I’m going to share with you a super quick exercise that can be used anytime, anywhere. Best of all, it only takes a few seconds. It starts with your perspective, my friend. If you can shift your focus to what is going right rather than what is going wrong, your life will soon change.
Have you ever woken up looking forward to your morning coffee only to discover that you had run out? Did it set your day off to a bad start? I bet it did. But it didn’t have to. You have the power to hack your own thoughts. The secret is to immediately change your focus. You may not have coffee… but you do have air in your lungs. You may not have coffee… but the sun is shining outside. You are actually in complete control of your own thoughts. If you are focused on what is going wrong, the chances are you will miss what is going right. I am positive that you could find at least one hundred things to be happy about right now if you really tried, regardless of who you are or what you do.
So let me share with you a quick and easy gratitude exercise that I use myself. I call it the 30-second happiness hack. Try this exercise, and you will feel an instant boost of happiness.
Think of three things you are grateful for. It can be absolutely anything from how comfortable the chair you are sitting in is to your love of music. Most people find this very difficult to do at first, but with practice, it gets easier. It can help to start with your most basic human needs that are met. Do not let your mind immediately wander to what you don’t have. If you think there is nothing to be grateful for because you have no job and no money, for example, then you are allowing negative thoughts to rule your mind. So how do you take control back? Hack your own thoughts. Tell your brain these three statements that could apply to anybody reading at this moment;
1. I am grateful that my heart is beating and my lungs are taking in the air to keep me alive at this moment.
2. I am grateful for my gift of sight.
3. I am grateful that I woke up this morning to another day on this planet.
Now take a moment to really let yourself feel the gravity of these statements. Allow yourself to be in awe of yourself, your body, the human mind, the human race, the earth, nature, animals, and all of creation. You will start to see the beauty of the world around you. You can be grateful for absolutely anything. If you have done the exercise above, I guarantee that your thoughts are already more positive, am I right? I dare you to try this exercise every day and see how quickly your life changes.
It just needs some re-wiring as we get older. Have you ever noticed that children wake up every morning in awe of the world around them? They do not worry about what happened yesterday or what is going to happen at lunchtime. They are just living in the present moment. Children are always eager to see what each new moment will bring. They inherently know that they have got so much to learn. Adults make the mistake of believing that once we grow up, we have less to learn. But in fact, that could not be further from the truth. We have got so much to be curious about in any given moment, and that alone should spark joy and gratitude for the world around us.
This trick of choosing three things to be grateful for each day will soon become a habit. Just thirty seconds of gratitude whenever you catch a negative thought can lead to a more positive thought process in the long run. You don’t have to seek out things that make you happy. Just look around you. You are alive. Let that be enough. See if you can observe yourself and your thoughts throughout the day and try to catch yourself anytime your mind starts wandering to a dark place. Take control of your thoughts. Practice choosing your mood for yourself rather than letting it run on autopilot. Remember, all you need is just one thing to focus on that makes you smile to send you well on your way to a happier life. You don’t have to try so hard to maintain a constant level of positivity. Just appreciate what you already have. The rest will come naturally. YOUR HAPPINESS is always in YOUR HANDS.
