Simple but effective method to be happier
Studies show that recalling happy times helps boost happiness in the present. When people reminisce, they focus on positive memories, with the result that recalling the past amplifies the positive and minimizes the negative. However, because people remember events better when they fit with their present mood, while happy people remember happy events better, depressed people remember sad events better – which makes them feel worse.
How can we be happier?
I find the most effective method actually very simple, and it is called “one-sentence journal“.
The idea is simple, and this is how
I bought a blank, lined notebook with a blue bird on the cover (because blue birds are a symbol of happiness and my happiness project). On the top of each page, I put a calendar date without a year: January 1, January 2, etc.
From now on, whenever anything significant happens on a particular day, I’ll write it on that date with the year. So, to make up an example:
August 3
2005 – first night in my new apartment in a new city, San Diego
2006 – bought my dog Sandy
2008 – finally finished the tree house
This notebook will fill in very slowly, but after a decade or so, I’ll be able to look back on any particular day and remember the most significant events from my past – a quick, succinct way of keeping track of my personal highlights. Life seems so intense as it unfolds, but it’s easy to forget even the most important things, as time passes. The days are long, but the years are short, and memories fade quickly.
This is another similar idea from a normal but happy person
Our family has been doing something similar for years, but we use colorful 3′ x 5′ index cards (one per day of the year) stored in a plastic box. We’ve recorded childhood highlights, vacations, memorable moments and more. We like to say “that’s box-worthy” or “let’s add that to the box” when something neat happens. And it’s fun to pull out a card at random and read what happened — everything from getting braces to driver’s licences and birthdays. I plan to start my kids on their own box when they move out (with their own special dates already written down to give them a head-start).
Privacy?
This is how people say:
I started this journal keeping last year as a New Year’s Resolution. I always wanted to keep a journal, but had fear that someone would read it. By keeping a journal of this type, I don’t care who reads it, because it is nothing too personal and it involves anyone who might read it anyway. I’m excited to start a new journal soon. I’ve actually been able to fill it up and keep my resolution for 2 years!
Source from Happiness Project
