Recently I read a very interesting book “The Happiness Factor” written by Professor Richard Wiseman. For 10 years, he analysed nearly 400 volunteers to find out why some people consider themselves lucky and some unlucky.
I would like to share with you the results of the author’s research. The good news is that we can influence our happiness. There are 4 Rights of Happiness and 12 Rules of Lucky People which we can all apply to our lives to help us increase our personal happiness.
4 Rights of Happiness
1. Utilise the unexpected occasions. Lucky people create, recognize and use them.
2. Listen to your intuition.
3. Expect the best. Positive expectations help dreams come true.
4. Turn your bad luck into good luck – always find positive aspects of every event.
12 Rules of Lucky People
1. They build and maintain a powerful network of happiness.
2. They live at ease.
3. They are open to new experiences.
4. They listen to their inner voice.
5. They strengthen their intuitions.
6. They believe that fate will always be on their side.
7. They strive to achieve their goals even if the chances of success are small they do not give up in the face of failure.
8. They always see the positive side of misfortune.
9. They believe that all the unfortunate events will come to them with benefits.
10. They don’t dwell on their misfortune.
11. They take constructive action to prevent failures in the future.
According to Professor Richard Wiseman, after a month of living by these laws and rules and applying the exercises above, the level of happiness in the test candidates increased by at least 40%.
The practices used by Professor Wiseman are recognized by me as coaching tools that I have been successfully using for myself. Now I apply these practices together with affirmations, meditation and a gratitude journal when I work with my clients. Something I love to do as part of my own daily routine is to meditate. I meditate twice daily – morning and evening. It is amazing time spent with yourself. The morning meditation gives me extra energy and at the same time much inner peace. I like to compare it to the ocean, on the outside there can sometimes be a storm, but inside in the depths there is always a calm. Meditating in the evening helps me clear my mind after a busy day and a “cuddle” before bedtime.
I began my gratitude journal at the end of January 2016 when personal events upset my state of inner peace. These included changing career direction, moving house and the disappointment associated with the loss of some friendships and trust. Sometimes these moments teach us that we still have work to do. The introduction of a daily gratitude journal revealed that I am actually genuinely happy and that there are many things for which I am grateful. Interestingly calmness and acceptance of the situation in which I found myself occurred in my life. I would recommend that everyone maintain a gratitude journal which is a powerful tool and helps us maintain our motivation.
Do you want to feel like a really lucky person? Do you want to maintain and increase your happiness? If you need help with any of the above and how you can put it into practice, please contact me.
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