Marci Shimoff Speaks on Love & Happiness
If you can’t start anywhere else, I would recommend starting with gratitude. Every night before you go to sleep, think of five things you’re grateful for. Research shows doing 30 days of that will raise your happiness set-point.
So, find something that feels fun, easy, or sings to you in some way, and, if all else fails, go for the gratitude exercise.
The other tip I have is to find a buddy. Just like you’d find an exercise buddy, find a happiness buddy. It makes it more fun. When you feel like you’re not up to this, your buddy will call you and ask how you’re doing on the happiness program.
If you have a happiness buddy, how do you keep from pulling each other down and instead make sure you raise each other up?
It’s important to make some agreements before you get started. Decide what’s going to be fun. You may decide to each do an exercise for five minutes a day, for the next 30 days. Have an agreement of what to do if the other person is sliding. What’s the best way to support them? Decide how you want to be treated when you’re slipping.
Then, create a three minute rule. You get to gripe about anything that’s going on in your life for three minutes. But that’s it. You stop there. Then, turn it around. Adopt the belief that this is a friendly Universe, and everything is happening to support your highest good. Ask the question I have in the book: “If this were a friendly universe and everything is happening in my favor, to support me, then why is this happening? How is this for my highest good?”
