What you are going to read next might appear, at the outset, like a direct rip off from a spiritual exercise session. This primarily stems from the lack of knowledge among people about the term emotional fitness. Staying psychologically fit becomes all the more important as we grow older. As our body ages, we tend to face a plethora of difficulties. Being emotionally fit allows us to accept and understand the challenges better. Keeping such considerations in mind, we have prepared a list of eleven exercises to help you stay happy. The exercises are all backed by scientific research. Hence, performing each exercise once in a day is sure to improve your emotional health.
Devote time to family and friends
As we grow older, the demands that circumstances and people lay on us tends to increase. While on hand, there is a steady increase of pressures at work, your family and friends crave to spend more time with you, on the other. At the same time, it is as much important to spend time with yourself as with others. So you see it’s a weird situation where you need to find solutions to multiple problems. The only way you can stay happy while keeping others happy is by learning to balance the various responsibilities you have. It is best to accept that you cannot be the master of all trades. Rather, try and divide your time equally between family and friends and do so without any regrets. Draw happiness from the fact that there is a bunch of people for whom your company matters. Not everybody in the world is blessed with family and loved ones. Consider yourself luck that way.
Laugh and be merry
Learning how to stay happy could just be as simple as having a hearty laugh. Remove sadness and boredom, in brief, the prime hindrances to emotional health, by sharing a good laugh with family and friends. In doing so, it is advisable to spend as much time as you can with people whose company you enjoy. However, be sure not to spend time talking about what others are doing with their lives. Go out with people who talk about travels and hobbies. When it comes to interacting with people at work, choose topics that are pleasant in nature-for instance, destinations you have been to, your travel dreams, some hobby or even sports.
Remember your greatest success stories till date
While the tip may sound like a piece of narcissist practice, there is not an iota of doubt in its effectiveness. Pick one of your best achievements till date and think about it for a minute or so. Learning to take in success will help you reach another. After realizing just how successful you are when it comes to achieving specific goals, time now to share the blessing with others. This could be as simple as motivating them to do the same. Imagine every successful person doing what you had done. Moreover, setting examples says a lot about the person you are and will, in the long run, prompt others to follow your example. The first obvious question that comes to mind now is, by sharing your success tips with others, won’t you be indulging in “charity”? Well, it has been observed that people who boost self-esteem in others tend to become more positive about life.
cook meals
Cook a good meal to stay happy and boost your emotional fitness. So how does cooking help one to stay happy? Cooking has been found to be a feast for senses. Food and the process of getting it prepared, according to the medical community, is an out and out sensory overload. Once awake, the senses of touch, smell, sight and taste actually make us feel alive. Research shows that people, who are deprived of such sensory information for a long time, tend to experience psychological consequences like delusions or hallucinations. Cooking, a process where a majority of our senses are at work, therefore, helps us stay to happy. Moreover, there are other benefits of cooking for emotional health. In the first place, it fosters creativity. Secondly, it increases confidence and thirdly, cooking makes relationships grow stronger.
Washing your hands and feet as frequently as possible
In a recent study, it was found that hand washing has both emotional and physical benefits. Washing hands and feet on a regular basis, says research, helps people to feel more at ease about certain decisions they have made. It was further revealed that those who washed hands after making a particularly difficult decision actually felt happier about the choice than those who did not. Feet or hand washing is said to be a way of removing doubts about whether you are doing or have done something wrong. So, while the strategy may not have helped Lady Macbeth much, there is no reason why the same would happen in your case. Happy washing folks!
Dabble in creative exercises
When it comes to boosting your emotional fitness, there is seldom another option as effective as creativity. Much of what we do fails to garner rewards. However, exercising creativity on a daily basis does. You can exercise creativity by drawing, knitting, singing, braiding, crocheting, planting, baking, or writing poetry. Honestly speaking, there are thousand different ways of letting your creativity flow. The best part about such exercises is that you are not under pressure to meet deadlines or fulfill a target. There is no end to creativity either. If you lose interest in one activity, try another.
Learn to practice forgiveness
Forgiveness isn’t merely about refraining from seeking revenge. Depending on the circumstances, it could also mean going against all odds to continue a relationship. Or on the contrary, it might mean letting a loved one go. Feelings of revenge, anger end up harming you and not the person who hurt you. Hence, your ability to forgive those who have hurt you at some point in life is an important stepping stone to emotional and spiritual growth. Half our lives are spent on collecting emotional baggage. There is no way you can avoid doing this. In the long run, it helps us to define ourselves better. As a result of this, we grow and learn lessons along the way about others and ourselves.
Move your body
Moving your body for twenty minutes a day not only improves emotional fitness but also helps you to stay healthy physically. Brisk walking has also been found to work equally well. In practicing emotional fitness, raising dancing is another option worth considering. If finding time for twenty minutes at a stretch sounds difficult, then split the schedule into ten minute periods each. Stretching off and on before or after walking and during the day is equally important.
Try and meet small goals
Start taking pleasure in meeting tiny goals. The nuances of modern lifestyle often disconnect us from what could be considered the fruits of labor. Some consider paychecks to be the only proper measurement of work done. For others, it is a report card or good grades. Sometimes the results of our work take time to become visible. We may have helped people without being aware of the help for a long time. This cannot be considered healthy for our souls. Doing something, irrespective of how small it is, provided that the job yields concrete, positive and immediate results, helps nourish our well beings. Washing dishes, folding a laundry basket, cleaning out messy drawers, chopping wood, pulling weeds, or mailing postcard to a friend you have not been in touch with for a while are examples of small yet crucial deeds.
Keep yourself surrounded by beauty
Being surrounded by beauty is one of the biggest requisites to a happy existence. Listen to some soul stirring music or recall a tune you love. Watch a bird as it soars. While it may not be possible for you to do any of these things at the moment, remember the time you did them last. As they say, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What you find beautiful may not hold as much of an appeal to the next person. Beauty, therefore, has no worldwide established standards. One person’s mesmerizing scenic view may appear like a barren desert or a desolate land to the other. Keep yourself surrounded by things you find beautiful in every little way you can.
Observe the present
In other words, let bygones be bygones. There is, after all, no point poring over something you just cannot change. What was good in the past, however, can always be enjoyed and savored. The hurts and negative instances from the past, on the other hand, should be respected for their lessons and laid to rest. Future, that is yet to come, will always remain shrouded in mystery. Making overtly thoughtful plans for the future is, therefore, not reasonable. Worrying your heads over what might happen is not very intelligent or thoughtful either. Hence, do whatever you can and then leave it to future.
Observing the present is an excellent way to let go of the day and to prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep ahead. In practicing the strategy, take a long calming breath first. Keep breathing normally and observe what it feels like to inhale and exhale. As you do so, notice how the body feels. Also, be sure to observe how thoughts pop in and out of your mind. If your thoughts seem to be stuck on something negative, then take another long and calming breath. Repeat the process until you reach the final calming point. When you think you are relaxed, take the final calming breath.