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  |  Family & Friends  |  Emotional well-being  |  The happiness workshop: week two
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The happiness workshop: week two

by Susan Quilliam
continued from page 2
Handle life's challenges
You may think it's tricky to be contented if you suffer setbacks in your life. Not so. It's how you handle these difficulties that makes the difference. If you want to be happy:

React positively. If something happens to you, then the way you think about it is crucial. Do you exaggerate what's negative? Do you minimise what's positive? Try to calm and balance disastrous thoughts and catch yourself when you think the worst, particularly about yourself. Try to spot where you are misinterpreting the evidence - and actively explore whether your negative thinking is based on true information.

Be realistic. No one's perfect - not even you. But you can give yourself a really hard time if you expect perfection. Instead, aim high but not so high that you're always going to fail. If you do fall short of a goal, rather than beating yourself up, tell yourself what you did well, what you learned - and then you will improve next time.

Take action. Happy people tackle problems head on rather than letting them ride or believing that there's nothing to be done. If faced with a difficulty, don't feel paralysed, do something about it. If that solution doesn't work, try a different approach. If that doesn't work, then get more resources and keep trying.

More resources
  • Shortcuts to Getting a Life by Gael Lindenfield (HarperCollins, £4.99)
  • Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers (Rider,£6.99)
  • Visit the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy website for help in making your thinking positive.

    Introducing The Happiness Workshop:
  • Quiz: The Happiness Test
  • Week one: Happy body
  • Week two: Happy mind
  • Week three: Happy interactions
  • Week four: Happy life
  • Message board: Get happy


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