Live Happy - The 4 W's to make it happen in your life...

"Happineszs a state of well-being, contentment, a satisfying experience, and good fortune"(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/happiness)

Think about your life right now in this moment.  Are you truly happy?  Are you pursuing the things in life that add to your happiness?  Have you thought about the importance of happiness to our existence as human beings?  Finally, does happiness really matter?  I'd like to share the 4 W's that I believe are important to Living Happy.

Why Happiness?

Being happy is truly a mind, body, and spirit experience that has lasting benefits in our lives.  It has been supported by scientific research for many decades.  More recently scientific research is diving into the topic more with the changes in health care reform and the rise of disease.  What's evident  if you read any health or psychology articles is that being a happy person has a positive effect on our entire being.

Some of the research has shown significance in how happiness can create the following benefits:

• Becoming a genius - Being happy may not get you to be a card carrying member of Mensa, but studies have shown clearly that happiness has some significant benefits to our cognition.  Some of these benefits include:
• Improved problem solving skills
• Greater imagination and thought production
• Increased ability to assimilate new information - I was smiling and that's why I used those big words - wow it really works - Awesome!!! :)

• Becoming an Adonis - Sorry to disappoint, but being happy won't make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger's identical twin, but it has been proven to have these helpful effects on the body:
• Decreases the workload of the heart by lowering BP and HR
• Decreases Cortisol (a hormone that exists to help manage our body's response to stress, but high levels of it are detrimental and cause decreased immunity, increased belly fat, decreased muscle, and decreased thyroid)
• Decrease the risk of heart disease by limiting bad blood plasma like cholesterol

• Becoming the Life of the Party - This could actually happen by being a happy person.  Studies show that people with the following traits are able to be more successful at creating meaningful relationships.  Those traits are:
• Enthusiasm - nobody wants to be around Debbie Downer (except us SNL fans)
• Gratefulness - understanding and appreciating the many good things in our lives.
• Optimism - that glass is half -full I tell you - the ability to see beyond the negative

Listed below are some links to some good information about the benefits of happiness on our bodies, minds, and spirits.  

Happiness and health

Smile your way to happiness

Happiness and making a buck

Being mindful of happiness

What Happiness looks like in action

In order to enjoy these benefits we must take action in our lives to "Be Happy - don't worry" - good song.  Seriously, it is important to understand some practices we can implement in our lives to promote the happiness that leads to our holistic improvement.

Here are the 3 G's of Happiness:

•  Gratitude - Gratitude means thanks and appreciation.  It's the warm feeling you get when you remember the person who told you to drop your 1980's hairstyle and get with the new millennium already.  It also opens ourselves to new opportunities and possibilities.

• Giving - Another way this could be said is being generous with your time, your emotions, and your finances.  When you give to another person it fills a special place in our hearts.  How did it feel when you gave an unexpected person something from your heart?  They smiled, and you had this warm fuzzy feeling in your heart.  That may not be the scientific wording for that reaction, but you know what I mean.

• Greatness - Not being a pompous jerk, but pursuing excellence in your own life that can positively impact others.  Having that drive to make a difference in this world.  This means taking action to look for these opportunities in your life, and knowing...

When Happiness starts to make a difference

Happiness will only occur when you decide to actually take action.  Then happiness can start to invade lives in a way that creates positive change.  When you walk down the street or through the office, do look for the opportunity to make another person's day?  How much effort does it take to say thank you or give a smile?  When you take the time in that moment it can make all the difference to both the giver and receiver.  So when should you start looking to make a difference?  Yesterday.  If I've learned anything from the privilege of helping hospice patients and their families, don't wait for tomorrow.  Therefore, just like any goal, we have to put a plan into action for success.  Here are some practical things you can do to start making a difference:

Three ways to put happiness into action:

• Give your Mind - This means in all your interactions you need to be present.  Whether it's in your relationship or your friendship you need to give your attention.  This promotes happiness because you've just validated the other person's importance to you, and made them feel valued. Working on being a better communicator and listener in our everyday interactions can promote happiness.

• Give Your Heart - Look for ways to put your caring for others into action without making sign that says, "See what I did".  When you look for opportunities to make others feel better it can create increased happiness and fulfillment in our lives.  Look for opportunities with your family, your friends, the person on the corner, or an official organization where you can give to others.  Do you remember what happened to the Grinch when he gave to the Who's?  Let your heart grow today as you give some of it away to others in need.

• Give Your Hand - Scientific research supports the effects of human affection from the time we're babies in the nursery.  Without the touch of another human our growth and development become stagnate.  Therefore, having touch in our lives is important to building happiness.  As a staff nurse I always would get down to eye level with my patients, and gently touch there shoulder to let them know I would be there to meet their needs.  Each of us can do this each day with those we love, know, and meet.

Where Happiness can Grow

Being happy in life takes understanding why it's important, knowing what actions can produce the happiness we seek, how to generate happiness in our interactions with others, and finally we have to have a place where we can let happiness grow.

Here are 3 locations where you can let your happiness grow:

• Place full of purpose - We each need to have a sense that what we do in our life makes a difference.  Being happy won't occur if you don't have a location for your happiness to grow. Is it the smile of my little 3 year old when Daddy comes home at night?  Is is your visit to a sick relative that provides them comfort as you sit with them in that strange place?  Or is on the corner in your car at the traffic light as you hand a dollar out your window to another person in need?  Only you know where that place should be for you, but to be happy you have to find that location for your purpose.

• Place where you can grow - Each and every one of us need to and hopefully want to become better people.  To be happy in our lives we need to have a place that promotes our personal growth.  A small group, a friendship, and non-profit organization.  Or it could be your own routine of reading, meditating, or exercising.  All these actions provide the environment for you to grow and increase your happiness.  Look at your life today, and find that place you can grow.

• Place where you can share - It is amazing to me that with so many people on the face of this earth not one of us is the same.  That's great news because we are all special individuals with unique gifts and talents that can be used to improve our life, and the lives of others.  Do you have a place where you share your gift?  Do you know what your gift is?  Most often your gift is that thing or things you do that come naturally to you that you enjoy, and can impact others positively.  Are you a great artist?  Do you have talent baking?  Are you a compassionate person that knows how to make others feel better?  Or are you talented at inspiring others to be their best?  There are a bunch of great books out there that can help with the process, and then you need to find a place to unleash your greatness on the world.

So are you ready to Live Happy, and make it a part of your everyday life?  Would you like to know of a place that might possibly be your opportunity to change your life and others?  If so, reach out to me about a great opportunity to make a difference... here's a sneak peek

           A Place to Make a Difference

Am I losing my mind? - A new breakthrough for many...

Am I losing my mind?  Sadly this often is a question that may be fearfully muttered under the breath of many people.  Maybe its' following a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, a debilitating neurological causing havoc, or the effects that occur after brain surgery.

For years I have had the experience of both personally and professionally dealing with the effects caused by changes that occur when the brain experiences changes in it's function.  It's a difficult thing for any of us to see that person we love slip away, and feel helpless to intervene.  Currently the incidence of both Alzheimer's and Dementia continue to grow each day with our ever-increasing aging population.  In my work with hospice I see and help people that have come to the end of this journey after trying numerous ineffective treatments.  Many of us that have a had a personal experience may ask why or how this happens?  Understanding a challenge is the first step in trying to create a plan to achieve success over the struggle you face.

Brain 101 - A layman's approach to understanding how our brain works

Therefore, how does the brain function and what happens to create the pathway for the onset of both Dementia and Alzheimer's?  First, let's look at what are the parts of our brain and their importance to our cognition and function.

• The cerebrum is the major portion of your brain.  It provides the resource to help with memory, problem solving, thinking, feeling, and controls the body's movement.

• The cerebellum is at the back of your brain under the cerebrum and helps you stand steady while you perform physical actions.

• The brain stem is below you cerebrum and in front of your cerebellum, and connects the brain to the spinal cord.  It is the source of life because it controls our automatic functions that allow us to breath, have a beating heart,  and aids in digestion.

• The brain functions as a result of being nourished with a network of blood vessels that include capillaries, veins, and arteries.  Without the oxygen rich blood the brain cannot exist.

• Next is the squiggly grey matter we see called the cortex.  It is the outermost portion of the cerebrum and is responsible for:

• Sensations - sight, sound, and smell

• Is the problem solving resource 

• Creates and stores memories

• Controls voluntary movement

• Our brains are also divided into two parts called hemispheres - The right and left - the control the opposing side of the body - the left brain is where the conversation truly begins.

• The next portion of the brain is the pathway to action and thought.  Our brains contain billions of little nerve cells called neurons.  These are responsible for transferring information that results in action.  It is this selected pathway that is attacked when a person has Alzheimer's. These cells are joined together, and go into action when an electrical charge is received that releases a chemical.  These chemicals are called neurotransmitters and are the brains messages to create responses in the body. These responses are recorded at the cellular level, and store our memories and thoughts.

  

A Thief in the Night

Alzheimer's is that robber that steals our mind by causing the destruction of those small nerve cells.  As the disease progresses the brain actually reduces in size, and inhibits most every function of the brain.  In the Alzheimer's brain:

• The cortex will shrivel up causing damage to the areas that involve thinking, planning, and memory.
• The shrinkage occurs mainly in the hippo-campus which is the most significant center for memory in the brain.
• Finally, the ventricles in the brain grow larger.

As a result:

• The tissue of a brain with Alzheimer's has fewer nerve cells than a healthy brain.
• Plaque and clusters of protein fragments build up more rapidly between cells blocking the pathways
• The dead and dying cells create structures called tangles that inhibit brain function.

Scientists don't have a specific cause yet for why this occurs in the brains of people with Alzheimer's, but the tangles and plaques are the possible suspects.  Once a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's the course of the disease is thought to last from 8 to 20 years.  Much like other diseases there is a progression in the severity and symptoms:

• Early stage disease causes effects to occur generally 20 years before it may even be officially diagnosed.  In this phase people experience changes in their memory and problem solving abilities.

• In mild to moderate stages, which lasts 2 to 10 years, the impacts continue creating social challenges because of their increasing confusion.

• The final stage of Alzheimer's may last from 1 to 5 years and causes the brain to shrink which creates the inability to communicate, and most often these people can no longer recognize their own family.

Alzheimer's truly acts as that thief in the night that sneaks into your life, and robs you of your life without much warning.  With such a tragic and stealthy disease it's imperative to do whatever we can as people to protect against losing our mind.  Thankfully, there is some hope on the horizon. 

 

The Key to Unlocking a Better Tomorrow

Currently there are many drugs out there that are being used to help manage the diseaseprocess, but they often are the culprit of causing side effects without much of a result. Thankfully there is something on the horizon that is fast approaching.  

Take a peek at how it works...

The regeneration of our mind

Now think about a world where people wouldn't have to be fearful of aging, and quietly questioning if there losing their mind.  It's time to tackle these degenerative diseases that are causing havoc on so many lives.  Let's take control today.  Join me in preventing that next family from suffering the affects of their loved one's loss in cognition.  

Contact me today to get involved.  Take care, Dave.