Technically, I suppose, a happiness practice is anything that contributes to happiness. However, here we will include only those that contribute lastingly and directly to happiness and/or to removing that which causes the opposite. These are the "practices" which are things one does regularly. You also should do the mental/emotional steps that we recommend (Managing The Mind).
MORNING GROUNDING AND ENERGIZING
Daily Morning Centering/Grounding
Here one can use the Reminders Notebook to review some things that are reinforcing to a positive viewpoint, such as reading key affirmations, strong statements of belief, reminders of one's key philosophies, etc. Visit that notebook's table of contents. The other LifeBooks such as The Memories Notebook and The Visuals Notebook are also good centering vehicles.
Morning Stretching/Postures To Create Strong State Of Resourcefulness
Besides the direct health effects, having the body not feel stiff and tired gets rid of the downing effect of body pain or low energy.
NOTICING WHAT IS GOOD, WHAT YOU ARE GRATEFUL FOR
See Gratitude main page. Write notes of appreciation/gratitude once a week. Read what you are grateful, including the gratitude affirmations, for in your Reminders Notebook. Write 5 things a day that you're grateful for, appreciate, and/or turned out good in your Gratitude Journal or combined Gratitude/Happiness/Successes Journal (see Types Of Journals). Write down what is good about the day and some good things you did. This helps train the brain to pick those things out on its own and it is part of the process of assuring that you have the vital/critical 3 to 1 positive to negative emotions ratio that is necessary for happiness. (The Positivity Ratio).
JOURNALING
The effects of journaling range from getting clarity, gaining awareness, to being deeply aware of life and enjoying it more. It is utilizing life to the maximum and/or gaining some better perspective on life. Doing it more effectively is part of the Journaling section. (Note that this is "practice" at intentionally directing one's attention, which creates a habit and a change in the wiring of the brain, so that directing attention toward what you want and away from what is negative becomes automatic - and life stays better without any extra effort with the brain taking care of it.)
Unhappy people tend to think they "need" to have other people provide them with love, approval, etc. Happy people "fill up" and take care of themselves, so they know they are self-sufficient. See Loving Yourself.
DAILY EXERCISE
At least 30 minutes of walking. Changes chemistry and outlook. Can be done "efficiently" if one desires while reading a book on a treadmill.
PAUSING/BREATHING/RELAXATION - One minute or more
Any time you notice any stress or shallow breathing. The body should be 100% relaxed twice a day at minimum. See Relaxation section.
These are special days, or 4 hour minimums, where you get lost in something that produces a focused result such as Rejuvenation or fun or getting something done in a concentrated time slot. Very useful and very rewarding.
PACING YOURSELF, THE PRACTICE OF
"The faster we go, the hurrieder we are, the behinder we get."
El Doofus
We go faster, we break more things and make more messes and miss more of how to make our lives much more rich and much more productive. If we continue to do this, we throw our body and emotions out of balance and create lack of coherence in our brain! Read this and practice it!
THE PRACTICE OF MAINTAINING PERSPECTIVE
("with perspective").
STAYING IN THE POWER ZONE: HOMEOSTASIS
You notice and bring yourself back to top functioning whenever you notice you are "off" in anyway. You don't tolerate the damage of being 'out of' physiological and emotional balance. (Homeostasis)
REWIRING THE BRAIN, THOUGHTS
Attention training (meditation, mindfulness), even for a few minutes a day, increases the size of the left prefrontal cortex, which does the screening out of negative thoughts. It also gradually diminishes the size of the amygdala (emergency response, fear center) so that it does not create so much anxiety or worry.
Bringing "coherence" to a chaotic (fairly "incoherent") thinking process leads to clearer thinking and feeling calmer and very much in charge.
Part of this is labeling emotions objectively, which is tremendously calming and creates a detachment from "being at the effect of" them.
When you practice this way of living and thinking, you do not allow negative thinking cycles to continue, as you know that would continue to reinforce that neuronal pathway, creating habitual negative thinking. (See Managing The Mind.)
to be completed...
