One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice I found is that to make yourself feel happier, you should help others. In fact, 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time we should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives.
If I am feeling down or blue, I don't do anything to make myself feel better.
I don't surround myself with friends, go drinking, do drugs or resort to anything that might assist in escaping from myself.
This is because I have found any distraction to be temporary. My feelings of sadness are right there, waiting for me when I get back, and typically manage to get stronger while I am away..
Also, if my whole body is down, me trying to yank it into not feeling what it's feeling is the equivalent of not listening to myself.
Instead, I mope. I sulk. I cry. (Crying feels both horrible and amazing.)
I lie around trying to sit with what I feel (which, I won't lie to you, is uncomfortable as hell.)
I try not to look at my devices or my phone (except to write.)
I go on a walk or a yoga class so I can just breathe and move, breathe and move.
It takes me a while to process whatever is making me feel down but when I get out on the other side I feel much stronger than when all I have been trying to do is evade myself.
I deserve my full attention. I deserve to listen to myself, and so do you.
I don't surround myself with friends, go drinking, do drugs or resort to anything that might assist in escaping from myself.
This is because I have found any distraction to be temporary. My feelings of sadness are right there, waiting for me when I get back, and typically manage to get stronger while I am away..
Also, if my whole body is down, me trying to yank it into not feeling what it's feeling is the equivalent of not listening to myself.
Instead, I mope. I sulk. I cry. (Crying feels both horrible and amazing.)
I lie around trying to sit with what I feel (which, I won't lie to you, is uncomfortable as hell.)
I try not to look at my devices or my phone (except to write.)
I go on a walk or a yoga class so I can just breathe and move, breathe and move.
It takes me a while to process whatever is making me feel down but when I get out on the other side I feel much stronger than when all I have been trying to do is evade myself.
I deserve my full attention. I deserve to listen to myself, and so do you.
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Also I love playing my fav games like Ori and The Blind Forest (what a kind and hopeful one!), Mini Motorways and others.