Okay, well, let's just jump into it. Let's look at the science of finding happiness, specifically through your fonts. But first, could you have guessed, we need to get our worksheet dedicated to this particular lesson? And that worksheet is titled your happiness checklist. Go ahead and push pause and then once you have that, ready, we'll begin. Okay, now that you have your checklist, there are five areas regarding thoughts that can raise our happiness baseline.

Those include, number one, gratitude, to forgiveness, three, loving yourself. four goals, something we've already done to a degree and five, meditation. Could you have guessed any of these five? Well, let's go ahead and get into the details. Starting off with gratitude. What is gratitude Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual has or receives.

So what are you grateful for? When we express gratitude, we think about the good things we have in life. We recognize where these things come from, and the people who have provided them, we see that these things have come from outside ourselves. In one study, people were asked to write a few sentences each week focusing on particular topics. One group wrote about things that they were grateful for, that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations were things that had displeased them.

And the third group wrote about the events that had affected them but no emphasis on them being positive or negative. Can you guess what might have happened after 10 weeks? Well, those people in the first group who expressed the gratitude we're more optimistic and felt better about Their lives. In addition, there were fewer visits to the hospital. That's a pretty big impact on your mental and your physical, isn't it? Furthermore, studies that were conducted on giving gratitude and having appreciation for things have these effects.

Couples felt more positively toward each other. They're also more comfortable expressing their concerns and their relationships. And what about at work? When managers simply said thank you to staff productivity and results increased up to 50%. That's pretty huge. So let's go ahead and look at your worksheet.

Now what I'd like you to do with your worksheet is go to the first section, under thoughts and here we have number one, gratitude, I'd like you to take a moment. List five things that you are grateful for. Once you've listed these five things that you're grateful for. Read this statement here. I usually feel grateful for these things. I've listed above, how much do you agree?

Strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree or strongly agree? Go ahead and check that box once you've finished now, go ahead again, push pause and fill out this section please. So the next part on thoughts regarding happiness is forgiveness. What is forgiveness? Well, you probably already know but let's go through the definition. Forgiveness is a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness or not.

The point to forgiving here is to do so whether or not you think they deserve it or not. It's a decision to rid yourself of a grudge and the negativity, the negative feelings that go along with it. It's more about you instead of the other person. Forgiveness is not condoning. It's not excusing. It's not forgetting, and it's not necessarily even reconciling with the other person.

Forgiveness is not weak but strong. However, it isn't usually easy. Studies show that, for example, emotionally abused women, college students hurt by emotionally distant parents, the elderly, hurt by family members, incest survivors, and people recovering in a drug rehabilitation facility. Those who put a conscious effort into forgiving those who hurt them experienced emotional health improvement, and they experienced the elimination of psychological depression, which is pretty significant with these types of persons. Is there someone you can think of that it's hurt you that is upset you in some way where maybe it's time for you to give forgiveness? Well, let's go back to your worksheet in this next section number two under forgiveness question for you is, is there anyone you are holding a grudge against?

Is there someone you have not yet forgiven? If so, write that person's name or people's names under letter A. Then regarding this sentence here, I usually forgive people quickly who have upset me in some way. How much do you agree? Check one of those boxes, please. Now, we'll push pause so you have the time to do it.

Great. Third on our list is self acceptance. Now, self love is basically what that means. This is the feeling of satisfaction with oneself, despite deficiencies and regardless of past behaviors and choices. How much do you feel that you like yourself? How much do you feel that you love yourself?

You are the only you around right? Dr. Mark Williamson, Director of action for happiness. said quote unquote, our society puts a huge pressure on us to be successful and to constantly compare ourselves with others. This causes a great deal of unhappiness and anxiety. These feelings remind us that if we can learn to be more accepting of ourselves as we really are, we're likely to be much happier. our day to day habits have a much bigger impact on our happiness than we might imagine.

So what are the steps to loving ourselves? Well, here are three positive actions that people can take to increase their levels of acceptance. Number one, be as kind to yourself as you are to others. See your mistakes as opportunities to learn. Remember the mistakes that we talked about earlier in our accepting failures lesson. Notice things you do well, no matter how small they are, to ask a trusted friend or colleague to tell you what your strengths are or what they value about you.

Take the chance, go ahead and ask Ask and three, spend some quiet time by yourself, tune in to how you're feeling inside and try to be at peace with who you are. These are three steps that the University of Hertfordshire recommends. Okay, let's go back to your worksheet. Our next section number three is self acceptance, loving yourself. Just go ahead and click how much you agree or disagree with this statement. I like the person I am and enjoy being me.

Go ahead and do that real quickly. Now, we don't need to push pause, do we? Okay, fourth on our list is none other than goals. And congratulations. You already have specific and organized goals that are written down, right? So you are in the top 5%.

That's fantastic. But how do goals increase happiness? Is it accomplishing goals? Maybe not necessarily. Actually, goals are a source of interest engaged And or pleasure. They give us a sense of meaning and purpose.

And bringing a sense of accomplishment when we achieve what we set out to do, or milestones along the way. This also builds up our confidence and belief in what we can do in the future. So it's not necessarily having goals or accomplishing goals. It's the pursuit of those goals, which brings us the most happiness. Back to your worksheet for a second, please. Now, under number four with goals do we did just a few moments ago, check how much you agree or disagree with this statement?

I am actively working on accomplishing my list of goals. All right, let's go back. Finally we have meditation. Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique such as mindfulness, or focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity to train attention and awareness and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state who has a lot to say right? Scientists at Kyoto University scan the brains of volunteers participating in a study where they were asked to rate their happiness. Those who had higher levels of happiness had a larger area of the brain called the pre cuneus.

Also, previous studies have shown that regular meditation can boost gray matter, which could explain why those who meditate report greater happiness. Studies also show that those with a larger percutaneous not only experienced happiness more intensely, they also felt sadness less intensely. And have you heard of the chemical cortisol? cortisol is the hormone in your body responsible for stress. Too much of it can lead to sleep trouble, anxiety and mood swings. Other studies were revealed that after just four days of a mindful meditation, people's cortisol levels decreased significantly.

Now what an amazing stress reliever. So would you like to take a few steps toward mindfulness meditation, here are steps that you can take. Number one, get comfortable. Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. Ideally, this would be a room in your house where you can be alone and at peace. To get in position.

You might try sitting cross legged on a low cushion on the floor, or upright in a chair. Some people prefer to meditate lying down, it's up to you. Three, get relaxed, close your eyes. Set a timer for five minutes if you're just starting out, and begin by taking a few deep cleansing breaths. breathing deeply but naturally through your nose and out through either your nose or your mouth, whichever feels more comfortable to you. Let the breath flow all the way down into your abdomen for focus on your breath, become aware of the sound of your breath as you inhale and exhale.

As you inhale, you breathe in all the peaceful and joyful things around you. As you exhale, you read your mind and body of all the stress and toxins that have been bothering you. Number five, bring your thoughts back to center, your mind will wander. When you notice your thoughts wandering off, it's totally normal. Simply acknowledge it and bring your focus back to the center, back to your breathing. And finally, number six, make a commitment like exercise meditation takes practice.

And the more we practice, the better we get. And the stronger that mindfulness muscle becomes, even just five to 10 minutes per day has been shown to make an enormous difference to well being just after eight weeks of meditation practice. Let's Go back to a worksheet one more time. Under meditation check how much you agree or disagree with this statement. I regularly take time to quietly relax and clear my mind. Fantastic.

So these are the five steps toward thoughts required for a happier you raising that happiness baseline. Real quickly to go over those we talked about gratitude, forgiveness, loving yourself, goals were more specifically progressing through goals and meditation. Try to incorporate all five of these into your life for a happier you and get ready for the next section. Not thoughts, but what are the actions you should take?