Happier

Having suffered from an uncomfortable sleep last night (not unusual of me :( ), in the morning I found in my inbox an email from a good friend with some colorful title: creativity and happiness. In desperate need of such mood raisers, I opened the email and found a great, though long, talk.

The speaker gives some practical tips for having a happier life. The tips are common-sense, as the speaker admit as well. But, in his words, we should make these common-senses more common! So, I'd rather write down these golden keys to better remember them for putting into my daily schedule:

1. Give yourself and others the permission to be human. That is, you should accept that an alive normal human---meaning that he is neither psychic nor dead!---experience different emotions: envy, jealousy, love, anger, ... They are all normal. You should not be mad at yourself for feeling them. You should not try hard to get rid of them; instead, you should accept them, otherwise they become too intense inside you.
• About me, I am glad that I have improved about this give-yourself-the-permission-to-be-human during last year. After some severe breakdowns, I have learnt to accept more my inner emotions.
2. Give yourself time to recover. You should have some breaks on a regular basis. I mean real breaks, not just physically being out of work. At least once a week, take a day off; every few months, a week off; every year, a month off.
• Admittedly, I do not feel happy and satisfied with my breaks. Our family schedule about breaks is not organized. My husband likes to work all the time. When I do break, I feel somehow guilty inside. I know, this is no good, but I could not have fixed it yet. Our annual break is also so much of a hassle, I mean, when we go to our home country. We have to do many travels inside the country, from my hometown to my husband's to the capital. It is too much of a hassle. Practically, rarely do I feel having a good break.
3. Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! No comment.
4. Take in three deep breaths regularly. Do it when you get up, when you leave the house, when you come to the house, when you enter your office, and especially when you see a red light!
5. Write down your gratitude list. Every night, before you sleep, write down at least five things that you are grateful for. Before you sleep, ask yourself, your kid, your partner: what was fun for you today? What do we appreciate about each other?

I hope to remember all these secret lessons. Enjoy watching the talk: