The Secret to Unhappiness -

I've been reminded, again, of M. Scott Peck's seminal book, The Road Less Traveled. His first sentence is, "Life is difficult." And in accepting that truth, we can then move forward in happiness. And I'm reminded of the times I'm unhappy - 

Often when we are under stress we have the response of overthinking, ruminating, or worrying (think stuck record going over and over). Overthinking can lead to anxiety and depressing – and the more we overthink, the unhappier we can become. That’s the secret! Worry, and you become unhappy!

How to resolve this? Two ideas – create a worry journal – set aside a few pages in a notebook where (particularly at 2am) you can write down the things you’re ruminating on. Then set it aside, knowing when you come back to the journal those worries will still be there!

Second – did you ever have office hours? How about using this same principle, yet calling it worry hours? You can set aside time every day to worry, ruminate, overthink, and then when that time is up (5-10 minutes perhaps), you can give yourself permission to leave it, knowing that the concerns have been dealt with, or know you have time set aside to worry again.

These two simple suggestions can help you be more realistic in your thinking and more constructive in your problem-solving. We are all going through various types of difficulties, every day. Why not make your life just a little easier right now by considering these practices.

Another secret to being miserable - that of not being grateful -

Two great books dealing with this topic are Peck's writing as well as a Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.