Hello Lovely People!
This subject has come up quite a lot recently… Happiness!
I’ve been asked by quite a few people, “What makes you so happy?” and it got me thinking about the most important things I do that keep me happy. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t always been this happy, it has taken work, a lot of reading, a lot of practicing things that help me stay happy, a lot of falling of my happiness wagon and a lot of listening. So here are my top 5 tips that keep me happy…
1. Gratitude… Everyday I make sure that I am grateful for everything I have, I have 2 arms, 2 legs, a face, a head of hair and a house and a job and that’s more than a lot of people. Once you start to feel grateful for the things we take for granted we become grateful for little things we would never have noticed! Like a smile from someone walking past, like having a great friend, like saving a snail from an oncoming bicycle, like watching a bee flying from flower to flower, like being able to help someone because you know it will help them and brighten their day! Simply by becoming grateful your world will change! Check out the book “Magic”, by Rhonda Byrne. This is a step by step guide to gratitude and has actually helped one of my athletes cure her frozen shoulder (in a week!)
So right now list 5 things you are grateful for and why…Go on…Now… Just do it….You will feel better for it, I promise 🙂
Tony Robbins says that he has met so many people who seem so successful and have achieved all their goals, but feel unfulfilled, “when you are grateful you are rich!”
2. Move More Every Day! Emotion comes from motion, if you are sat down hunched over, chances are you will not feel energetic enough to do a cartwheel! When we move we feel alive! So make it a habit to move every day, just go for a walk, while your at it think of 10 things your grateful for, just get outside and move, do something fun, or even try a power pose, simply standing in the wonder woman or Superman posture for 2 minutes will massively improve your hormone balance, slashing your stress hormone cortisol and bumping up your more well balanced testosterone! Do something fun you enjoy, like dancing, tai chi, yoga, line dancing, doing handstands with the kids, jump in puddles or rock out to some music, just move!
3. Meditate – Give yourself the gift of time, your time, you deserve it. I’ve met so many people, myself included who can fall into a pattern of putting everyone else’s needs before their own. Simply down load the “calm app” on the iPhone or iPad and just start doing 2 minutes a day, then after a week try 5 minutes a day! It will actually help you to be the best you you know you can be! It will stop you just grabbing junk food, or putting something you wish you hadn’t on facebook or just feeling so exhausted.
Did you know that it is proven that meditation improves brain function? Plus, deep breathing actually boosts your metabolism? It also slows the ageing process! So we will be slimmer, smarter, younger versions of ourselves in no time!
4. Eating as well as you can and staying hydrated is essential to my happiness! If I don’t eat right for me I don’t feel as bouncy, light, happy, energetic or fun! By eating lots of alkaline, raw foods we are feeding our cells, digestion is easier and we spend less time recovering from what we’ve eaten or drank. My good friend Suzie doesn’t drink alcohol, so when she goes out and the shots are given out she throws it over her shoulder (no-one notices) make a decision for yourself that you deserve to be happy and healthy and do it for you! No-one else! When you do it for yourself you will stick to it and any peer-pressure will roll off your back!
When I was little I always felt sick and it wasn’t until I’d lost 4 stone and given up dairy that I started waking up without a headache! I didn’t know it was an option! Just because you’ve never felt the benefits of feeling amazing doesn’t mean you can’t start!
You are worth this!
5. Have a chat with your inner 5 year old… Ok, this may sound strange, but I often refer back to my 5 year old self, would she think I was a cool grown-up? If not, I know I’m doing something wrong! My inner 5 year old wanted to jump off stuff, she wanted to feed the world and do good things, she wasn’t interested in material things, she wanted to play. She wanted to help starving people in Africa and donate shoe boxes at Christmas and get up early because there was so much fun stuff to do at the weekend! If there was an option to play, that was always the option, so make a play date with yourself to do something you used to do, like sewing, knitting, karate classes, litter picking (I loved litter picking at school) spinning in circles until you fell over, reconnect with that fun part of yourself and drop the baggage that comes with being an adult, it’s much more fun!
So there you have it… The things that make me happy, give them a go and let me know how you get on! I’d love to hear what inspires you!
Have fun lovely ones!xx
