Can I learn how to be happy?
Happiness is a skill, so you can indeed learn to be happier; focusing on gratitude is an important element. Clinical psychologist Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, explains how to increase your happiness - and how forcing a smile or laugh can help, too!
Transcript
Try focusing on what's going well. It could be big or small things, anything from hearing laughter to the sunshine to having your health to having your home.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Happiness is a skill. It's a skill just like learning how to play the piano. Some of us are born with this skill more than others,
but all of us can learn it. All of us can learn effective ways to be happier. And one of the best ways to do that is to focus on gratitude.
We're so good at identifying what's going wrong in our lives, what your partner should be doing, what your kid should be doing, what should
be different in your life. Try focusing on what's going well. It could be big or small things, anything from hearing laughter
to the sunshine to having your health to having your home. Focus on what you appreciate in your life.
And research shows that when you do that, when you write down three things each day that bring you gratitude, that you appreciate-- when you
do that, your happiness will not only increase right then, but it'll last in the long-term. Focus on your gratitude, and you'll be so much happier.
We've all heard the notion of "fake it till you make it." And it actually is true. There was a research study that had people hold a pencil in a certain way
so that it contracted the smiling muscles without them even realizing it. And the other group held a pencil in a way
where they were balancing on their lip, and so they were actually contracting their frowning muscles without realizing it.
And then they assessed, how happy are you? and, how funny do you find these comics that you're reading? The people who are smiling without realizing it
reported being happier and reported finding the comics to be even funnier. So sometimes laughing, smiling, even if you don't feel it,
will actually activate the happiness center in your brain. And that will cause you to feel happier. [AUDIO LOGO]
mental health behavior
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