Regardless of the outcome, a feeling that you are acting upon, instead of a victim of, your surroundings can be empowering.
And also the joy of doing, pleasure of anticipation, and satisfaction for seeing something through can be very rewarding, regardless of the "importance" of the act. This can be a positive habit!

Good for you.

No doubt, one person's energy can change an entire room's atmosphere, and I think you will find that happiness breeds happiness.

I'd like to know what all the pillars are.

A key to happiness is gratitude....so be sure to share something you're grateful for every day, and maybe have others share a gratitude statement too. We have so much abundance in our lives...all we have to do is wake up to it and say thanks!

I so agree with what Julie said! Victim-izum is something that seems to be promoted in this day and age to give a person someone to blame. Its poison and will stunt your growth. However, we all fall for it at some point because it seems easier to deal with as there is no self-searching or personal responsibility involved. You sound like you have a good handle on making changes for a better you. IâÂÂm happy for you!

I'd like to know about the happiness challenge too.
It is so true that negativity can suck the life out of a room.

The five pillars of the challenge are (very briefly):

Be Positive: start the day with a guided, intention setting meditation - how you will approach the day positively. End the day with a guided journal writing about how the day went.

Eat Healthy: 10 guiding rules (no refined sugar, caffeine, lots of veggies, etc.)

Be Active: we are given a daily exercise suggestion.

Have fun: this is my favourite and I have done things like grab someone's hand and go skipping down the hall, blow bubbles in public places, draw happy faces on the bathroom mirrors with the directive - be happy!

Give Back: I'm also doing great with this. I am hugging people who really look like they need it (I am not usually a hugger), I gave the guy at the bakery a $10 tip because he is awesome, I bought food for the food bank during my grocery shop (I used to do this every week, but got out of the habit), I pick up litter on my walk, I tell my boss when someone I work with does something awesome, write thank you notes.

So glad you are feeling more hopeful and positive. I always try to follow those...well, except for the no sugar/ no caffeine part. In place of that, I would add meditation and I have also started yoga again.

Hope your office turns into a positive place from now on!

daisy, reading your posts made me happy :-)

I practice all of the pillars (with the exception of no caffeine as this would make me very unhappy) and I have found that if I smile at someone, no matter how cranky they seem, I always get a smile back.

I am so happy (being very redundant here) that you are happy!

What a great post to start my day! I love what you're doing daisychain because you are being proactive above all else. The pillars are wonderful guidelines and I like that there is latitude ('cept that no sugar, caffeine thing!) to make them your own. I'm not surprised you are seeing positive changes. When one person within a relationship or place of work changes the way they do things the other person/people involved have a new situation to respond to and eventually alter their behavior in response.

You have changed the world, near and far. I'm in Pennsylvania and feel happier thinking of you making the effort to improve our world. Thanks!

Thanks, those pillars are definitely pretty basic sound living...so glad that they are working!

If anyone is interested in happiness psychology, look up Shawn Achor...he's a Harvard prof and has written books and has a TED talk available on the simple steps toward happiness.

Thanks daisy - what a great thread. It has made me happy.

The no-caffeine is a non-starter because no caffeine would make me unhappy, however the rest of the guidelines are so easily done so why aren't they incorporated more often in our lives?

What I like about the Be Active and Have Fun pillars is that they can so often be a twofer. Going for a hike is fun and active, same with my morning runs. Taking a friend who is down for a walk and/or a cup of coffee and suddenly you have a threefer because you've added Giving Back.

I think a lot of people think that in order to be happy you need "things" and that having fun has to cost money and in fact both of ideas are fallacies.

I have posted this before it is useful in helping to direct ones thoughts in a positive and giving direction . Metta is the practice of loving kindness. My DH wrote this one for us to say each evening at the end of our meditation. It works over time to change your perspective.

Metta:

May I be happy, healthy, and wise

May no harm befall me

May I achieve my spiritual goals

May I forgive myself, forgive others, and be forgiven

May I love myself, love others, and be loved

May I maintain equanimity in the face of lifeâÂÂs ups and downs and my own inevitable failures

May I have a peaceful life and a happy death.

**********************************************
repeat the above lines after each of the following :
May my family â¦be happy healthy and wise etc
May Friends and acquaintances â¦.
May my enemies â¦
May All beings â¦

Here is a link that might be useful: read for more info

You may be interested in another book, "Stumbling Upon Happiness," by Daniel Gilbert. He is a doctor of psychology who teaches at Harvard and his research on the subject--- and his précis of other research in the area--- may surprise you.

I'm glad you have found ways to make yourself happier, but I would absolutely caution against invading the personal space of your coworkers (grabbing someone by the hand to skip down the hall) or appearing childishly inappropriate (blowing bubbles in the workplace) as you may find yourself without a job at the end of the month.

Kswl, I will look for that title. And thanks for the caution, but I'm a teacher and childishly inappropriate is pretty appropriate in my workspace. I do explain to everyone my reason (I'm doing this happiness challenge...) before engaging them. For the skipping down the hall, I just happened upon the grumpiest person and explained to her what I was doing, asked if she was willing and we skipped. By the time we got to the end of the hallway, she was laughing her head off.

Shawn Achor's ted talk is great! I hadn't watched it before. I do remember someone (you, Annie?) posted his happiness advantage challenge last spring and I did it for a while and found it very helpful.

Thanks for the link Trail. How wonderful to do it with your partner.

I hear everyone about the no caffeine and have to admit, I still have my one cup of tea in the morning - however I have stopped adding any sugar. I feel a bit guilty at the meetings when everyone else is complaining of the caffeine withdrawal headache, but can't seem to summon the strength to do it myself.

I gave up caffeine a long time ago and haven't gone back. What I find is that not having it makes your caffeine sensitivity go way up...so now I only have caffeine with intention, like when we go out at night and I have to be awake to drive home...it really works!

Look for rooibos tea...it has a really nice flavor without the caffeine.

Same with sweets and salts...you cut it out and your sensitivity goes way up so a tiny bit is satisfying and any more is way too much...interesting effect.

I was thinking of your title in reference to Malala , who won the Nobel peace prize this week. Clearly, it's possible.

Classic motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once met a woman who hated her job and especially all of the people she worked with. He challenged her to come up with a list of things about her job that weren't so bad, example: above average pay, private office, etc. He asked her to stand before a mirror each morning and night, saying, "I love my job because ..." and repeating each of the things on the list. Although hesitant, she agreed to try it.

Six weeks later, Mr. Ziglar met with the woman again. When he asked her how things were going for her, she said she was wonderful and ... "You wouldn't believe how much those people (at my office) have changed!"

Often it is not the situation that is intolerable, it is our attitude about it. When we look for good, it can be surprisingly easy to find.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zig Ziglar

Edeevee, that reminds me of the time I was explaining to someone about a herbal remedy i was taking and how well it was working. They scoffed and said it was just a placebo effect. I said, I didn't care what effect it was as long as I felt better :)