Is Sustainable Happiness Un - Human?

Show me one person who only feels one emotion.

Inquisition kicks in when sustainable happiness is the topic of discussion.

It seems impossible and even UN- human to sustain a positive emotional state in the face of devastating circumstances of life.

Is sustainable happiness un natural to the human state of being?

If someone I love dies, I will cry.

If my heart is touched by devastation, I will cry.

When I am ready I can choose happiness.

This empowers me over my emotional state of being.

After almost 20 years of in depth study of sustainable happiness, I can tell you with full confidence, it is possible and it is natural and it is human!

Most humans have their emotional state tied like an anchor to the ever-changing reality landscape around them.

If this is the case, when bad things happen, our cognitive and emotional states head straight toward the downward spiral. 

If not the downward spiral, the emotional roller coaster. 

Things are good; happiness.  Things are bad; unhappiness.

Seems natural and human until I offer you a strategy where you can no longer be a leaf in the wind or an anchor tied to the circumstances of your life.

This strategy is one based in positive psychology and leadership principles.

This strategy is not to be used to ignore or repress any human emotional experience.

It is used to help navigate the ever-changing landscape in your mind as daily life always offers challenges.

When the strategy of these five steps of sustainable happiness are engaged on a daily basis, there is a consistent recalibration to the moment, to positivity, to empowerment to deeper meaning and purpose and to faith in the unknown.

Imagine being empowered over your own emotional state, instead of the world being empowered over you.

Imagine being able to create a positive mood within yourself no matter what is happening around you.

Imagine having resiliency that is seamless no matter what the challenge.

Imagine having contentment and fulfillment in your heart separate from the emotional experience in your brain.

Imagine feeling safe and secure when faced with the unknown.

Imagine enjoying sorrow, grief, and sadness. Embracing them as you have power of them instead of them having power of you.

Employing sustainable happiness principles in your daily life can stop the downward spiral and the emotional roller coaster of life.

It only takes a 3:1 ratio of positive to negative emotional experiences to create your upward spiral and this strategy can offer you a 15:1 ratio if done accurately.

Which do you want?

Downward Spiral

Emotional Roller Coaster

Upward Spiral

The choice is easy. The choice is yours.  The power of your sustainable happiness can be in your hands.

Positive emotion is different than positive mood.

Positive mood is different than resiliency.

Resiliency is different than contentment.

Contentment is different than bliss.

All of which are under the umbrella of the term – happiness.

So yes sustainable happiness is a possible and it is human.

It is human to be able to control your own emotional state and I offer this 5 step guide as a tool to be used to help create your upward spiral for life once and for all.

Do you want to contribute to this conversation?

Dr Aymee Coget

Sustainable Happiness Doctor

Sfhappinessdoctor at gmail dot com

www.happinessmakeover.com

Vision for the Dynamic Spread of Happiness

Imagine a world where you can see individual happiness on a global scale like we monitor gas and electricity.

Imagine a world where each person knows a clear understanding of happiness so it becomes natural like breathing air and drinking water.

Happiness becomes the same birth right and natural flow of life like breathing and drinking.

Imagine a world where older brothers and sisters who are working on advanced levels of contentment and bliss help their younger siblings achieve the basics of emotional empowerment, sustained positive mood and effortless resiliency. 

Imagine a world where organizations are public with the happiness of employees defined by a clear and standardized method of measuring emotional empowerment, positive mood, resiliency, contentment and bliss.

Imagine a world where hospitals offer methods of learning happiness science at the point of diagnosis since depression is likely to occur at that time. 

Depression hurts healing, happiness aids in healing.

Imagine a world where people no longer post ‘I want to kill myself” on the internet in hopes someone will save them.

Imagine families that thrive in their individual happiness instead of divorcing because your partner is not making you happy.

The world health organization predicts suicide to be the 2^nd leading cause of mortality in 2020.  Suicide is caused by depression.  Depression is helped when positive psychology is adopted in daily lives.  It is taught in universities like Harvard, Stanford, and University of California yet it is being held from larger educational streams and the result is school shootings and increase in violence.

Imagine a world where people are taught how to be happy like how we learn math.

Empowerment = Arithmetic

Positive Mood =  Algebra

Resiliency =  Geometry

Contentment = Pre- Calculus

Bliss = Calculus

There are clear steps and clear answers.

Each step is interrelated as depicted in my Sustainable Happiness 5 Step Process Model ™

Happiness no longer is an elusive mirage you complain about behind 4 closed walls with a confidentiality agreement and a trained professional who could be depressed themselves!

Imagine a world where someone asks you “How are you?” and the answer “Happy!” does not shock them.

According to the National Institute of health, people seek 3-5 different methods to help them become happier. This means happiness has NO Direct KNOWN path of improvement.

According to the National Institute of Health, 25% of cases of Depression are treated effectively. This means WE ARE FAILING!

Depression is likely, treatment is wavering, results of suicide increasing.

Where is happiness science?!

I have a vision for a technology to be implemented based in the 20 years of happiness research I have been a part of.

My methods are endorsed by Dr. Tal Ben Shahar , first happiness professor of Harvard , Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky Happiness Increase Professor at UC Riverside, and a Psychiatrist / Diplomate of American Board of Psychiatry, Dr Walter Jacobson.

I have seen the benefits of happiness science cure mental and physical illness, I have seen flourishing from states of suicide. I have seen miracles happen for people who have given up hope and have done and seen it all.

From the standpoint of the individual, couple, family, community, organization, city, county, country and continental perspectives, I know we can teach happiness like math saving lives and changing the world.

I know we can improve the Global Well Being Index easily and systematically.

Would you like to contribute to this conversation?

Dr Aymee Coget

Sustainable Happiness Expert

Author of Forthcoming Book – Sustainable Happiness in 5 Steps

www.happinessmakeover.com

3 Tips on How to Be Positive Around Complainers

The difference between complainers and people who don't complain- The non complainers feel empowered over their lives to make it the way they want.

The complaining state is one of discontent, unfulfillment, unease, and uncertainty. One where we have all experienced at some point of our lives.

When we are around complainers I offer a few tips to help the situation go in a positive direction.

1. BE OF SERVICE - Ask the person "How can I help you?" 

Being of service in a moment of discontent offers the person a sense of relief.  Hope may be near, change could occur with the help of someone else.  

2. USE YOUR HAPPINESS SHIELD - Respond with KLOGZ

Kindness - I admire ___

Love -  I accept ____

Optimism - I'm optimistic ___

Gratitude - I'm grateful ____

Zest - I'm excited ____

3. USE ADMIRATION, APPRECIATION, AFFECTION

I Admire ____

I Appreciate _____

<give Affection> - hug, high five, or rub on the shoulder, or if typing just mention affection.

Positive psychology offers us tools to use when it comes to combatting every day negativity within ourselves and those around us.

Let me know how it goes the next time you are around a complainer and you put these tools to use!

Upward spiral and away!

Happiness = High Productivity & Increased Sales

How well can you sustain your mood while at work? How many times do you experience stress at work? Even anger, frustration or yelling?!  

A meeting I had this past week was with a CEO who just yelled at someone right before he had a meeting with me about positivity in the workplace! 

The world works in mysterious ways! Finally, in 2010 the Journal of Management referenced a study where organizational happiness was the sum of employee happiness.

Numerous studies since 2005 have indicated happiness has a direct correlation with success.  

Mentioned in a recent post for Productivity Hacks, people looking to become more productive highlight the work of Management Professor Thomas Wright,

Thomas Wright, professor at Fordham University, claims employee happiness accounts for as much as 10-15 percent of the variance in performance between different employees. In a 40-hour week that could mean more than three-quarters of an hour in lost productivity, every day.

Happiness is a powerful key in maximizing productivity in the workplace. Gallup tells us that disengaged (unhappy) workers cost billions in lost productivity, whereas engaged (happy) employees are more profitable, more customer-focused, safer and more likely to stick around. In fact, organizations with a happy workforce have 20 percent higher profits (and a profitable company has greater resources to support its employees – so the cycle continues). At work, happy people are:

•          31 percent more productive

•          40 percent more likely to receive a promotion (people like happy people)

•          Less absent, with 23 percent fewer fatigue symptoms

•          Up to 10 percent more engaged at work

•          Able to sell more – happy sales people produce 37 percent greater sales

As people seeking productivity are being guided to becoming happier it would be helpful learn my 5 steps to Sustainable Happiness.  

Science has been quick to point out the benefits of being happy, to the individual and business.  Yet is still infantile when it comes to providing quick easy and long lasting solutions with measurable results.

Learn my 5 steps in order to become happier so you can reap the benefits of those who happen to be born happy.