Three easy exercises to boost your happiness

KEEPING up a positive state of mind can seem challenging, but research suggests that chasing happiness, rather than success or money, may be the key to good health. Studies have linked happy emotions to healthier hearts, stronger immune systems and longer lives.

Therapist Richard Nicholls believes you can improve your wellbeing in just a few minutes’ each day. He shares three happiness-boosting exercises:

1

Write your feelings in a journal Keeping a personal journal is a great way to gain a better perspective. Research has even shown it to have similar benefits to counselling. But a journal shouldn’t be about wallowing in self-pity; it should be a tool to help you to see alternative ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Grab a notepad and a pencil and get writing. If you’re going to write about something that made you unhappy, also write about the thoughts you had that allowed the unhappy feeling.

If you’re writing your journal by hand, remember to date your entry. This way you can see exactly where you were in life at the time and can also help you to see where the gaps are. Find a topic you want to write about and have a brain dump for 15 minutes.

2

Use ‘thought stopping’ to quell negative thoughts

In the case of emotional and mental health, trying not to think about things that would upset you actually encourages your brain to focus on it even more, so you need to take more control over where your thoughts go. This is how ‘thought stopping’ should work. Instead of trying not to think about something, you should instead deliberately think about something else.

Picture something that represents the word stop: a traffic light. Once you’ve moved your focus from the obsessive thought, you’ll have more control over where it goes next.

3

Check for double standards Grab a pen and paper and think about the standards you set yourself in one particular area of your life – relationship, at work, as a friend or as a parent.

Go through the list again, only see those standards as someone else’s – someone you are close to and have great respect for.

Now ask yourself what effect crossing off those expectations would have if you applied them to yourself. Does everything work out okay despite it?

Make a new list of all the expectations you crossed off from the different areas of your life. Pick one that you crossed off and think about how you’d act differently if you no longer had this expectation, and deliberately integrate it into your day. When you feel ready, look through your list again and pick another one to integrate into your life.

15 Minutes To Happiness by Richard Nicholls is published by Blink Publishing, priced £8.99.