5 Ways to Create Lasting Positive Change and Be Happy

Ryan (AKA, “Deputy Dreamy”) never ceases to inspire me. Today in one of his classes at police academy they talked about emotional intelligence, and he sent me the link to this video. It’s basically 5 simple steps on how to be happy, and I absolutely love it. I’ve gone through spells of anxiety and depression in the past few years, and I’ve noticed that I’m definitely the most happy when I’m following the advice at the end:

5 Ways to Create Lasting Positive Change and Be Happy

• 3 Gratitudes
• Write down three things you are grateful for every day (teaches you to first look for the positive instead of the negative)
• Journaling
• Write about 1 positive experience you’ve had within the last 24 hours (allows you to relive it)
• Exercise
• Teaches your brain that your behavior matters
• Meditate
• Teaches the brain to focus on the task at hand
• Random Acts of Kindness
• Just feels great

I know that when I take the time to do these things individually, even if it’s only one or two a day, I feel better because of it. It would be an amazing accomplishment for me to do each of these 5 things daily (and it’s definitely not happening right now), but I’m going to make that a goal. Starting NOW.

3 Gratitudes:

1. I’m grateful for God, and the comfort my faith brings me in my trials.
2. I’m grateful for my family. For my ridiculously handsome and amazing cop husband and my two crazy little monkey boys who drive me bananas.
3. I’m grateful for modern medicine, and all that it has done to benefit me and my family.

Exercise/Meditate:
Yoga takes care of both right? Two birds, one stone. Boom.

Journalling (blogging):
I used to love writing in a journal, but now I just can’t focus long enough to do it. Blogging requires more planning (and it’s more functional and pretty because you can add pictures ) so it’s more appealing to me.

Random Acts of Kindness:
Does being nice to my kids count?

Ok, I’ll admit it’s pretty unrealistic for me to say I’m going to get all these things done every day. It’s just not gonna happen. But I do intend to integrate these steps into my life more. Practice makes perfect, right? Speaking of…

Practice Makes Progress

I saw this quote hanging outside my son’s old preschool the other day. I’m sure it’s been around for a while, but that was the first time I’d seen it! I have mixed feelings about it for some reason… I’ve always liked the saying “practice makes perfect” because it’s inspiring. You can always improve and work toward something. I never thought of it as an unattainable goal, but I see how it could come across that way.

Watercolor clipart courtesy of Angie Makes. Fonts used are La Belle Aurore (Google Fonts) & Garamond.

  
The full quote outside the door said “Practice makes progress, not perfect.” To me, that makes it sound like no one can ever perfect their skill. To me, THAT makes it sound unattainable. But I do like the saying “Practice makes progress.” Maybe you haven’t reached perfect (and by that I mean your definition of perfect, not everyone else’s), but you have made progress. I like acknowledging the progress in the process!