How do you keep peace within you in challenging times? Can you find your serenity and confidence, despite external events? It just takes mind training. Listen to the happy Buddhist monk, photographer and author, Matthieu Ricard, as he lectures to a TED conference on how anyone can, and really must, do this.

I’ve watched it three times now, and I got something new out of it each time What did you get out of it?

Bookmark this video, and the next time you starting complaining about how tough things are for you, watch how Barb Guerra deals with her problems. Instant cure.

Change your attitude, change your life, right? Yes, we’ve heard this over and over, and it is absolutely true. But, it’s not magic — it requires work. As motivational guru Zig Ziglar says in this lecture, you’ve got to be willing to take the first step, and that first step requires tangible effort on your part. He make his point by telling the story of a woman who came to him looking to be cured of the negative attitude she had towards her job. He told her he could not help unless she took the first step. It wasn’t easy for her, but she took that step, and it changed her her life.

Comedian Jim Carrey is hoping that his new movie, “Yes Man,” will help moviegoers forget about the bad economy and other problems, and help them instead to laugh at it all. He’s right, your problems will be here whether you laugh at them or cry about them.  Laughing, or at the least not crying about them, will put you in a more positive frame of mind and will draw more positive things towards you.

“This is what comedy’s about,” Carrey said. “To laugh at the pain, laugh at the confusion, whatever, I mean, you need it.

“Comedy’s always welcome, but especially in times like this. It’s like, what else do you want to do? You want to have some positive happen in your life.

Opening Friday, Carrey;s character is in the movie is a loan officer who decides to answer “yes” to any question.

“If there is a message, it’s just engage in life,” he said. “You know, say ‘Yes’ more than you do ‘No’, maybe a little bit more than you did before, and life kind of turns out all right. Usually you regret the things you say no to.”

While you obviously can’t really say yes to everything, I think we can follow Carrey’ lead in at lead trying to say yes more often.  No just closes so many doors.

Engage in life.  I like that.

Source: AFP

You’ve surely heard all the reasons why you should try to smile more:

• A smile causes others to smile back
• A smile causes an auto-response in your brain that makes you feel happier
• A smile attracts positive people to you, rather than fellow sulkers
• A smile makes you more likable
• A smile makes you more attractive
• More opportunities come to happy people
• A smile uses many less muscles than a frown.

Those are just some reasons to smile, all so obvious that we can’t really deny them. So, if we don’t deny there are positive results from smiling, why it is that most of us, even those of us who are consciously working on building our optimism, really don’t smile as much as we should? I’m not trained to answer that question. But I can tell you that–especially these days–there are simply not enough smiles in this world.

So here is your challenge, and I want you to report back to me on the results: The next day you are out in the world, at work, doing errands, visiting friends or family, walking the mall…anywhere you will be among others, SMILE. Smile often. I don’t mean you should wear a fake on your face for the entire day. I mean when you make eye contact with a passerby, smile. When you are buying something, smile at the clerk. When you are at a stop light and look to the car next to you and your eyes meet, smile at the person. If you hold a door open for someone, smile at them as they pass through; likewise if someone holds the door open for you, smile and say thank you. Smile at your kids, your parents, your dog, whoever, when you say Good Morning. Smile at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you’re going to have a great day. Smile when you are talking to someone on the phone–they’ll sense it. When something irritating happens, instead of cursing under your breath, smile and laugh it off. Smile at your waiter or waitress in a restaurant. Watch a comedy on TV instead of the news or drama. Say hello with a smile to your least favorite person at your office. Say goodnight to your family members with a smile and an I Love You as well.

You must remember to do this all day long. Tie a string to your finger. Put a note in your pocket. Have your cell phone beep every half hour to remind yourself to ask, have I been taking advantage of every opportunity to smile today?

I believe if you do this you will have a better day than you can even imagine. Keep it up and you’ll eventually be in the habit of smiling more often without having to think about it. And your life will change, from within and also from the happiness and opportunities you will attract.

Please post a comment letting me know how it goes.

Now here’s a reason for optimism:  the number of academic studies on the subject of happiness is catching up to the number of studies on depression.   Between 1980 and 1985, just 2,125 articles were published on the subject of happiness, compared with 10,553 on depression. From 2000 to 2005, the number of articles on happiness increased sixteenfold to 35,069, while articles on depression increased only eightfold to 80,161. From 2006 to mid 2008, 27,335 articles on happiness were published, more than half the 53,092 found on depression.

Credit the new study of Happiness Science, kickstarted in 2000 by Martin Seligman, then-president of the American Psychological Association., who started the positive psychology movement. His concepts sparked the media, which resulted in even more interest and research by others.

Now a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Positive Psychology Center, Seligman says, “Popular interest in happiness is only one driver. The books are coming out because the science is coming out.”

The field of happiness also now has its own publications – the Journal of Positive Psychology and the Journal of Happiness Studies – and its own professional organization, which Diener started last year. The International Positive Psychology Association. for academics and scholars already has 3,500 members.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at UC Riverside and author of “The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want,” adds that the trend shows no signs of slowing because happiness is now so sought after. “People around the world want it. If you ask people what they want for their children, they’ll say for them to be happy. It’s in our Declaration of Independence. It matters and affects everyone.”

More focus on happiness. That’s positive.

Source: LA Times