How to be happier (scientifically proven)

[Dien Rice]

I decided to take my own advice...

I was convinced by my own prediction that I'd be happier, so...

I've started a "gratitude journal!"

Mine is "online"...

I make a lot of notes on Google Docs already, so I just created a new "Gratitude Journal" document on Google Docs...

(I mainly use Google Docs because I can access it from either my phone or my computer, wherever I am...)

Every day I'll add a new date, and three new entries for who or what I'm grateful for...

Day 1 already done!

I'm looking forward to doing this daily!

Best wishes,

Dien

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

I predict - if you do this - you'll be happier...

...and it's scientifically "proven" !

It comes down to "gratitude"...

Psychological Experiment 1: Psychologists randomly separated subjects into two groups...

Group 1 was asked to do a variety of gratitude exercises, such as...

- thinking about someone for whom they were grateful
- writing about someone for whom they were grateful
- writing a letter to be delivered to someone for whom they were grateful...

Group 2 (which is called the "control" group, and is used for comparison with Group 1) were asked to...

- describe their living room.

In this experiment, those in Group 1 felt more positive immediately. Those who had the most benefit were those who just had to think about someone for whom they were grateful...

Action Plan: Think about someone for whom you are grateful... (You can do it now!)

Psychological Experiment 2: Psychologists randomly assigned subjects to one of six therapeutic activities designed to improve their quality of life...

Out of these six activities, the one with the greatest immediate effect was where the participant was asked to write and deliver a letter of gratitude to someone in their life.

The activity with the greatest long-term benefit was keeping a "gratitude journal," where the participant was to write down three things they were grateful for each day. With the gratitude journal, the participants' happiness scores kept increasing... The greatest happiness was found to occur around six months after they started the gratitude journal!

Action Plan (either or both):
1. Write and deliver a letter of gratitude to someone in your life you are grateful for.
2. For longer term benefits... Write a daily "gratitude journal," where you write down three things each day that you are grateful for.

As I said, do any (or all) of these, and I predict your life happiness will increase!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. I got the information from here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratit..._interventions