trick to being happy

Hi. Happy New Year. My resolution for this year was to “choose to be happy”. It is an intentional challenge to myself to not let my thoughts slip into the abyss but to stay positive – stay open – stay up above it. From experience I know that this simple mantra can be hard to do some days, so I’ve collected some tricks to draw upon when my will is weak. Sometimes all you need is a tiny distraction to help get past a moment. Please let me know if you’ve got some other ideas. It takes a village and all that.

Top 10 brain hacks to keep your nose above the water line:

1. Any episode of VEEP.  The writing on this show is so outrageous and funny and letting my not-so-hidden swearsy inner self come out for a blue streak avalanche of profanity has me laughing almost instantly. 
   
   
2. Sing by yourself really really really loud in the car. Of course, choose your own poison here. Angsty? FU-esque? Feel-good hits? Motörhead? Whatever floats your boat. A couple that work for me: If You Could Save Yourself (You’d Save Us All) by Ween, High & Dry by Radiohead and Standin’ in my Light by Ian Hunter.
   
   
3. Be around funny people. Some people are just funny. It doesn’t much matter what they are doing or saying, they just make you laugh. I live with one of these people, and even on days when I’m so angry with him I could punch him in the neck, he can do this stupid dance that makes me laugh EVERY TIME. Even when I don’t want to. Go find those people.
   
   
4. Push it down and pour a beer on it. OK, hear me out. I know that drinking unto itself is not going to solve anything. But I think we can all agree that sometime just after that second drink hits your bloodstream there is a fuzzy glow that emerges, that just… changes things for a moment. 
   
   
5. Exercise. Don’t worry. The bar here is really low. Walk to the mailbox. Fold some laundry and put it away. Those count in my book. But if possible, real proper sweatiness does in fact feel pretty good (once it’s over). There’s some kinda science there. Whatever.
   
   
6. Insert goodness directly into your brainstem. Plug those headphones in and listen, deeply, to something. Music heals. Podcasts distract. Audio books accompany. But there is something very powerful that happens when those tiny bones in your ear vibrate to something intimately placed there, just for you to hear. This pairs nicely with a walk.
   
   
7. Vacuuming dance party. Again, hear me out. This is a combination move. You make a playlist of thumping good time songs that you happen to find irresistible. Everyone has them. I suggest a disco-esque tempo of around 120 bpm but seriously if Bavarian folk dancing  is your thing, do that. Then, turn it up loud enough that you wonder if the neighbours might knock on the door. Then start vacuuming. I promise, the cleaning piece will not feel onerous, you will sing out loud, you will exert yourself AND you will slurp up all those crumbs by the couch from where you were eating chips in the dark so that no one would see. Bonus.
   
   
8. Scream therapy. My first boss was a fabulously eccentric Englishman named David Hornblow who taught me the benefits of scream therapy. Best practiced in a car in the middle of unexpected traffic when you are already late, this is exactly what it sounds like. Scream. No, seriously, as loud as you can, and for as long as you like. Don’t be self-conscious – just let it rip. It’s weird at first, but it is incredibly freeing and usually ends in laughter because it is an emotional response we never let ourselves enjoy. We used to do it on the drive back to the office after particularly infuriating client meetings. Magic.
   
   
9. Ringo therapy. This was the second awesome legacy from the same boss.  He would affect his best Ringo Starr Liverpoolian accent and just say “Well… la de da”. It kinda has a Que Sera Sera vibe – or for the young’uns out there think Frozen’s Let It Go. Basically a reminder that we are specks of dust floating around in space and that the universe will have its way with us whether we like it or not. But when you try to do the Beatles accent, it adds another layer of awesome. (Pro tip: if the accent is working for you, just keep talking like that all day.)
   
   
10. Get over yourself. If, like me, you are fortunate enough to have a fully functioning body, a roof over your head, the anticipation of a daily bellyful of food, and no risk of imminent physical harm… seriously get over yourself. Everything is likely going to be OK and the good old-fashioned reality check that your situation just might be someone else’s end goal happiness state can often be the gratitude slap that you need. And, if you grew up in the same time period as I did, this last point is a spin-off of the “I’ll give you something to cry about” threat from your mother. It’s all about perspective, see?

Well, hope that helps. It helped me to write it, so already a “W” in my book. See you down the road.