Happy Mind, Happy Life

10 Simple ways to Feel Great Every Day, Inspired By Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

Written by David Fallon, Founder of Themindfulparent.me

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee has been a GP in the UK's National Health Service for 20 years. He has seen that we need more than just motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It's only when we feel happy and in control of our lives that making positive choices for our health become easy.

In his Book, Happy Mind, Happy Life, he shares insights into the science of mental wellbeing and reveals ten simple ways to feel happier and more in control of your health. It features real-life case studies and over twenty practical exercises. Below are some of the highlights from the book. I hope you take something positive from it and try implementing them into your life.

1. Write your happy Ending

The single biggest problem people have with their search for happiness is confusing it for success. We're raised in a culture that fools us into believing that hard work, career achievements and material possessions will make us happy. This is a cruel trick, designed to feed the market economy and keep it going. We need to understand that the things that truly make us happy: living in accordance with our values, and the simple, virtually cost-free pleasures of a hot bath, a lovely cup of tea or a walk on the beach.

2. Eliminate Choice

Too much choice is likely to be a massive hidden stressor in your life. It drains your cognitive energy and weakens your core happiness by making you feel less in control and less content. By eliminating choice, creating personal rules and adding routine, you're simplifying your life in ways that can transform both your health and happiness.

3. Treat yourself with Respect

Dr. Chatterjee has noticed that in his 20 years as a GP, patients who have truly transformed their lives for good, practiced self compassion. The more we learn to treat ourselves with respect and compassion, the more we remind our brains that we are enough in who we are. As a consequence, there becomes less for the inner voice to criticize and, little by little, it starts to quieten and fade away.

4. Make time Stand Still

Feeling constantly short of time damages core happiness and health. But even the busiest among us can change our experience of time, making it feel as if we have more. It's simply a matter of finding something that we're passionate about and that fully absorbs us and getting into a 'Flow' State. There are infinite ways to access a flow state. If you are not sure where to start, think about the things you used to love to do as a child, like playing the piano, drawing, painting, or building Lego.

Play is a crucial ingredient for health and wellbeing and we often forget that as we get older. Dr. Chatterjee recommends accessing the flow state at least twice per week. Regularly accessing flow will make it easier to get through busy days, helps reduce the likelihood of burnout and helps us experience more joy.

5. Seek out Friction

Seek out friction wherever you can. See the problems you encounter with the people in your daily life as precious gifts. Hold an honest mirror up to yourself. Use what you can see in it to write a new story for yourself, one in which you're a hero, not a victim - a story that empowers you to take control of your own wellbeing. Write a new story for other people, too; one full of empathy and compassion in which everyone is doing the very best they can. Remember, you always have a choice in how yo react to life's inevitable difficulties. You have a choice in the stories you tell. Why not choose happiness?

6. Talk to Strangers

The trick with talking to strangers is to start small. Especially if you're insular and introverted, you can begin with a smile and a moment of eye contact and ratchet up from there. Even the briefest of social contacts counts as Positive Social Feedback. It will make you feel good, more confident and empowered to go for more. No matter how often you talk to strangers right now, Dr. Chatterjee encourages us to start doing it more. Push yourself out of your comfort zone just a little bit. You'll strengthen your core happiness by making yourself feel more in control, more content and more aligned.

7. Treat your phone like a person

Our loved ones simply cannot compete with modern technology. No human being can. When your loved ones are competing with your phone for attention, they're competing with the might and brilliance of Silicon Valley. It's like we are fighting an invisible war with the smartest people on earth. This war is for our attention.

Below are 5 ways to create Distance from your phone:

(1) Look at what apps are on your phone and ask yourself which ones bring you value and which ones don't. Consider removing the apps you don't need, including email. Experiment and see what happens.

(2) Customize your home screen. Consider putting apps that you want to use less in a folder on your phone and move that folder away from your home screen. This makes it less likely you will get distracted by mindlessly using them.

(3) Turn off all notifications from apps like social media and email

(4) Put your phone in a different room when doing intense work that needs your full concentration

(5) Get friendly with the Do not Disturb function.

8. Have Maskless Conversations

Taking off our masks is about trust, connection and love. Something powerful happens when we feel properly listened to and valued. Starting from today, become more aware of when you wear your masks. Learn when it's helpful to wear them and learn when it's better to go without. Make time for regular catchups with the people you feel close to and the people who will hear and see you. Be somebody else's miracle by creating a safe space for others to take off their masks with you. Understand that being vulnerable is your superpower.

9. Go on a Holiday everyday

Incorporate stillness into your every day life. This allows us to zoom out from our day-to-day lives, access mental stillness, reduce anxiety and gain a new perspective on our problems. In his experience the best ways to do this are with breathwork, journaling and meditation. He recommends the following principals to guide you in creating your own daily holiday:

- Something you do alone

- Something that brings you into the present moment

- Something that doesn't rely on a smartphone

- Something that is done in complete silence

10. Give Yourself Away

Research suggests that practicing kindness may have more of an effect on health and happiness than diet and exercise. Acts of kindness send a signal to your brain that life is great. This switches it out of unhealthy stress state and into thrive state.

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Thank you for reading and I hope you will start implementing some of the above recommendations into your weekly routine. The Book Happy Mind, Happy life is available at all good book stores.

My upcoming course on Mindful Parenting begins on Sunday, February 26th. For more details on the course click here

Written by David Fallon, Founder of themindfulparent.me