy really, we will have to take charge of our life.

Be Happy – True happiness is within you.

A fool may seek happiness in the distance but a wise person grows it under his feet. Really, true happiness cannot be sought outside of ourselves – not in our relationships with others, the groups we belong to, or in the things around us. Unless we stand alone in our own shadow and feel happiness from within, true happiness may always elude us for external things come and go like the tide. The only constant in our life is our own self.

Most of the time and the most of us seek happiness from outside because we humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. For a pretty good period, we survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. So, we learn from a young age to rely on others rather than on our selves. If we rely on others for our food, shelter and other needs, why not for happiness, we should rely? Well, happiness, of course, comes through many things and our social relationships and other external factors can bring us much joy, but many of us have not connected with, as we have connected with others. The negative side is that placing all of our happiness in the hands of others will lead to a lot of pain and disappointment throughout our life.

No matter how much we love a partner, a child, or a friend, we cannot make our happiness conditional upon them. Why? Because we will have certain expectations of others and when those expectations aren’t met, we may feel hurt, betrayed, misunderstood, taken for granted, invalidated, confused. We have each grown to develop our own sets of values, beliefs, attitudes and ways of looking at the world. Our views may not be exactly the same as our loved ones. However, we often expect those loved one to know what we want from them.

When someone else’s actions don’t live up to our expectations you are let down. Often he other person won’t even realise they’ve done something to cause us pain because they don’t know our expectations unless we explicitly share them. Often we don’t even realise our own expectations until we feel someone has hurt or disappointed us. For example, we may unconsciously expect our partner to show their love in a particular way such as saying “I love you” regularly and when this doesn’t happen we start to wonder if they truly care for us. We may feel un-acknowledged and unloved. However our partner may feel that they are showing their love through their actions. We have one belief while our partner has another. Is there a lack of love? No, while we let our feelings build into a stressful negative state within us; our partner would probably be very surprised to know we feel that way.

It’s unrealistic to expect another person to know what’s in our head – our values, beliefs and expectations. Thinking “Well they should know!” is not good enough, yet most of us would have thought this of someone else at some stage. Put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. They see we become sad, angry, unresponsive to them, or upset and don’t know what they’ve done, or if it’s even them who has made us unhappy. This leads to negative feelings from both sides and possibly arguments that could be avoided through open communication.

Rather than looking to others for our needs, we must begin by looking within ourselves. When we feel a sense of disappointment in someone, we should use it as an opportunity to analyse our own expectations. The only person who should truly be able to disappoint us is ourselves – when we are not being true to ourselves in some way. We may take that disappointment and turn it into a positive – a pledge; an action that we should take to better ourselves. We must analyse why we are disappointed or hurt. We may find our initial thoughts or statements begin with “because he did” or “Because she didn’t; now we may look deeper to the true reason for our disappointment. Such statements will start with “Because I expected”, “Because I wanted” or “Because I thought he or she should”.

If we truly ever have control over ourselves and realising, this can save us a lot pain. Of course we can be disappointed in others but we have no control over their actions and reactions. We can share the reasons for our disappointment but we cannot expect the other person or situation to change because the other person has free will.

When we realize that we are responsible for our thinking and expectations, we will start to see that we had placed much of our happiness in the hands of others. We can now take our power back by recognizing that we have the choice to react to something either negatively or positively. By making our happiness conditional upon another person, we hand our power over to them. We feel a ‘victim’ whenever things don’t go as we want or expect. In doing this we set ourselves up for pain, but we can now turn this around and instead set ourselves up for happiness.

We are all humans and we are designed to make mistakes as they are our greatest opportunities to learn. All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within. Be happy by recognizing that the true happiness is within us. Just we need to take action accordingly.

Be Happy – Discover Yourself

We all are in this world to experience our own reality, to enjoy and pass the time allotted to us by Him. But most of us reach a place where we are not so content with our lives conventionally. Some people are found adventures to enjoy their lives. Really, life is intended to be lived here in great joy, with great wisdom, and with energy abounding.

But many people live in a state of fear, or exhaustion, or depression, often because they are not living the true life. They just do what they see others are doing. They do not apply their wisdom to know whether they are living in right direction, with right people and with right cause and infrastructure available with them. They do not do anything to improve them too.

A lot can change if we ever make self-discovery. So far we may be following someone else’s mandates or beliefs, or we may be allowing our souls to remain blocked until we are ready to fully experience our truth. To enjoy, we need to bring more joy into our life, ways in which we are able to express our true self, ways in which we may give love to others and receive love for ourself. We must look deeper inside ourself and discover where our joy may lie dormant, we need to activate that. We must continue to look until we find the things, which bring to us the joy and then begin doing them. We may not find our truth entirely the next moment. It may take years for one to open fully to one’s self, after years of self-denial. But once we begin to discover the things, we would get success surely.

Since our truths are within us, deep inside where we place them, this is a time to know who we are. It’s a time to allow that to be enough. It’s not a time to seek ourselves in the external world, for that world holds no answers for us. We must allow ourself to experience our reality as fully as possible, as if we then discover there are places which are not in alignment with our truth, allow them to slowly dissolve, to release from our being. As we become more aligned with our truth, we would become happier with our life – even though we are letting go of many aspects of our former self. Our life will come more into balance; we may become the being we are here.To be happy, we need to discover ourselves first and then resolve how we can be happy by nurturing our true wishes.

Be Happy – Make Yourself Lucky.

It is really a matter of chance that some people have all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve. All the people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, but their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Lucky people consistently encounter chance opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

Why some people are lucky but some other are unlucky depends upon their own approach to the work assigned to them or targeted by them. If you give same newspaper to lucky and unlucky persons, you will find that that the person, supposed to be lucky, will go through the newspaper thoroughly and find out the viable whereas the other one may not do it and would keep himself busy to find out what else beyond the edges of that piece of newspaper. Unlucky person is generally tenser than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts the ability to notice the unexpected. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties’ intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. Lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, and create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. The elusive ‘luck factor’ can be found out if we may follow the following rules:

1) Listen to your gut instincts – they are normally right.

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.

4) Visualize yourself beings lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

Have some job aimed at, examine its viability and work for it sincerely – you will be lucky and be

Happy.

Be Happy - Be Creative

To feel true happiness of the heart, you need to give up feelings of your depression forcefully and turn yourself to some creative job to keep yourself busy. You know, even cleaning a floor or re-visiting your library to go through some good book can be a tremendously creative act. Creativity has no creative act itself. It has nothing to do with any particular work but with the quality of your consciousness. Whatever you do can become creativity if you put in your heart and soul.

Creativity means enjoying any work as doing any work with deep love. When you paint over something at your home – it may an old cupboard, your book shelf or some table etc., you may perhaps not feel that you are doing some creative job. But you are doing it. Painting is just as ordinary as ordinary as cleaning the floor. You will be throwing colours on a canvas. Here you go on washing and cleaning the floor. What is the difference? It is a better utilization of the time which would have gone waste. Talking to a friend, a little gossiping is perfectly beautiful. Be creative. You would like to write a book to compile your thoughts and/or hearsay from any other one, you will be creative.

All the great scriptures are nothing but conversations of people who were creative. What you do conversing meaningfully with some one, it will become memories some other day, but originally these are conversations. Since you both enjoy doing them, it is creative.

A person of mature understanding is continuously creative. Not that he/she is trying to be creative. Every action he/she takes is a creative act. Follow him/her, review his/her acts and adopt the merits therein. It would also be creative.

To provide an appropriate environment to the creativity, you need to give up your ego. Life consists of small things; just when your ego goes on saying these are small things, you may not be able to do creativity. You may like to do some great thing – great poetry. You may like to become Shakespeare, Kalidas or Milton. It is your feelings of weakness that may restrain and create the trouble. Drop the negative feelings and everything is creative. Then everything is tremendously great. If you don’t love, then your ego goes on saying, “This is not worthy of you.”- your weak feelings may say that you won’t be able to do this thing, that thing and one day, you will end up doing nothing. Therefore, take it that every small job is great. You must love doing anything. You will become great one day and you will be happy again!

Be Happy - You Are Important

It is true. You are an important person. Look back at your past. How has your life impacted others? Don’t dismiss your small contributions as unimportant because the truth is that often these many small changes lead you to greater good.

Now think about your life right now. How many people depend on you among your family, friends, and community? If you stayed in bed tomorrow, how many lives would be affected by your absence?

Now think about your future. What potential exists for your life to impact the lives of others? Think about your home and family, your friends and community, and your professional life. Don’t think about probabilities but rather possibilities. You have the potential to change many lives just by being you and living your life. You are important because you are the sum total of all these effects: your past, your present, and your future. What you have done, what you are doing, and what you can do in the future are all the elements that make you an important and valuable person who deserves to be happy.

Be Happy – Take Your Decisions Firmly.

It is very much difficult for you to remain undecided on any matter for a long time. You will have to decide either affirmatively or negatively on any matter coming before you – maybe you would like to postpone the decision for the time being but it is the most impossible thing for the mind, is to remain in the middle, to remain balanced. To move from one thing to its opposite is the easiest because to move from one polarity to another is the nature of the mind.

Really, it is very much easy for a person, who overeats, to go on a fast. It looks illogical, because we think that a person who is obsessed with food cannot go on a fast. But not, only a person who is obsessed with food can fast, because fasting is the same obsession in the opposite direction. You are not really changing yourself. You are still obsessed with food. Before you were overeating; now you are hungry – but the mind remains focused on food from the opposite extreme.

Our mind is just a clock’s pendulum. The pendulum goes to the right, then it moves to the left, then again to the right and again to the left; the clock’s working depends on this movement. If it stays in the middle, the clock stops. And when it moves to the right, we think it is only going to the right, but at the same time it is gathering momentum to go the left, the more energy it gathers to move to the left, and vice versa.

In the same way, thinking means momentum. The mind starts arranging for the opposite. When you love a person, you can have reasons to hate him also. That’s why only friends can become enemies. You cannot suddenly become an enemy unless you have first become a friend. Only lovers can quarrel and fight, because unless you love, how can you hate? Unless you have moved far to the extreme left, how can you move to the right? If you love someone, you may hate him also. If you don’t have love for him, why should you go in opposite direction, to hate him?

Lord Buddha taught eight disciplines, and with each discipline he used the word right. He said: Right effort, because it is very easy to move from action to inaction, from waking to sleep, but to remain in the middle is difficult. When Buddha used the word right he was saying: don’t move to the opposite, just stay in the middle. Right food – he never said to fast. Don’t indulge in too much eating and don’t indulge in fasting. He said: right food. Right food means standing in the middle.

When you are standing in the middle you are not gathering any momentum. And this is the beauty of it – a man who is not gathering any momentum to move anywhere, can be at ease with himself, can be at home. But for progress, for your contentment, you will have to decide some course of action finally on the matter standing before you.

Be Happy - Have confidence in God

Nothing in this world can happen by accident. Someone has to be there to co-ordinate everything happening around us, good or had, since every action has a reason irrespective of its consequence on our life and our happiness.

The human body is a marvelous creation and everything works with clock-like precision. One day, something happens and the body becomes limp and comes to a standstill. We pronounce the man dead. If you dissect the body and figure what was there before and what has gone away, makes all the difference between life and death.

We have no explanation, since everything that is supposed to be inside the body is inside it even after death. We have no explanation for this phenomenon, we have no explanation for a power, which controls the events of this world, and God is a convenient term to address this cosmic force.

In no other profession you have the unique opportunity to take someone to the brink of death and bring him or her back to life. Many times we come across patients who have absolutely no chance to live, because of the condition they suffer from, and walking out of the hospital in less than seven days hale and hearty! Sometimes patients, who had a strong possibility of survival following the operation, do not make it. What is the reason for this outcome? Are we in command? No, certainly no. A surgeon, before he starts the operation, he prays to God and do the operation in His name. Success and failure are not because of him. It may be through him. When we take more responsibilities on our shoulders, we get more stressed. Instead, if we hand over all the responsibilities to Him and work in His name, we can do a wonderful job.

Be Happy - Cultivate Your Mind

Once some disciples asked Lord Buddha, “Are you God?” He replied, “No”.
“Then,You are a godman?” Again he replied in the negative. “Are you an ordinary mortal?” He calmly replied, “No, I am the unchanged elemental consciousness behind all the actions, reactions, thinking, feeling, and willing. I am the unmoved observer, self-liberated from the unending universal flux.” The core of his teaching takes us to the state of pure consciousness within the framework of the body-mind complex.

He identified four functional segments of the psyche. The first is pure consciousness without which the sense organs are lifeless. The second part perceives and recognises with the help of past experiences or memories and observes the properties accordingly. The essence of his doctrine is that universe which can be identified as ‘me’ or ‘mine’. There is neither a doer nor a sufferer, but merely a flow of phenomena. Hence, rise above the feeling of happiness and sorrow and be a witness to the universal flux.

The third part evaluates and accepts objects or feelings as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, while the fourth part reacts and commands the sense organs to act. Human suffering is an outcome of attachment; basically a reaction to perceptible reality. In case we remain in the first state of mind pure consciousness, the sensations, feelings and attachments will not be identified as ours but as merely part of passing phenomena. The meditation of mindfulness is intended to establish that consciousness in us.

Practising body contemplation starts with mindfulness of respiration: short, long, cool and warm, for example. This follows contemplation on the posture with clear comprehension of the sensations and reflection on the body under the skin from head to toe and the basic elements forming the body like solids, liquids, and the gaseous and fiery elements.

Contemplation of feelings involves observing a particular feeling as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral without identifying any as a mere flow of phenomena. Contemplation of origin and dissolution of feelings establish the thought that feeling exists to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness. But essentially the meditating person remains detached and clings to nothing in the world.

Contemplation of the four noble truths namely, suffering, the root cause of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the end of suffering. Cessation of suffering occurs in a still mind free from the flame of desire. Therefore, cultivation of a still mind, not inert but actively aware of the happenings, is the key to great liberation.

Be Happy - Activate Humor and Laughter

Humor, Laughter and Health

Laughter activates the chemistry of the will to live and increases our capacity to fight disease. Laughing relaxes the body and reduces problems associated with high blood pressure, strokes, arthritis, and ulcers. Some research suggests that laughter may also reduce the risk of heart disease. Historically, research has shown that distressing emotions (depression, anger, anxiety, and stress) are all related to heart disease.

Bring more humor and laughter into our lives. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. Humor and laughter can cause a domino effect of joy and amusement, as well as set off a number of positive physical effects. Humor and laughter strengthen our immune systems and help us recover from illness, as well as bring joy into our lives.

Be Happy - Yoga and Children

Yoga exercises are not recommended for children under 16 because their bodies’ nervous and glandular systems are still growing, and the effect of Yoga exercises on these systems may interfere with natural growth. But children may safely practice meditation and simple breathing exercises as long as the breath is never held. These techniques can greatly help children learn to relax, concentrate, and reduce impulsiveness. Children trained in these techniques are better able to manage emotional upsets and cope with stressful events.

There is no doubt that Yoga postures (asans) and breathing techniques affect the physical body. People these days commonly accept the fact that such therapies as acupressure, neuromuscular massage, and reflexology can have systemic effects due to pressure applied to certain areas of the body. The physical basis for the effects of Yoga asans may be related. The asans and breathing techniques provide a deep massage and strong compression of the parts of the body where endocrine glands are located. Many Yoga stretches seem to target the nerves in the legs, arms, neck, and spine. That is why the children are generally not advised to undertake complicated Yoga postures.

The powerful physical and mental effects of Yoga asans may interfere with their natural growth.

Be Happy - Keep Your Heart Healthy

For keeping your heart healthy, you may undertake exercise 30 min most days of the week with a moderate-intensity activity (e.g. brisk walk) and 60-90 min daily for weight control. (Check with your healthcare practitioner before starting any exercise program). Aim for at least 30 minutes a day or two 15-minute periods of exercise. Maximize health benefits by making exercise a part of your daily routine andDo warms-up and cool-down exercises to help prevent muscle injury.
Further, you may take a wide variety of foods in moderation Use the Nutrition Facts Label as an aid for healthful choices. Limit total fat. Limit saturated fat. Avoid hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils -known as trans-fat (read the ingredients section).
Replace unhealthy fats with healthy monounsaturated fats like olive, canola and peanut oils. Eat at least two fish meals a week. Cold water fish contain health omega-3 oils. Drink 4-6 glasses of water a day. Maintain a healthy weight. Don't crash diet.

Stress is a normal part of life how you deal with it can have an affect on your heart. Schedule time to do the things that give you pleasure.
Devote an hour a day to relax. Take a walk, do yoga stretches. Try needlepoint...any activity that promotes relaxation. Practice meditation to help control reactions to stress. Get sound sleep. Allow others to help with daily chores.

Since Intimacy, trust and feeling supported are ingredients of a healthy relationship, share your feelings with a trusted loved one. Learn to communicate effectively to get what you need. Seek counseling or support groups if you have difficulty relating to others.

You may consider the above and take action as you desire – but keep yourself happy – be happy.

Be Happy - Adopt Yoga Against Depression

Depression is a state of sadness. However, it is not to be confused with major depression, which is a mental condition characterized by a severe state of sadness or melancholy that has reached the point of hindering a person from functioning well socially.

While simple depression (or a depressed mood) may only last for a short time and can be treated easily, major depression can last for a longer time and treatment can vary from person to person. Major depression is also more dangerous because not only does it disrupt your social functions, but it has more serious symptoms such as:

• Being fatigued physically and mentally
• Change in appetite
• Feeling of intense fear or melancholy
• Irritability
• Loss of interest in usual activities
• Changes in sleeping patterns (e.g. insomnia, excessive sleep, or loss of REM sleep)
• Trouble in decision-making or in concentrating
• Feelings of guilt, hopelessness, or helplessness
• Delusions or hallucinations
• Recurring thoughts of suicide or death

Aside from major depression, there are other categories of depression:

• Dysthymia – This is a long-term depression that lasts for at least two years. Its symptoms are the same — but not as intense — as those of major depression, although people who suffer from Dysthymia are also prone to major depression.
• Bipolar Disorder – This is characterized by mood swings that go from depression to mania (extremely elevated mood) and vice versa.
• Depression after Delivery: This is experienced by a woman some time in the first two years after giving birth as a result of physical, mental, and emotional tiredness. This type of depression must be treated immediately as it deters the mother from being with her newborn.
• Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) – Also known as winter depression, a person who has SAD possesses normal health condition throughout the year but suffers from depression during winter.

Of course, like other mental disorders, depression should be consulted to medical professionals. They will give you proper medication and treatment with regards to your personal condition. As a supplement to the treatment, you can choose to practice Yoga while in the process of recuperation. Yoga will help reduce stress, create a peaceful state of mind, and promote a positive outlook on life.

A daily Yoga practice can bring your physical body and your emotional body into balance, restoring a sense of well being and energy. You may feel more energy, love yourself more and have a happier life. But consider a somewhat different approach taken by the ancient yogis. Yoga teaches us to ask, why do we suffer when our natural state is sat chit ananda, the intelligent awareness of bliss? This is not some “blissed out” high, but a fully mindful state of stable equanimity, informed by “intelligent awareness.” Because beneath even the chaos of mania, the agony of depression, Yoga says, you are whole, or as yogi.
When you step onto your Yoga mat, you are reminded of that wholeness, and the practice clears a pathway through your symptoms to the ground of your being, that which is your natural state. Depression is the feeling of separation from self. The underlying yogic approach to treating depression is informed by the knowledge that there is no separation. The therapist stands firm in the truth of oneness. In other words, Yoga begins, not with the question—what is wrong with me? But what is right with me?

The Western culture is accustomed to thinking of mental health from the perspective of illness—how best to understand and treat the symptoms. But Yoga is being practiced as preventative and positive medicine. Just as the immune system is strengthened against the common cold and other viruses with daily practice, the emotional body is strengthened as well. The highs, the lows, the extremes of all the emotions are brought into balance by the practice. In every stage of Yoga, you will find relief from obsessive negative thinking. When you are first learning a pose and moving into it, you cannot possibly obsess about what you should have said in the meeting this morning. To learn the pose, your mind must focus on the details of alignment. Later, when you’re in the pose and you allow your mind to become absorbed in the sensations in your body, you are very far from your everyday troubles.

Everyone feels "blue" from time to time, but when depression deepens or persists for a long time, it can suppress your energy for living and make you more vulnerable to disease by dampening the immune system. Depression is sometimes a warning that may help you to protect your mental and physical health. It can be viewed as a signpost, signaling "It’s time for a change."

Complete relaxation and meditation practice show you how to access the strength and power of your inner self for a support system that keeps you going through all the ups and downs of your life.

Regular practice of Yoga will protect you from depression and help you stay bright-minded, while recognizing the signals that depression is giving you. To begin with, choose three exercises that appeal to you, and do them every day. Then, as you get more comfortable, expand your routine to give yourself more of a challenge and increase the beneficial effects.

The first thing a depressed person stops doing is moving. Regular exercise becomes intolerable. But Yoga exercise, starting with as few as three poses a day in just a few minutes’ time, coupled with correct breath patterns, can become so pleasant to you that soon you will want to do more and more. The heavy, unmoving feeling of depression will be on the run! Yoga exercises put pressure on glands and organs, helping them to produce the soothing, healing chemical balance that is needed to feel well and be well. Yoga exercises improve circulation, sending invigorating oxygen to your brain and all your muscles. The stretching and strengthening movements flush toxins from the body as well. Often depression sneaks in slowly, as breathing patterns change from too much sitting at a desk, stress, age, or illness. The deep, invigorating breath techniques of Yoga bring large amounts of fresh oxygen to the brain and other parts of the body. Like a spring wind, it blows through the system bringing new light and strength to the unused parts of the body and mind where depression hides.

Be Happy - Making Big Decision So Simply

When you have a big decision to make, you may feel better if you let your unconscious mind point you in the right direction.

Research shows that people are more likely to be satisfied with an important decision if unconscious thought helped lead the way. To engage your unconscious mind, try this. List the pros and cons for each choice you're deliberating and then go to bed. Your unconscious mind will go to work while you sleep -- and you may wake up with a fresh perspective.

Allowing your unconscious mind to help lead the way when you make big decisions doesn't mean you shouldn't think about your choices and carefully weigh all of your options. Do your homework and work out all the pros and cons. However, after you have researched the options and gathered all the information you need to make a good choice, try putting the matter aside for a short time. If you give your conscious mind a break from churning over the options, your unconscious mind may take over and help you settle on the right choice. A recent study suggested people may be more satisfied with a big decision that their unconscious mind helped make. The opposite may be true of simple decisions, however, such as which color towels or sheets to buy. In those circumstances, people in the study were more likely to be satisfied with their choice if they consciously thought through their options and based their decision on that process.

Be Happy - Protect Your Emotional Health

Don't skimp on stress-relieving activities during this hectic time of year. Research shows that chronic tension can increase men's 10-year risk of heart disease and atrial fibrillation -- a heart rhythm disorder.

Take time out of each day to exercise, meditate, or just breathe deeply and quietly for 10 uninterrupted minutes.

Tension refers to mental strain, nervousness, and restlessness. Anxiety refers to apprehension and fear about the future, which can cause rapid heart rate, dizziness, fatigue, and muscle aches. Both anxiety and tension take a toll on your well being. In a recent study, researchers discovered that men who experienced high levels of tension suffered higher rates of heart disease and atrial fibrillation and had higher mortality rates compared to men who did not experience chronic feelings of tension. Tension did not appear to have the same effect in women; however, high levels of anxiety correlated with elevated mortality rates in both men and women. Counter the aging effects of stress by eating a healthy diet, exercising, and engaging in relaxing activities daily, such as meditating or listening to soothing music. If you have trouble controlling your stress on your own, consult your healthcare provider.

Taking care of your emotional health and well-being can make your age up to 16 years younger.

Be Happy - No Depression

If you've experienced gloomy moods, you know the toll they can take on your personal and professional life. But are you aware of the negative impact that depression can have on your health? Depression not only affects how you think, but it also affects your immune system, your patterns of sleep, and the natural processes that keep everything in working order, both physically and mentally.
Several studies have revealed connections between emotional well-being and immune system response. In fact, depression has been linked prospectively to hypertension, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and asthma. Whether depressive symptoms are a marker for or a cause of these conditions remains to be determined. However, numerous studies have shown that the interaction of depression and chronic diseases greatly increases the risk for poor health outcomes.One recent study in postmenopausal women revealed that even a mild case of the blues may increase the risk of developing heart disease down the road. Depression has been linked prospectively to hypertension, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and asthma. Although researchers estimate that up to six million men in the United States suffer from a depressive disorder every year, depression can be tricky to recognize in men as it often shows up as irritability, anger, and frustration

Be Happy - Art of Injury Prevention

Don't tackle a tough physical task if you're seeing red.

Research suggests that being angry may increase a person's risk of injury nearly seven-fold. About 63 percent of people surveyed during an emergency room visit indicated they were feeling irritable, angry, or hostile at the time they were injured. Before taking on a physical task, count to 10, breathe deeply, and approach your project with a sense of calm to reduce your risk of injury.

More and more research suggests that chronic anger is bad for your health. Although everyone experiences temporary bouts of anger, called "state anger," people who have an enduring hostile or angry attitude, called "trait anger," may have an increased risk of arterial aging, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and a depressed immune system. New research suggests that state anger increases the risk of injury, especially in men. The study looked at people who visited an emergency room for treatment of an injury and reported their emotions immediately prior to the injury. The majority were angry at the time of their injuries. Exercise, journaling, deep breathing, and venting your frustrations to a trusted friend are all great ways to diffuse angry feelings. If you have a chronic problem controlling your anger, consider seeing a psychotherapist or counselor to learn how to decrease hostility and protect yourself from long-term health consequences.

Taking care of your emotional health and well-being can make your Age up to 16 years younger.

Be Happy - Getting to Know You

When things slow down, getting to know your body a little better may help bring back your regularity. Biofeedback is a reporting process that delivers real-time information about how various physiological systems are performing and can help people gain conscious control over them.

Biofeedback is a reporting process that delivers real-time information about how various physiological systems are performing and can help people gain conscious control over them. In a study, undergoing five weekly sessions of biofeedback helped relieve some forms of constipation in the study participants and decreased their abdominal pain.
Biofeedback can be used for a variety of purposes, from controlling anxiety disorders to controlling overactive bladder or bowel dysfunction. Recordings taken of the activity levels of different systems are used to help people recognize and feel when those systems are functioning optimally and eventually control those systems. Biofeedback can be performed using simple tools or complex devices. For example, a mirror could be used to provide feedback about emotional states during stressful times, or an intricate system of electronic sensors and computers could be employed to determine the level of activity in a person's pelvic floor muscles when the bladder is full. Researchers speculate that biofeedback may be useful for people whose constipation is related to a lack of coordination in the pelvic floor muscles. To prevent constipation, get at least 25 grams of fiber per day. Some people may need more or less fiber to say regular. Fiber-rich foods include apples, pears, oatmeal, legumes, whole grains, and prunes. Most people should get at least 25 grams of fiber per day, but men under the age of 50 should aim for 38 grams. Increase your intake of fiber slowly over a period of weeks to minimize bloating, cramping, and other uncomfortable symptoms. Getting regular exercise, staying well hydrated, and visiting the bathroom immediately when you feel the urge to go also may help prevent or relieve constipation.

Taking care of your emotional health and well-being can make your Age up to 16 years younger.