Living Skillfully: Your Mind and Health

Continuing my Positive Psychology series, where better to look for material than the blog Positive Psychology News Daily? And there we find Dave Shearon’s post “Four Statements to Happier“, a simple outline of what he’s learned about what makes us happy.

His statement goes like this:

“Hi. My name is ________. I want to be happier. I am willing to work at it.”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that simple doesn’t mean easy (or trivial). Built into these four straightforward sentences is most of what you need to know about improving your life.

photo credit: chuckp

“Hi.” Because your life is not a solitary life. Your life is lived, inevitably, in a social context, and by greeting and welcoming that social context – even if you dislike parts of it; by engaging with it, and by making use of it in a positive way, you’re able to improve your life.

There is really no such thing as “self-help”. Think about it. When you buy a self-help book, who is helping you? Yourself, obviously, because without application the book does nothing, but also the author, and everyone the author has learned from.

So, “Hi.”

photo credit: markhillary

“My name is __________.” We all know what our names are, but how many of us know who we are? Knowing something about who you are is an important first step to change. And change is how we become who we are.

If that sounds like nonsense, it isn’t. Most of us cover over who we are because we’re afraid that, if we told other people who we really are, nobody would want to know us. Freeing ourselves from that fear is part of the journey to happiness.

photo credit: pasotraspaso

“I want to be happier.” You may think, well, everyone wants to be happier, so what? But if everyone wants to be happier – why are so many people unhappy? Why are so many people doing nothing to become happier? Do you really want to be happier? Do you have a powerful desire for happiness that draws you forward past obstacles and challenges? Do you want to be happier more than you want to be safe? Because sometimes that’s the choice.

Do you want to be happier more than you want to not work at it?

photo credit: CarbonNYC

“I am willing to work at it.” That’s what changes “I want to be happier” from an idle dream to a plan. Happiness, for most of us, doesn’t fall off the tree into our hand. We have to climb.

In the rest of the series I’ll look at some of the techniques that are around for improving our happiness, but for now, contemplate those four statements:

“Hi. My name is ________. I want to be happier. I am willing to work at it.”

How far through the four statements can you get and mean it?

Technorati Tags: positive psychology, self-improvement, self-help

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