You’ve heard it before.

I know you have:

“Always live with an attitude of gratitude.”

Few people, however, really know the power of gratitude.

Nearly everyone knows the importance of it, but few people consider its benefits convincing enough to actually make gratitude a regular practice, as they would with washing their hair or cleaning the home, for example.

Fortunately, we live in a world of unprecedented scientific evidence to match the perennial wisdom we’ve all intuitively known throughout our lives, shedding a new light on the importance of being thankful for what we have.

I remember how much I had heard and read about gratitude before I made it an integral part of my life.

It all seemed to make sense and generally seemed to be the right thing to do. But I finally came to realize it’s much more than that.

I can say with absolute confidence that it’s not just a feel-good practice or a virtue to be cultivated.

It will change everything in your life for the better. And it will do so immediately.

So let’s dig in.

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If you are serious about understanding and mastering the art of happiness, which I’ve come to learn and respect that you are, the hedonic treadmill is a topic that you must absolutely be aware of.

If you haven’t heard of the term ‘hedonic treadmill’ before, this article aims to present exactly – from the ground up – what it is and why it is important.

Essentially, it’s the notion that human happiness adapts to our experience, i.e. our increase or decrease in happiness after an event eventually returns to a ‘happiness set point’ because we psychologically adapt to that new experience, whatever it may be.

The purpose of this article is to provide a deep understanding of the principles, not only of the term known as ‘hedonic treadmill’ but the notion of happiness being adaptable and the inherent underlying reasons why this may be.  [Read more…]

It’s always, always worth questioning assumptions.

They’re built into our society and embedded into the human psyche more than is healthy and taking the time to step back and ask ‘is that really true?’ is an essential step to take if we’re to move forward as a flourishing species.

A fascinating study looked at the levels of happiness amongst a group of people deemed by their surroundings, as well as ours, to work in a trade of disgust and low class. The members of this study live under persistent cultural stigma.

They are trash pickers. They live in extreme poverty, sometimes not having enough to meet the basic human needs.

The surprise? They aren’t unhappy. Quite the opposite. And the reason why is most definitely a wake up call. [Read more…]

Here are 6 phenomenally created videos I’ve stumbled across over the past year or so.

I decided to create this post as a sort of reference page if you ever have a day where you feel like giving up, lose all hope or just need a lift.

Of course these inspiring videos are not the end all and be all. But every little helps.

I hope it proves useful.

1. “Why Do We Fall”

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Arguably one of the only ‘days’ worth recognising, celebrating and taking part in.

Today is the second official International Day of Happiness.

On June 28th, 2012 it was announced that March 20th would mark a day that recognises “happiness as a fundamental human goal”, and equally important, to recognise;

the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and well-being of all peoples…

It’s a day to value the notion of happiness as a primal human desire and to reflect, educate and promote happiness as a valuable aspect of a flourishing society.

Maybe the most beautiful thing about this day is the inspiration behind it all: Bhutan.

Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it before either. Bhutan is a tiny country of only 700,000 people, 23% of which live under the poverty line. What’s so wonderful about them is [Read more…]

Here are 4 things to remember when you’re having a bad day. It’s worth starting by admitting:

1. It’s bad.

Don’t kid yourself. It’s worthless trying to justify why it is infact a good day. It’s not. You know it’s a bad day. Owning and accepting it, in itself, allows for the possibility of turning things around.

The truth is it’s a bad day. That’s just fact. The deeper question is, why?

For this day to be bad you must have had an expectation of how the day was supposed to go, and it evidently did not pan out that way.

It’s natural in today society to have a certain level of expectation, unconsciously or consciously. And, for whatever reason, it’s gone all wrong.

That was not under your control. What is, however, is how you react, and what you do from here on.

There are two questions you could proceed with when you are fully aware you’re having a bad day:

“Why has this happened to me?”

or  [Read more…]