Boot camp Melbourne

We must take responsibility for our own happiness, you can’t delegate it or depend on others for it. While some people have natural happiness strategies in place, many of us must work at it. Similarly, some people only need to look at food the wrong way and they put on weight and must constantly monitor their exercise and diet while others can eat what they like.

By taking control of your own happiness, you have freedom. But, like the yummy taste of chocolate, you need to experience happiness to want happiness in your life.
At the end of the day, happiness is a choice we make whether consciously or unconsciously. As society becomes increasingly driven by consumption we tend to externalise - we buy, we want, we desire or seek approval from others for acceptance, believing this may lead to happiness. But, happiness comes from within and it can be too easy for negative or “rubbish” thoughts to overpower the good thoughts.

So how can we find happiness?
 

Like doing exercise we need to do it regularly:

1. Happiness through connections, through our relationships with friends, family and the community. So make an effort to keep up, it only takes a quick call or the occasional drop in to make you and someone else happy.

2. Be creative. Enormous satisfaction can be had creating something. For example, when creating a piece of artwork many people become so immersed that they lose all concept of time. As children we are extremely creative, yet as we age we tend to become either producers or consumers. Somewhere along the way we lose the ability to create, but everyone can be creative in their own way.

3. Through chilling out and taking time to reflect on things. Sorting out what is important, what really matters and having a good look at our lives and seeing whether our values mirror our actions. Against all the odds, many see the GFC as a positive, as they’ve had the opportunity to reflect on their lives and to see what really matters.

4. Pursue our rituals. Today’s 24/7 society can impede our rituals as we don’t have any down time any more, as we make ourselves constantly available via mobiles, emails or landline. Get back into the rhythm of life; have Sunday roast with the family or maybe take a drive into the country or to a park or garden. Rediscover your rituals; don’t let our crazy lives make them a thing of the past.

5. Recognising virtues, when great things happen and acknowledging these virtues.

6. Be optimistic, our beliefs can influence the outcome - “Good things will come from this”. Look at the big picture and not what falls directly in front of us.

7. Have a short memory, forget the past, the excuses we make for past events.

8. Renew, repair, re invigorate, renovate. Be emotional or physical with friends, family or anyone for that matter who you interact with whether as a once off or on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.

9. Re discover the capacity to play, sing, play a sport, act the fool, step outside what we project and take a more light hearted approach, be silly.



Try some extra homework
 

1.Write a list of five great things that have happened, even if the outcome wasn’t something you expected.
2.Imagine how your day will go the next day, visualise great things happening, everything going well.
3.Commit an act of kindness everyday, it can be as simple as saying hello to a person in the street and smiling.
4.Once a week write someone a thank you letter, preferably hand written, and give it to the person, be it a friend, family member or acquaintance.
While these may seem like crazy things to do, why not try it for two weeks, the only thing that may happen is you may feel happy.


Andrew Talati
Fitstyler
www.fitstyler.com.au