Building each other up to be happy

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody. ~ Rev Kane

Being around happy people

Happiness is a decision we make for ourselves, but it is certainly easier to be happy if you are around happy people. The way I best relate this to them is to ask them to think about what it was like when they were a child. To think back to when they were a child and their parents were fighting, I ask if they remember the way they felt, that knot in their stomach. I also ask them to think about when their parents were happy and having fun and to think about how they felt then. It’s the best way I know to illustrate the raw power and impact of being around other happy people.

The importance of being happy

Being happy is a reward on it’s own, but being happy also helps make the people around you happy, whether that is family, friends or coworkers. But what are the specific benefits to you of being happy beyond just feeling better. From an article about the benefits of being happy, we know several things. From studies they found that people who are happy have the following benefits related to their happiness.

- Lower heartrate and blood pressure
- Strengthens your immune system
- Combats stress
- May help you live longer

How to be happy

First, you need to get back to basics

Eat right
Sleep
Exercise
Staying hydrated
Shelter and safety
Human contact (hugs)

I’ve talked about these in more in my post, getting back to basics. The second thing of course is to stretch yourself, to get yourself out of your comfort zone so that you can experience things that will truly help change you.

How you being happy helps others

The first thing I would do is to refer you to the quote above, the surest, fastest way to feel better about yourself is to help others. So there’s a good formula to helping the people you are around be happy. First, work on being happy yourself. Then, find ways to help others by showing kindness. Studies show that, giving makes you happier because it stimulates the same center of the brain that responds to food and sex. So you can make your colleagues happier by doing things with or for the people you work with. This means that things like volunteering with your co-workers is a way to build more happiness in all of you.

Giving small counts

Giving doesn’t have to be something grand, you don’t have to go build a house with Habitat for Humanity or anything that big. Small acts of kindness and yes, to be cliche, random acts of kindness can have a huge impact on people. What sorts of things am I talking about? A simple smile or a hello, a small compliment and for people you know a simple hug, the act of caring human contact has more of an impact than you can imagine. At work, something a college I worked for did, was to allow people to nominate co-workers for a thank you. A small group of folks would show up in their office with a small gift and a balloon and just let them know that they are appreciated. A small but powerful thing.

So, one more reason for being happy is that it helps make the people around you happy too and that will always make for a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane