This met with resistance.
I read out the usual text paper found on line
The Weight of the Glass
Once
upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while
teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with
students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected
they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full”
question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor
asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.
She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”
As the class nodded their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”
The moral: It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.
Shark Bait
During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank.
As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.
The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other. Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off. Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behavior every few minutes to no avail. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.
The moral: Many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.
Where Should You Spend Your Money?
Michael
Norton, Harvard Professor and co-author of Happy
Money,
says purchasing material items like televisions, clothes, and coffee
machines won’t make you happier overall. People
are wired to become happier with social connections, so spending your
money on experiences with friends will give you the biggest happiness
boost. So
my advice is, “Spend your money on concert tickets or on a yoga
retreat with a friend and enjoy the happiness surge.
Cultivate
Flow
The
author of Flow,
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, says when you find an activity that you
enjoy, one that challenges you, and increases your skill, you’ll
find yourself fully engaged in it. You’ll be in a flow state. This
means you’ll be concentrating on the present and may even lose your
sense of time. This feels good and contributes to your well-being and
happiness.
Enjoy
The Funny Side
When
we crack a smile—a genuine eye crinkle that researchers call a
“Duchenne smile”—our cardiovascular system calms. Laughing
takes it one step further partly because it forces us to exhale.
Simply exhaling lowers our heart rate and induces feelings of calm.
Smiling
releases endorphins, which combat stress hormones. My advice is, “You
should practice smiling right now, even if you feel foolish. You’re
canceling some of the stress cortisol and you’re increasing your
happiness—a double bonus.”
How
To Choose Your Friends
Researchers
at Harvard say choosing your friends wisely is one of the most
important factors related to happiness. Do you have some friends who
sap your energy when you’re around them? Perhaps they’re
frequently complaining and reminding you of negative events? Zap
these people from your new friend list and replace them with
optimistic people who make you feel energized when you spend time
with them. And besides spending time with them, spend money with them
also
Use
Your Happiness Autopilot
Researchers
at Duke have found that more than 40% of your daily actions are
autopilot habits that don’t use up your decision making brain
power. So let’s tack a little add-on to one of those ingrained
habits.
Here
are 3 ideas.
When
you put toothpaste on your toothbrush, think of 1 thing that makes
you feel grateful.
Or
when you wake up in the morning, glance at a photo that makes you
feel happy.
Or
at night, do what Christine Carter of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good
Center says, “After I put my head on the pillow, I will think of
one good thing from my day.”
What
will you choose to add to your autopilot?
