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Natural Happiness

Natural Happiness

natural-happiness-thumbYou’re sitting in your office. You feel sick, tired, and bored, but aren’t really sure why. There are plenty of things you could be doing, you just aren’t up to it. So you head outside to just take a break, and suddenly your mood sudden improves. You also seem to have a lot more energy.

Maybe it goes back to caveman times when people lived outside, maybe its the warmth of the sun, but whatever the reason people seem to be happier when they’re outside. Have you ever noticed people seem to usually be running around and having a good time when they’re outside? Also when people stay inside all day they can get tired and moody. Taking a short break to go outside at least once a day might help some of this moodiness, and maybe even give you a better outlook on the day.

Going outside for a whole day can be even better. Now I realize this can be rather difficult during the week with work, errands, and other commitments. However if you have time on the weekends an outdoor getaway can be something healthy and fun to do. There are many fun and interesting outdoor activities to do including:

Walking
Running
Biking
Wandering around the city
Going to an outdoor mall
Going to a Waterpark
Going to the park
Playing Sports
Swimming
Going to the Beach

Most of these activities can be done for relatively cheap, or even free. For more fun outdoor activities look online or ask a friend. Many towns will also host fun outdoor events in the summer that are also sometimes cheap or free.

But what do you do in the winter? We all know about fun activities such as ice skating, sledding or building a snowman. These activities are great, but what about when it gets below zero? It can be dangerous to go outside in these temperatures. In times like these, (depending on how much snow there is on the road) taking a short car drive can be a nice way to enjoy the sights of nature away from the bitter cold.

I think humans are meant to spend time in nature. Whatever the reason may be, it just makes us feel better. It seems almost impossible to be in a bad mood after you’ve spent the day outside. Taking even a short break everyday to go outside, can help put you in a better mood and make your problems easier to handle. You may even find that over time, you get less stressed about the small stuff, and your day seems much easier to take on.

How to Stay With An Exercise Routine

How to Stay With An Exercise Routine

how-to-stay-with-an-exercise-routinePlanning and setting up an exercise routine is fairly easy, and its benefits are well known. The hard part is staying with it. You might initially begin your routine with a really good start, but before you know it your morale begins to decline and eventually your activity level diminishes.

One of the problems is the amount physical work, discipline, commitment and determination that exercising actually requires. In today’s society you might work hard typing away at lightning speed, sending text messages halfway across the country(or world for the ambitious). But all too often words like walk, jog, and run are nothing more than speed settings on a riding lawn mower.

Sure, you might also be used to lifting some weight here or there. Maybe you’ve even occasionally used your awesome strength to impress everyone by pulling a paper jam from a printer. Unfortunately, even the mightiest paper jam can be put to shame by a few simple exercise weights.

So how then does a modern human being stand a chance of establishing an exercise routine in a world where a persons idea of a vigorous workout is having to park at the far end of the parking lot?

Start small…

Though it may not seem like it at first, one of the main hurdles to overcome when beginning an exercise program is the amount of excitement you initially have. You might be jumping for joy at the prospect of a fitter, new you. But be careful not to overdo it. Its incredibly easy to begin a routine with a great amount of enthusiasm and effort, only to find yourself falling behind a week or two later.

When you start big, you eventually begin to get tired of trying to maintain the same drive and determination you had began with. As the initial excitement wears off, it can get harder and harder to maintain the same high level of activity as part of a regular routine. This leads to you loosing motivation, which leads to shorter and less enthusiastic workouts. Eventually this causes you to start skipping out on a few exercises all together. Then before you really even realize what happened, you notice that its been weeks since you’ve last exercised.

This sad sad tale is all too common…

The problem is that you start out too fast and with too much effort. This isn’t a baking contest, and you aren’t really going to find instant gratification. Instead of trying to get a big jump start by pouring all kinds of effort into your first few days, it is important to learn to pace yourself. Start off slowly, and then work your way up from there when you feel really ready. This way you will be able to have longer lasting enthusiasm because its likely that you won’t have such a strong desire to lower your activity level after the initial excitement wears off.

Commitment…
Laziness and procrastination are powerful forces. Establishing a basic plan for an exercise routine is your first line of defense against these forces, as well as your first step towards making a commitment. By setting up some kind of plan, you are saying to yourself “Okay, this is what I am committing myself to.” Having at least a somewhat formal plan helps keep you on track.

You can set your initial exercise plan to say that you will exercise every day, every other day, or even just once a week. Whats important is having a starting point which you know you can stick to. Your initial commitment should be something reasonably easy to start with. That way you will have a base line that you can follow to make sure that you do not get too overwhelmed. You can easily increase your base line if you feel compelled, but it can be devastating to your routine if you need to continuously decrease your minimum. So pick something that you know you can stay with and be careful not to commit yourself to something that is unrealistic. The key is having a minimum that you can commit to follow. Without a solid commitment of some kind, procrastination and laziness can easily invade and wreak havoc on any hopes of establishing a good exercise routine.

Healthy Happiness

Healthy Happiness

healthy-happinessEveryone has had those times where they feel sluggish and tired, but don’t know why. If you are getting plenty of sleep and have a proper diet, there is probably a different problem. You are probably simply not getting enough exercise.

Now you might be thinking you do not have enough time to exercise, but that is not true. Exercise can be done in minutes a day through something as simple as a short walk or even a game such as wii fit. Several months ago I started using wii fit and have found that it can be a great way to exercise.  In case you’ve never heard of it, wii fit is an accessory you can buy for the wii game console.   This is a great way to get kids to exercise too, since to them it is basically jumping around and playing video games. However what they don’t realize is their muscles can be getting a great workout at the same time.

Another simple way to exercise is to go for a walk. (For more on walking as a source of happiness read the article, “Walk it off”) This can be a great way to exercise because it does not really feel as though you are exerting yourself, but it does stretch your muscles and get the blood flowing, which can make you feel much better.

Joining a sports team can also be a great way to exercise. This is fun, and can give your body a great workout. You might be just as tired as you would be from running around the block, but I bet you will have had more fun. Sports teams also have the added social aspect and many times people end up becoming good friends with the people on their teams.

These are just some easy and relatively inexpensive ways to exercise. However if you want to put in the time and money there are many other ways to exercise. You could join a fitness club or go to a gym. Some people even buy gym equipment to use in their own home.

Now how does any of this make you happy? Well, exercising can stretch out your body and make it work better.  This all  can lead to you getting sick less, and being an overall healthier person. As we all know, people are much more happy when they are healthy, than when they are sick. Also exercising can help you burn calories, and lose weight. This can lead to better self esteem, which could make you a more confident person. This could even possibly, maybe even lead you to having a better quality of life.