Watch and listen to Dr. Aymee talk about how you can be happy even if you are under a lot of time pressure!
Learn an easy exercise for living in the moment that will help you to focus in the moment and respond to your time pressures with happiness and zest!
Need more help or inspiration to respond to your time pressures with happiness? Then visit my self help store :)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Happy For Over 20 Years Straight :-)!
Watch & learn from Bob Nozik, author of 'Happy 4 Life: Here's How To Do It!'.
He is a man who has been happy for over 20 years straight!
In this Spreecast interview with Dr. Aymee he shares his story of how he achieved lasting happiness & gives great tips for how you can do it too :)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
He is a man who has been happy for over 20 years straight!
In this Spreecast interview with Dr. Aymee he shares his story of how he achieved lasting happiness & gives great tips for how you can do it too :)!
Feeling inspired? Need more help to become Happy 4 Life? Visit my self-help store for some great tools :)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Friday, May 25, 2012
How To Be Happy At Work In 4 Quick Steps :-)!
Are you struggling with stress at work, or even work depression?
In this spreecast recording, Dr. Aymee teaches 4 quick steps that will help you learn how to be happy at work :-)!
You can use the learning in this video to eliminate bad days at work forever!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
In this spreecast recording, Dr. Aymee teaches 4 quick steps that will help you learn how to be happy at work :-)!
You can use the learning in this video to eliminate bad days at work forever!
Feeling inspired? Need more help with learning how to be happy at work? Visit my self-help store for some great tools :)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Will $19.1 Billion Make You Happy?
Close your eyes and imagine you are Mark Zuckerberg today. You are feeling your bank account growing and expanding beyond any previous effort on the entire planet Earth!
Go ahead, think about how that would feel to see the most abundant financial and professional success of anyone known to man!
Feel the pride, the accomplishment, the abundance, the inspiration of who to help and what to do with the wealth of resources available at this price tag.
Allow your inspiration to wonder, who would you ‘save’? What would you ‘change’? What would you ‘do’? How would you feel, knowing you can make a difference to the tune of 19.1 billion?
In America, we love capitalism, we love money, and we value our happiness!
It is in our culture, we will do anything for happiness, albeit, take a pill a day, buy fancy cars, donate to favorite charities, get a new haircut or new pair of shoes on top of the 100 pairs we already have.
We are always seeking that which will make us ‘feel better and stress less’ so we can find happiness in life and live with peace of mind and heart.
Our culture veins are consistently pumping with messages of need more, want more, spend more, get more, more more more more more...
There is never an end to the feeling of needing more and not having enough.
We are a consistently dissatisfied culture experiencing immense amounts of stress and horrific numbers of depression cases, let alone suicides.
So as we sit back and watch the wealth explode through the ether of our planet, get excited and inspired with what $19.1 billion can do to help the world be a better place. Feel the pride and accomplishment it must feel like to see this level of success of your hard work, vision, and leadership.
This multi billion-dollar concept is so far beyond the average person making 40k a year, it is hard to believe, imagine, or conceive what that feels like.
It must be a feeling of joy and bliss beyond our wildest dreams, right?!
Yet, what if it’s not?
What if its terror, fear, stress, upset, dread of the ‘high’ wearing off.
I have worked with plenty of people who have had the success, the fame, the fortune, the accomplishments, the recognition, yet all of these are unsustainable paths to achieve deep inner contentment and bliss.
So as we are pumped with the messages of
Need more
Want more
I don’t have enough
I can’t make a difference
I can’t be happy until ...
We need to be inspired with our leaders who have been able to do the un-doable. Accomplish goals beyond our wildest dreams.
We need to be realistic and realize the sustainable happiness path is on the inside. Money can increase yet stakes increase, responsibilities increase, the game is bigger, the losses are greater, stress can increase dramatically after the ‘high’ of the initial happiness boost.
After the initial boost, happiness derived from external rewards only lasts up to 3 months most of the time.
By the way, research has shown that beyond 70k on average in America, money does not influence happiness. However, we all know ‘poorer’ countries can be even happier with a lot less than the American dollar of 70k a year.
It will be an interesting observation to see how this financial windfall affects Mr. Zuckerberg’s levels of stress and his inner peace.
There are ‘successful’ people who are miserable. They know that another $100,000 or even another 1 million is not going to make them happier.
So, what is there to learn here?
A way to happiness is an inside job. Any amount of money is not going to create a sustained frequent positive mood, contentment, or eternal states of bliss for you. It is an inescapable journey that each of us must take for our own levels of peace without stress.
If you can admit that maybe even $19.1 billion may not equal sustainable inner peace and in fact it can even be experienced as deep inner turmoil and stress, then you could benefit from learning my 5 steps to sustainable happiness. Visit www.HappinessMakeover.com for more information.
Click here for downloable lessons to sustainable happiness.
With happiness,
Dr. Aymee Coget
Go ahead, think about how that would feel to see the most abundant financial and professional success of anyone known to man!
Feel the pride, the accomplishment, the abundance, the inspiration of who to help and what to do with the wealth of resources available at this price tag.
Allow your inspiration to wonder, who would you ‘save’? What would you ‘change’? What would you ‘do’? How would you feel, knowing you can make a difference to the tune of 19.1 billion?
In America, we love capitalism, we love money, and we value our happiness!
It is in our culture, we will do anything for happiness, albeit, take a pill a day, buy fancy cars, donate to favorite charities, get a new haircut or new pair of shoes on top of the 100 pairs we already have.
We are always seeking that which will make us ‘feel better and stress less’ so we can find happiness in life and live with peace of mind and heart.
Our culture veins are consistently pumping with messages of need more, want more, spend more, get more, more more more more more...
There is never an end to the feeling of needing more and not having enough.
We are a consistently dissatisfied culture experiencing immense amounts of stress and horrific numbers of depression cases, let alone suicides.
So as we sit back and watch the wealth explode through the ether of our planet, get excited and inspired with what $19.1 billion can do to help the world be a better place. Feel the pride and accomplishment it must feel like to see this level of success of your hard work, vision, and leadership.
This multi billion-dollar concept is so far beyond the average person making 40k a year, it is hard to believe, imagine, or conceive what that feels like.
It must be a feeling of joy and bliss beyond our wildest dreams, right?!
Yet, what if it’s not?
What if its terror, fear, stress, upset, dread of the ‘high’ wearing off.
I have worked with plenty of people who have had the success, the fame, the fortune, the accomplishments, the recognition, yet all of these are unsustainable paths to achieve deep inner contentment and bliss.
So as we are pumped with the messages of
Need more
Want more
I don’t have enough
I can’t make a difference
I can’t be happy until ...
We need to be inspired with our leaders who have been able to do the un-doable. Accomplish goals beyond our wildest dreams.
We need to be realistic and realize the sustainable happiness path is on the inside. Money can increase yet stakes increase, responsibilities increase, the game is bigger, the losses are greater, stress can increase dramatically after the ‘high’ of the initial happiness boost.
After the initial boost, happiness derived from external rewards only lasts up to 3 months most of the time.
By the way, research has shown that beyond 70k on average in America, money does not influence happiness. However, we all know ‘poorer’ countries can be even happier with a lot less than the American dollar of 70k a year.
It will be an interesting observation to see how this financial windfall affects Mr. Zuckerberg’s levels of stress and his inner peace.
There are ‘successful’ people who are miserable. They know that another $100,000 or even another 1 million is not going to make them happier.
So, what is there to learn here?
A way to happiness is an inside job. Any amount of money is not going to create a sustained frequent positive mood, contentment, or eternal states of bliss for you. It is an inescapable journey that each of us must take for our own levels of peace without stress.
If you can admit that maybe even $19.1 billion may not equal sustainable inner peace and in fact it can even be experienced as deep inner turmoil and stress, then you could benefit from learning my 5 steps to sustainable happiness. Visit www.HappinessMakeover.com for more information.
Click here for downloable lessons to sustainable happiness.
With happiness,
Dr. Aymee Coget
How To Discover Your Perfect Happy Profession :-)
When I was reflecting on “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I realized two of my strengths were talking and listening to people. Then I realized that, wait a minute, everyone is not good at those things. Hhhhhhmmmmm I also enjoy working with people more than animals, the earth, plants, electronics, etc. And I care about people living happier lives. I believe that the state of our world would be different if more human beings were happy! And so you have it! Aymee the sustainable happiness expert!
If you want to be able to create your happy profession, you have to be in touch with what you care about, what you are passionate about and what comes naturally for you, something which is determined through your strengths. Thanks to Dr. Jason Berman, we know that when we have strengths as part of our self-concept, we are happier. So think about how you can use your strengths to be happier in a work context.
If you are unsure about what your strengths are, go to the website www.authentichappiness.com, where you can take the VIA Signature Strengths Survey to find your top strengths.
I want you to take the information you find out from that survey and write down your top five strengths. Then make a chart on a Piece of Paper and BRAINSTORM!
Top 5 Strengths
|
Behaviors related to those strengths
|
Skills related to those behaviors
|
Activities related to those behaviors and skills
|
Need more help with creating your happy profession? Then visit my self-help store for some great tools :)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
How To Find Your Passion & Live With Zest :-)!
How many
people do you know that are passionate?
Most likely not very many. What
does the word Passion mean anyway?
Passion is any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.
Sometimes when I am at cocktail parties, to
skip the small talk, I will ask my new friend what they are passionate
about. It is interesting to see the
responses. Sometimes the answer is dull
and boring because the person is not in touch with their passion. However, now
they are thinking about it… and if the person does have people, places, things,
activities, or causes they are passionate about, their energy totally shifts
into the excitement of sharing their passion!
Passion
helps us live a zestful life. And zest is one of the five top strengths to build
and achieve sustainable happiness!
To gauge
what you are passionate about start logging down when you experience an intense
emotion. Who was there, what were you
talking about, and why did you respond so intensely?
Go on, take some time now to reflect
on the last time you felt an extreme emotion and describe the situation in writing -- Who was
there? What
were you talking about? Describe which extreme emotion you were feeling at the time? Why did
you feel so emotionally connected to the situation?
Considering
the answers to your questions above, what are you passionate about?
You can repeat the process for reflecting on other times you can remember
experiencing extreme emotions. Or going
forward you can start a passion journal and start logging the situations you
experience identifying things/people/topics that ignite intense emotions in
you, whether they are positive or negative to increase your awareness about
what exactly you are passionate about.
If you need more help getting in touch with your passions and living a zestful life, visit my self-help store :-)!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The 1st Step To Creating Your Happy Profession!
Do you hate your job?
Let me guess: You did or did not go to college and you found yourself stumbling around and haphazardly deciding on your profession.
Instead of continuing to allow your experiences, education, parents and other outside circumstances to dictate your professional decisions, wouldn't you like to know how to make CHOICES FROM YOUR HEART?
I have designed a format to help people learn how to create their most perfectly happy profession, step by step based on Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) Job Characteristics Model. Below is a brief lesson from Wikipedia on what this Job Characteristics Model is all about…
The Job Characteristics model (JCM) proposed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham in 1976 is a very influential model of job enrichment which attempts to address how a core set of job characteristics impact a number of psychological states, leading to specific related outcomes in the work environment. This model has five core job characteristics: skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy and feedback. The psychological states included in the model are meaningfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes and knowledge of results. Outcomes consist of high intrinsic motivation, high job performance, high job satisfaction and low absenteeism/turnover.
According to Hackman & Oldham’s model, skill variety, task significance and task identity are used in the work environment to stimulate meaningfulness and produce outcomes of both or either high intrinsic motivation and high job performance. Therefore, if employees feel they are fully utilizing a variety of their skills, their job affects many people to a great extent and they are allowed to complete the task from beginning to end, it is likely they will perceive the job as meaningful, leading to high job performance and/or high intrinsic motivation.
The presence of autonomy in the workforce leads to the psychological state of felt responsibility for outcomes, resulting in high job satisfaction. Thus, if employees are able to determine the method or approach in which the work is accomplished they feel responsible for the end product and are therefore more satisfied with what they have accomplished, less likely to quit (turnover) and also more likely to attend work (low absenteeism). Autonomy is contrasted by being told what to do and the manner in which to do it.
The last core job characteristic, feedback produces a psychological state in which employees develop knowledge of their results, producing outcomes similar to autonomy (high job satisfaction, low turnover/absenteeism). In other words, knowing how you are performing and being aware that superiors know how you are performing leads to more job satisfaction, less absenteeism and turnover.
Does that sound good to you? I hope so! Take the first step to creating your happy profession -- Put On Your Gandhi Hat!
For those who do not know of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948), he is one of the greatest leaders of our past. Mahatma Gandhi (məhatma; from Sanskrit, mahātmā: Great Soul), also known as Bapu (in Gujarati, Overweighther), was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. In India, he is recognized as the Overweighther of the Nation. October 2nd, his birthday, is commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, and is a national holiday. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha—the resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. (Wikipedia, 2007)
This man was the inspiration to many, I want you to think about yourself in his shoes. How would it feel, what would it look like, what would you be doing? What would give you so much meaning in life to go to the lengths that he went? What would this purpose be? Envision that you are living your life with an exclamation point! Others will always remember you for this (fill in the blank), because you did it so well and accomplished so much!
One of Gandhi’s more famous quotes is “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Please reflect on this. (Reflection is a fancy word for “mulling it over.”) What is the change you would want to see in the world? Embrace that, become that. I chose to become a happy, loving, accepting, healthy, peaceful person who helps others which is what I would like to see everyone look like in our world. After we make the decision to be the change we want to see in the world, it is imperative to learn how to accomplish and uphold that decision. Take some time now to describe the changes you would like to see in the world in writing. What does that look like for yourself? Describe yourself using those characteristics.
For more great tools and ideas to help you create your perfect, happy profession, visit my self-help store!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Let me guess: You did or did not go to college and you found yourself stumbling around and haphazardly deciding on your profession.
Instead of continuing to allow your experiences, education, parents and other outside circumstances to dictate your professional decisions, wouldn't you like to know how to make CHOICES FROM YOUR HEART?
I have designed a format to help people learn how to create their most perfectly happy profession, step by step based on Hackman and Oldham’s (1976) Job Characteristics Model. Below is a brief lesson from Wikipedia on what this Job Characteristics Model is all about…
The Job Characteristics model (JCM) proposed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham in 1976 is a very influential model of job enrichment which attempts to address how a core set of job characteristics impact a number of psychological states, leading to specific related outcomes in the work environment. This model has five core job characteristics: skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy and feedback. The psychological states included in the model are meaningfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes and knowledge of results. Outcomes consist of high intrinsic motivation, high job performance, high job satisfaction and low absenteeism/turnover.
According to Hackman & Oldham’s model, skill variety, task significance and task identity are used in the work environment to stimulate meaningfulness and produce outcomes of both or either high intrinsic motivation and high job performance. Therefore, if employees feel they are fully utilizing a variety of their skills, their job affects many people to a great extent and they are allowed to complete the task from beginning to end, it is likely they will perceive the job as meaningful, leading to high job performance and/or high intrinsic motivation.
The presence of autonomy in the workforce leads to the psychological state of felt responsibility for outcomes, resulting in high job satisfaction. Thus, if employees are able to determine the method or approach in which the work is accomplished they feel responsible for the end product and are therefore more satisfied with what they have accomplished, less likely to quit (turnover) and also more likely to attend work (low absenteeism). Autonomy is contrasted by being told what to do and the manner in which to do it.
The last core job characteristic, feedback produces a psychological state in which employees develop knowledge of their results, producing outcomes similar to autonomy (high job satisfaction, low turnover/absenteeism). In other words, knowing how you are performing and being aware that superiors know how you are performing leads to more job satisfaction, less absenteeism and turnover.
Does that sound good to you? I hope so! Take the first step to creating your happy profession -- Put On Your Gandhi Hat!
For those who do not know of Mahatma Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948), he is one of the greatest leaders of our past. Mahatma Gandhi (məhatma; from Sanskrit, mahātmā: Great Soul), also known as Bapu (in Gujarati, Overweighther), was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. In India, he is recognized as the Overweighther of the Nation. October 2nd, his birthday, is commemorated each year as Gandhi Jayanti, and is a national holiday. He was the pioneer of Satyagraha—the resistance of tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. (Wikipedia, 2007)
This man was the inspiration to many, I want you to think about yourself in his shoes. How would it feel, what would it look like, what would you be doing? What would give you so much meaning in life to go to the lengths that he went? What would this purpose be? Envision that you are living your life with an exclamation point! Others will always remember you for this (fill in the blank), because you did it so well and accomplished so much!
One of Gandhi’s more famous quotes is “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Please reflect on this. (Reflection is a fancy word for “mulling it over.”) What is the change you would want to see in the world? Embrace that, become that. I chose to become a happy, loving, accepting, healthy, peaceful person who helps others which is what I would like to see everyone look like in our world. After we make the decision to be the change we want to see in the world, it is imperative to learn how to accomplish and uphold that decision. Take some time now to describe the changes you would like to see in the world in writing. What does that look like for yourself? Describe yourself using those characteristics.
For more great tools and ideas to help you create your perfect, happy profession, visit my self-help store!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Friday, May 11, 2012
How To Create Your Happy Life :-)!
A wonderful woman, Sandy Weiner, who has a very decorated educational and professional resume in the area of leadership, sent the following visioning exercise to me that I adjusted for you. The first step in creating your vision for a happy life is to find a trusted companion and a quiet room where you can be relaxed. Have the person read to you the following visioning exercise.
To the reader: read the following passage closely and with positive intention, allowing the visualizer the time to relax and visualize.
Visioning Exercise
Speak slowly, in a warm voice….
(For about one minute)
Sit comfortably with your feet resting on the ground, your hands resting comfortably on your lap.
Take a deep breath and relax.
Now take another deep breath and relax even further.
You may notice that there are places in your body that are stressed or tight. Just notice them…. and then let them go.
Continue to breathe comfortably….
As thoughts occur,…. just notice them… and let them go
Say in a slowly paced, clear, and relaxed voice….
Imagine that you are walking along a seashore… The sun is shining and you can feel the sun’s warmth on your body. Continue to walk along the seashore. .. and relax….
Notice a door ahead of you. Open the door. There are stairs going down… Slowly descend the stairs …counting as you go…
1…. 2….…3…….4……5…….6……7……8………9……10
When you reach the landing notice that there is another door in front of you. On the door it says …. My Future Happy Life. It is a very beautiful door and you reach out with warmth and excitement to open the door and walk inside.
It is a movie theater and you notice that the movie playing is an exciting one -- 'My Happy Life looking back from the future to now'…. You take your seat in the theater and watch the movie. It is a very interesting movie, showing scenes of how you have progressed and grown happier and happier over the past years… You have taken a proactive stance in your happiness …. What institutions are you happily a part of? What type of people are around you? What types of conversations are they having?…. What does your home environment look like? Notice the people around you…. The types of things you are doing…. What gets you excited…… How you spend your day…..Note what role you play….. What types of sentences, phrases, and words come up in your speech? What are you proud of? What are your habits? What does being you feel like?… What else stands out for you? … What do others say about you? About your happiness?….How does it feel to hear these things? ....What are you doing for fun? ....What gives you flow in your life? …. What in your happy life stands out so much?
NOTE to the reader: leave time for each image to appear…. You may want to suggest that visualizers jot down what they are seeing on the paper in front of them and then go back to the movie until they are finished. Allow 5 - 10 minutes… repeating focal points as listed above or others every 15 - 20 seconds. When you feel ready to move on… say:
Now, it is time to end the movie and return to the present…. please close your eyes, notice your breathing again… and find yourself leaving the movie theater… exiting out the door and returning up the steps, counting 10…. 9….. 8…7…… 6…. Take a deep breath and begin to feel your body waken….. 5….4…..3…. notice the sounds in the room around you….. 2…. 1 ….
Open your eyes and slowly look around…. When you feel comfortable, please either write or draw as much of your vision of your future as you can. …. describing what your happy life will be like in the future. You may need to close your eyes briefly to remember parts….. Try to make your description as whole as possible.
Amazing! I hope what you saw in your visualization was amazing and eye opening to possibilities you never thought possible.
Someone once said that when we achieve our goals we will be happy. When we have met the perfect person we will be happy or when we do the right things or have the right material items in our life we will be happy.
This Is Wrong!
All of these come to us easier when we are happy. Please stop looking on the outside for other people, places and things to make you happy, just look inside of yourself. That is where true lasting happiness lays waiting for you to access it.
The vision that just appeared for you is available to you, you just have to decide to make it happen! If you write out your vision you'll find it that much easier to realize it. Start off with the questions below!
Who was with you?
What actions were you participating in?
What were your surroundings like?
What were the sentences coming from your mouth?
Describe how you were feeling.
Need more help with creating your happy life? Visit my self help store for some great tools!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
To the reader: read the following passage closely and with positive intention, allowing the visualizer the time to relax and visualize.
Visioning Exercise
Speak slowly, in a warm voice….
(For about one minute)
Sit comfortably with your feet resting on the ground, your hands resting comfortably on your lap.
Take a deep breath and relax.
Now take another deep breath and relax even further.
You may notice that there are places in your body that are stressed or tight. Just notice them…. and then let them go.
Continue to breathe comfortably….
As thoughts occur,…. just notice them… and let them go
Say in a slowly paced, clear, and relaxed voice….
Imagine that you are walking along a seashore… The sun is shining and you can feel the sun’s warmth on your body. Continue to walk along the seashore. .. and relax….
Notice a door ahead of you. Open the door. There are stairs going down… Slowly descend the stairs …counting as you go…
1…. 2….…3…….4……5…….6……7……8………9……10
When you reach the landing notice that there is another door in front of you. On the door it says …. My Future Happy Life. It is a very beautiful door and you reach out with warmth and excitement to open the door and walk inside.
It is a movie theater and you notice that the movie playing is an exciting one -- 'My Happy Life looking back from the future to now'…. You take your seat in the theater and watch the movie. It is a very interesting movie, showing scenes of how you have progressed and grown happier and happier over the past years… You have taken a proactive stance in your happiness …. What institutions are you happily a part of? What type of people are around you? What types of conversations are they having?…. What does your home environment look like? Notice the people around you…. The types of things you are doing…. What gets you excited…… How you spend your day…..Note what role you play….. What types of sentences, phrases, and words come up in your speech? What are you proud of? What are your habits? What does being you feel like?… What else stands out for you? … What do others say about you? About your happiness?….How does it feel to hear these things? ....What are you doing for fun? ....What gives you flow in your life? …. What in your happy life stands out so much?
NOTE to the reader: leave time for each image to appear…. You may want to suggest that visualizers jot down what they are seeing on the paper in front of them and then go back to the movie until they are finished. Allow 5 - 10 minutes… repeating focal points as listed above or others every 15 - 20 seconds. When you feel ready to move on… say:
Now, it is time to end the movie and return to the present…. please close your eyes, notice your breathing again… and find yourself leaving the movie theater… exiting out the door and returning up the steps, counting 10…. 9….. 8…7…… 6…. Take a deep breath and begin to feel your body waken….. 5….4…..3…. notice the sounds in the room around you….. 2…. 1 ….
Open your eyes and slowly look around…. When you feel comfortable, please either write or draw as much of your vision of your future as you can. …. describing what your happy life will be like in the future. You may need to close your eyes briefly to remember parts….. Try to make your description as whole as possible.
Amazing! I hope what you saw in your visualization was amazing and eye opening to possibilities you never thought possible.
Someone once said that when we achieve our goals we will be happy. When we have met the perfect person we will be happy or when we do the right things or have the right material items in our life we will be happy.
This Is Wrong!
All of these come to us easier when we are happy. Please stop looking on the outside for other people, places and things to make you happy, just look inside of yourself. That is where true lasting happiness lays waiting for you to access it.
The vision that just appeared for you is available to you, you just have to decide to make it happen! If you write out your vision you'll find it that much easier to realize it. Start off with the questions below!
Who was with you?
What actions were you participating in?
What were your surroundings like?
What were the sentences coming from your mouth?
Describe how you were feeling.
Need more help with creating your happy life? Visit my self help store for some great tools!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
How To Increase Your Enjoyment of Every Moment :-)!
Mmmmmmm…….
I want you to recall your last romantic moment.
Now, recall the last really good meal you had.
Recall the last time you were so happy you wanted to jump up and down.
Now, recall the last hot sex you had.
Mmmmmmm…….
Have you smiled yet? Can you feel the sensations in your body when you recall these delightful experiences?
When you are in a moment of feeling not so hot, start recalling those past experiences. Take yourself on a little vacation and bring those lovely memories to the front of your mind… Enjoy!
In their book 'Savoring', Fred Bryant and Joseff Veroff (2006) suggest ways to learn to savor or to mindfully engage in thoughts or behaviors that heighten the effect of positive events on positive feelings. Bryant’s work also supports three temporal forms of Savoring:
(1) Anticipatory
(2) In the Moment
(3) Reminiscent.
This means you can savor a positive event before it happens by getting excited in preparation for it, you can savor the positive event as it occurs, and you can savor a positive event by remembering it :-).
Nobel prize winner for his work on happiness, Daniel Kahneman, points out: “Humans plan for their future and use their past as a guide to their future (making) remembered or anticipated and integrated hedonic value a convenient shorthand for decision making...”
This means that we are indeed guided by our happiness in decision making and we look to our past happiness experience to guide us into future happiness experiences. In other words, remembering happy moments of our past helps guide future decisions.
When Miriam Ufberg, one of the first people to receive a Masters Degree in Positive Psychology, wrote an article in January of 2007 for the Positive Psychology News Daily on the topic of Savoring, she connected the concept to one of the corner stones of the science of happiness: Barbara Frederickson’s Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions (1998).
Miriam says, “…positive emotions create an upward spiral in our experiences, emotions, relationships, mental capacities, etc. So by reconnecting with those positive emotions that we felt in the past, we can enhance our current mood and perceptions of current situations thereby creating even more positive emotions and experiences.”
Our happiness researcher Sonja Lyubormirski helps prove the value of savoring by encouraging us to systematically analyze and structure the thoughts and feelings associated with the happiest moments in our lives. Re-experiencing or savoring such moments (without attempting to find meaning or organization in them) is one way to preserve positive emotions and generally increase happiness. Savoring definitely plays a role in our sustainable happiness.
As the founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, says, "Savoring refers to our awareness of pleasure and our deliberate attempt to make it last and to make it more intense.”
I find myself savoring the most after romantic moments. I tend to put myself back in the situation and feel those butterflies over and over. I also savor experiences that are mile marker achievements to my long-term goals. I savor family vacations. I savor my friend’s celebrations. I savor nice walks. The bottom line is that I am encouraging you to spend some time savoring your positive experiences in life. This will aid you in your developing the sustainable happiness you want in your life.
So go on, write down the top ten best moments in your life to savor. Pay close attention, taking enjoyment going over life’s pleasures and wonders. Share your moments with someone.
Or Savor A Beautiful Day: Set aside a block of time—an hour, a half-day or a full day—to indulge in your favorite activities. Block that time on your calendar and do not let anything interfere. Next, carry out the activities just as you have planned them. Savor each activity by being completely aware of the pleasure it brings you. Log your experience.
Can you imagine the pleasure and happiness you will feel when you do the exercises I've mentioned above? Get excited about doing them now and savor this moment too :-)!
If you need more help to savor your way to happiness, visit my self-help store :-).
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
I want you to recall your last romantic moment.
Now, recall the last really good meal you had.
Recall the last time you were so happy you wanted to jump up and down.
Now, recall the last hot sex you had.
Mmmmmmm…….
Have you smiled yet? Can you feel the sensations in your body when you recall these delightful experiences?
When you are in a moment of feeling not so hot, start recalling those past experiences. Take yourself on a little vacation and bring those lovely memories to the front of your mind… Enjoy!
In their book 'Savoring', Fred Bryant and Joseff Veroff (2006) suggest ways to learn to savor or to mindfully engage in thoughts or behaviors that heighten the effect of positive events on positive feelings. Bryant’s work also supports three temporal forms of Savoring:
(1) Anticipatory
(2) In the Moment
(3) Reminiscent.
This means you can savor a positive event before it happens by getting excited in preparation for it, you can savor the positive event as it occurs, and you can savor a positive event by remembering it :-).
Nobel prize winner for his work on happiness, Daniel Kahneman, points out: “Humans plan for their future and use their past as a guide to their future (making) remembered or anticipated and integrated hedonic value a convenient shorthand for decision making...”
This means that we are indeed guided by our happiness in decision making and we look to our past happiness experience to guide us into future happiness experiences. In other words, remembering happy moments of our past helps guide future decisions.
When Miriam Ufberg, one of the first people to receive a Masters Degree in Positive Psychology, wrote an article in January of 2007 for the Positive Psychology News Daily on the topic of Savoring, she connected the concept to one of the corner stones of the science of happiness: Barbara Frederickson’s Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions (1998).
Miriam says, “…positive emotions create an upward spiral in our experiences, emotions, relationships, mental capacities, etc. So by reconnecting with those positive emotions that we felt in the past, we can enhance our current mood and perceptions of current situations thereby creating even more positive emotions and experiences.”
Our happiness researcher Sonja Lyubormirski helps prove the value of savoring by encouraging us to systematically analyze and structure the thoughts and feelings associated with the happiest moments in our lives. Re-experiencing or savoring such moments (without attempting to find meaning or organization in them) is one way to preserve positive emotions and generally increase happiness. Savoring definitely plays a role in our sustainable happiness.
As the founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, says, "Savoring refers to our awareness of pleasure and our deliberate attempt to make it last and to make it more intense.”
I find myself savoring the most after romantic moments. I tend to put myself back in the situation and feel those butterflies over and over. I also savor experiences that are mile marker achievements to my long-term goals. I savor family vacations. I savor my friend’s celebrations. I savor nice walks. The bottom line is that I am encouraging you to spend some time savoring your positive experiences in life. This will aid you in your developing the sustainable happiness you want in your life.
So go on, write down the top ten best moments in your life to savor. Pay close attention, taking enjoyment going over life’s pleasures and wonders. Share your moments with someone.
Or Savor A Beautiful Day: Set aside a block of time—an hour, a half-day or a full day—to indulge in your favorite activities. Block that time on your calendar and do not let anything interfere. Next, carry out the activities just as you have planned them. Savor each activity by being completely aware of the pleasure it brings you. Log your experience.
Can you imagine the pleasure and happiness you will feel when you do the exercises I've mentioned above? Get excited about doing them now and savor this moment too :-)!
If you need more help to savor your way to happiness, visit my self-help store :-).
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
Friday, May 4, 2012
The Rapid Highway to Lasting Happiness :-)!
One of
the stereotypes many people hold is that happy people are optimistic fools who
don’t understand what is going on in the real world. If you one of those people, read on!
Just so
we are on the same page, optimism is a general disposition to expect the best
in all things. Optimism gives us the sense that no matter what the situation,
everything is happening for the best. Optimists are people who expect good
things to happen to them. And in my
personal experience, such optimism is a
rapid highway to lasting happiness :-)!
In 2006,
Sonja Lyubormirski and Kennon Sheldon’s research proved that people who
envision the best possible future for themselves tend to experience increased
personal well-being. The study also showed that the consistent practice of an
optimistic outlook will not only increase, but will sustain, happiness over
time.
When
happiness challenges arise, how you respond will depend on whether you are an
optimist or a pessimist. Optimists are likely to expect to have positive
outcomes even when things are hard. Their confidence in the positive outcome
yields positive emotions.
Research
shows optimism predicts lower levels of depressive symptoms in a number of
studies. There was a surge of research
in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, which indicated:
A
general sense of optimism about life leads to a high satisfaction with life.
Higher
levels of optimism predicts lower levels
of distress.
Optimism
relates to psychological adjustment both directly and also indirectly through a
sense of personal efficacy (the ability
to think “I can do it!”)
Optimism
has a positive effect on psychological
well-being among people with medical problems and their care givers.
Optimism
is related to lower depression and
higher levels of psychological well-being
Higher
levels of optimism upon entering college predict lower levels of psychological
distress toward the end of the first semester.
All this
in not an accident!
Sometimes optimists get a bad rap for not being “realistic”. However, in the Handbook of Positive Psychology, two top researchers on optimism, Charles Carver and Michael Scheier (2002), explain, “Optimists are not simply people who stick their heads in the sand and ignore threats to their well-being. Indeed they attend to risks, but selectively. They focus on risks that are applicable to them and also are related to potentially serious health problems. If the potential health problem is minor, or if it is unlikely to bear on them, optimists do not show elevated vigilance emerge. Optimists appear to scan their surroundings for threats to well-being but save their behavioral responses for threats that are truly meaningful.”
Sometimes optimists get a bad rap for not being “realistic”. However, in the Handbook of Positive Psychology, two top researchers on optimism, Charles Carver and Michael Scheier (2002), explain, “Optimists are not simply people who stick their heads in the sand and ignore threats to their well-being. Indeed they attend to risks, but selectively. They focus on risks that are applicable to them and also are related to potentially serious health problems. If the potential health problem is minor, or if it is unlikely to bear on them, optimists do not show elevated vigilance emerge. Optimists appear to scan their surroundings for threats to well-being but save their behavioral responses for threats that are truly meaningful.”
In other
words Optimistic people are likely to take
action steps to ensure the positive quality of their future!
For
example, Optimists report having more health promoting behaviors than
pessimists.
Optimism
relates to an increase in the likelihood of exercise, vitamin intake, and the
consumption of low-fat foods.
Optimists
make an effort to reduce their risk to safeguard their health!
Do you
see now that optimistic and happy people are in fact smart, hardworking, and
experience many benefits in life?! So now are you ready to cultivate optimism
for yourself?
Yes,
that’s right, even if you are pessimistic now, you can learn how to become much
more optimistic, it’s just a matter of changing how you think :-)!
In late
October 2007, ground breaking happiness research proved that there is in fact
an optimism center of the brain! Science Daily (October 25th, 2007) reports,
A neural
network that may generate the human tendency to be optimistic has been
identified by researchers at New York University. As humans, we expect to live
longer and be more successful than average, and we underestimate our likelihood
of getting a divorce or having cancer. The results, reported in Nature, link
the optimism bias to the same brain regions that show irregularities in
depression.
(The
study was conducted by a team of researchers from the laboratory of NYU
Professor Elizabeth Phelps. The lead author is Tali Sharot, now a post-doctoral
fellow at University College London).
This shows
that if we exercise the optimism part of our brain we will indeed be
happier! This is really monumental
research in the new science of happiness. Go get your rose colored glasses!
For the
actual transition from pessimism to optimism, researchers look to cognitive
behavioral therapy to help you train your brain differently. I am not asking
you to ignore horrible things going on around you, just try to have faith that
everything happens for a reason. You can
be a “realistic optimist.”
In addition to controlling your thoughts in response to happiness challenges, I think it is essential for you to know that you are in the hands of the universe and you can develop faith in the concept that everything will work out just fine. No matter what, we are part of a plan, and although we do have free will, there has been a destiny laid out for us. Have faith and be optimistic!
Keep a
journal in which you imagine and write about the best possible future for
yourself. Right now, start brainstorming
about what that future will look like for you :-)…
For more
great ideas and tools to help you cultivate your optimism, visit my self help
store!
*************************************************************************************************************
Visit Self-Help Store
Free Phone Consultation with Dr. Aymee
Learn how to use Happiness Science to coach others
Hire Dr. Aymee for as a Keynote Speaker
www.happinessmakeover.com
Dr. Aymee Coget, a widely-known happiness expert, has more than 15 years of experience in positive psychology. Through the Happiness Makeover™, a program developed by Coget, she teaches people how to achieve happiness and handle life's challenges. She also serves as CEO and founder of the American Happiness Association, a science-backed nonprofit designed to educate individuals and organizations about how to be happier, and was nominated for CNN Hero of the Year in 2011.
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