Happiness Class

I think that there should be a class in high school on how to be happy. It isn't something you can search for and eventually find or put in a jar to take out when you want it. Being happy is a decision. There is so much depression, sadness, hopelessness among young people and no one really knows how to get this turned around. Here is my two sense on the topic


There are many reasons that can lead to a persons unhappiness; bad experiences, unbalanced hormones, vitamin and mineral deficiency, being placed in unfortunate situations by choice or not, poor health and mental illness. So some people may have a more difficult time with this than others, but every can benefit.

Of course there are times that people are sad during the loss of a loved one or finding out very bad news, there is time for this sadness and a process to go through natural feelings during hard times. After taking time to go through this pain, you can decide when its time to move on a be happy, sometimes you have to allow yourself to be happy instead of holding on to the sadness and feeling like you shouldn't be happy because that would mean you no longer love or remember a loved one. It is ok to be happy.


Each individual has to make a decision whether they want to be happy or not, it's that simple. Well it sounds simple anyway but it really take work, like continuously exercising to establish muscles. Once you decide to be happy that is the first step. It's sometimes enticing to stay miserable and that's just the way you want to be, then you will be. Make the choice, be happy.


At first you will feel like a phony but tell tell yourself that you are happy, smile often and keep reminding yourself that you are happy. If you have bad things happening all around you, take many deep breaths and smile despite the bad things. When you are alone, laugh. laugh out loud even if it feels forced. keep reminding yourself you are happy and you deserve to be happy. This isn't easy and takes a lot of hard work.


There will be times when you feel like you just can't make even force a smile, you are so sad and depressed that you just want to scream cry and bang your head against the wall. So give yourself 10-15 minutes and scream, cry, have a big tantrum. And then stop wipe away the tears and smile. Push those negative thoughts out of your mind with all your will. Think of positive things, let yourself day dream about awesome things even if they aren't real. Imagine you just found a big bag of money on your door step and what you would buy with it. Think about a dream vacation you would take if you had the time or money. Anything positive that will help get your mind off of being sad and filled with despair.


This will get easier those more you do it, your hard work and focus will pay off. As you continue to grow your happiness you can shorten your crying tantrums to 5 to 10 minutes and eventually you will be able to manage your breakdowns to only a few minutes once in a while.


Focus on positive things in your life at the moment or things that you are thankful for. Gratitude is a big part of growing your happiness. Even if your house burns down, your best friend dies and your hair starts falling out, there are still things to be grateful for. But you have 2 legs and 2 arms, I'd say appreciate the things you can do like walk, swim or run. If you are very sick and have no friends or family, you be thankful for a bed to sleep in or pain relieving medication. You may have to stretch but you can find something. Write down 4 or 5 things each day that you are thankful for.


Anti-depressant drugs: these are handed out like candy! And while it is sometimes helpful if you have tried and tried to pull yourself out of a funk for a long time but you just can't get out, you may need a few months on an anti-depressant to get started on your journey. But if you do go this route, make it a point to work toward getting better and getting off the drugs. These should be used only as more of a last resort method.


The brain is an amazing organ, through your hard work of pushing out the negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones you can actually re- route the wiring in your brain. It will become easier and easier to focus on the positive. The synaptic plasticity in your brain is the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, meaning you can train your brain to what ever you want it to believe.


We always hear that depression is a chemical imbalance. Sometimes this is due to nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalance. In plastic there are BPA's that can mimic estrogen in the body and that in itself can throw a person out of whack. There are natural ways to try and combat this as well. Maca route can be found in powder or capsule form and it is a great way to help your body balance out your hormones on their own. It doesn't happen over night it takes a few months. There are some good vitamin supplements but just because you are taking a multi-vitamin doesn't mean you can't be deficient. There are certain types of of vitamins that aren't absorbed well in the body (for instance Magnesium Oxide is not a good supplemental magnesium to take I'd take Magnesium citrate or gluconate). But that is another conversation all together.


My primary focus in this Happy Lesson is more on understanding that happiness is not found after some lengthy search or captured suddenly. Happiness isn't for the rich or extra lucky people. Happiness is and can be for everyone at any time, all you have to do is decide that you are Happy. Plant the seed and allow it to grow.