MSS #061: Transform your happiness in just 20 minutes a Day!

MSS #061: Transform your happiness in just 20 minutes a day!

MSS #061:Transform your happiness in just 20 minutes a Day!

9 Mar, 2024

Read time: 3.4 minutes

Short on time? Head straight to '20-Minute Happiness Hack' read this and then ‘Implementing the Technique’ skip the rest – reduced read time 1.8 minutes.

How much time do you spend being happy? Any idea or a complete mystery?

Find out why that’s difficult to answer and even more importantly how to have more happy moments. By the way, I have a whole day’s workshop on different happiness techniques – lets just go for one in today’s newsletter.

I’ll unveil a simple yet transformative 20-minute daily routine that promises to uplift your spirits and enhance your happiness.

Understanding Our Default Settings

The Negativity Bias: Our brains are wired to notice danger, making us prone to focus on negative aspects of life. Counteracting this requires conscious effort to acknowledge and appreciate the positive.

The survival parts of our brain have been around longer (evolutionary speaking), they act faster than the other parts of the brain and they have the monopoly on having pole position for default settings.

Think of it this way, noticing danger keeps us safe – so our systems are primed in many ways to be great at this.

Noticing something fun, pleasant or happy is of no survival benefit, so we have to overcome our brains bias to bathe in moments of joy.

Psychologist Rich Hanson describes this as our mind being like Velcro for negative thoughts and Teflon for positive ones.

The Busyness Trap: Modern life and technology have conditioned us to value constant busyness, often at the cost of truly enjoyable moments. Breaking free involves mindful engagement with our surroundings and cultivating moments of peace.

20-Minute Happiness Hack

Warning: I will describe the destination we want to get to. To avoid disappointment and abandoning the cause early on, I will show you how to build up to 20 minutes of happiness a day.

Destination

This is where you will arrive when you follow what I share.

🕕𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀.

 ❤ 5 minutes thinking about 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲.

 🛣 5 minutes reflecting on 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲.

 🤗5 minutes thinking about 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀.

 🌴5 minutes focused on your 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀.

 🚧𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗬𝗢𝗨🚧

People you love – just indulge remembering those maybe not around anymore, or you lost touch, with as well as those still close to you. Of course this could include wonderful family pets.

Progress made – its too easy to focus on issues and challenges and problems. Reflecting on progress made, what’s been learnt and overcome, rebalances our brains bias for danger. Consider the progress you've made in any area of your life, no matter how small. Acknowledging growth fosters a sense of accomplishment and motivation and helps your mind seek more of the same.

Happy Memories: Bring to mind happy memories and linger on them. Reliving these moments can reignite the joy you felt at the time. Maybe reflect on what you're grateful for. Focus on people, moments, or things that bring you joy. This could be as simple as a warm cup of coffee in the morning or a message from a friend.

Five Minutes of Future Dreaming: Envision your dreams and aspirations. Allow yourself to feel the excitement of possibilities and the paths that lie ahead. This helps “program” your Reticular Activating System (I have written about this is past newsletters) to spot opportunities to steer you towards your dreams and goals. This is not in any way “woo woo” this is backed by science.

Implementing the Technique

Start Small: Its better to establish the habit first, then grow the time spent from there.

Begin with just 5 seconds and gradually increase to 5 minutes as you become more comfortable.

Maybe start with just one focus area, getting started and keeping the pattern going is what is key.

Layer Your Focus: Initially concentrate on one area, such as gratitude for loved ones, then layer in additional focus areas over time.

Build a Routine: Consistency is key.

Aim to incorporate this practice into your daily routine at a time that suits you best, whether morning or evening.

Sametime everyday: link it to an existing habit, something you are guaranteed to do i.e. getting dressed, brushing your teeth, unlocking a door, your first or last drink of the day.

Anchor to an existing habit and make it clear exactly when you will practice your habit. Having clarity will avoid you having excuses!

The Power of Gratitude

What we discuss here is a form of gratitude. Not only will you feel good for 20 minutes, but there will also be a lasting effect.

Gratitude doesn't just feel good; it rewires your brain.

Engaging in regular gratitude practices can enhance empathy, increase happiness, improve health, and even lead to deeper relationships.

Brain scans show that having a habit of gratitude reduces the size and impact your Amygdala has (fight and flight alarm system) and increases the capability of specific parts of the pre-frontal cortex that can reign in the power the brains fear system, so you can gain rational control.

Wrap-Up

Incorporating this simple 20-minute routine into your daily life can significantly impact your happiness and overall well-being.

It's about focusing on the positives, acknowledging your growth, reliving joyful moments, and dreaming about the future.

If you say you have not got time, just interrogate your phone to discover how many hours are spent looking at it and how often you unlock it!

Summary

Embrace this 20-minute daily practice to shift your focus from negativity and busyness to gratitude, growth, joy, and dreams.

Witness the transformation in your happiness and overall life satisfaction.

Try the 20-minute happiness hack for a week and share your experiences. What changes did you notice in your mood and outlook?

Until our next journey into self-improvement, remember to carve out time for happiness every day! 

See you next week. If you haven't already, follow me on LinkedIn and hit the bell for daily posts on tips, insights and techniques.

Want more? 

When you're ready, 3 ways I can help you:

1. My book - Nuclear Powered Resilience

If you want to either build a high level or resilience or overcome a past trauma that is holding you back - check out my book.

2. Build self confidence and resilience fast - £48 training course

I have developed my book into a course to help you fully implement the benefits of my book.

3. Work with me 121 - start with a FREE 15 minutes exploration session.

Lets have an open chat and explore how I can help you and what is troubling you.

If we both think we can work together and I have what you need we can go from there.

Want to explore what else I do? including corporate speaking, coaching and workshops - say hello in an email and let’s explore together.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.