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The happiness workshop: week four
The secret of happiness is to have a purpose to life. Set and achieve your life goals
Happy life
Research suggests that to be truly happy you need to be aware of what's happening outside yourself, beyond the here and now. You need to set goals, look into the future optimistically and have a sense of meaning in life.
Have a positive outlook
When life events strike, they may bowl you over, but there are mental strategies you can follow in order to cope. If you want to be happy:
Take credit for the past. Research suggests that happy people have a simple mental strategy towards life. When they think about something good that happened to them, they explore how they personally contributed to that good feeling and feel happy about themselves. If something bad happens to them, they'll address the matter, but do not take it personally. Instead, they learn the lesson the problem may offer and then move on.
Don't blame others. If you put all your failures down to other people, you put yourself in their power. The message you send yourself is that you can't do anything. So while you mustn't take everything on board, do take responsibility for when things go wrong. Work out what you need to do for the desired result and don't fall into the trap of believing that others can hinder you.
Get some hope. If you catch yourself thinking that things aren't going to work out, then think again. Remember that most things work out better than you fear - so imagine that your fears are ungrounded and that success is ahead. Rather than thinking of the problems and getting desperate, imagine the best outcome and then work out what you need to do to make that happen. You'll not only be more likely to get a result - you'll also feel happier.
More resources
Positive Living by Vera Peiffer (Piatkus Books)
Embracing Uncertainty by Susan Jeffers (Hodder & Stoughton)
Happy life
Research suggests that to be truly happy you need to be aware of what's happening outside yourself, beyond the here and now. You need to set goals, look into the future optimistically and have a sense of meaning in life.
Have a positive outlook
When life events strike, they may bowl you over, but there are mental strategies you can follow in order to cope. If you want to be happy:
Take credit for the past. Research suggests that happy people have a simple mental strategy towards life. When they think about something good that happened to them, they explore how they personally contributed to that good feeling and feel happy about themselves. If something bad happens to them, they'll address the matter, but do not take it personally. Instead, they learn the lesson the problem may offer and then move on.
Don't blame others. If you put all your failures down to other people, you put yourself in their power. The message you send yourself is that you can't do anything. So while you mustn't take everything on board, do take responsibility for when things go wrong. Work out what you need to do for the desired result and don't fall into the trap of believing that others can hinder you.
Get some hope. If you catch yourself thinking that things aren't going to work out, then think again. Remember that most things work out better than you fear - so imagine that your fears are ungrounded and that success is ahead. Rather than thinking of the problems and getting desperate, imagine the best outcome and then work out what you need to do to make that happen. You'll not only be more likely to get a result - you'll also feel happier.
More resources
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