With the autumn months, the decreasing sunlight gives us a greater sense of greyness, darkness or sadness. Most of us, and our brains, tend to be wired and attracted to negative or unhappy thoughts. Rewire your brain. It’s possible if you consciously do so and create a habit. When you feel the cue of getting into a negative mood spiral rising, start the routine of doing the HAP. If you do this consistently, as a side effect, you may even increase your immune system, be stronger and not fall sick. The HAP will increase your mental and physical well-being. Do the HAP daily and for a minimum of 27 days in a row.
What is the HAP? Happy & Healthy, Achieving & Accomplishing, Positive & Performing!
Start a special HAP notebook or buy any little book that you like. Answer the following questions to yourself every day and write them down in your HAP notebook.
H: Happy & Healthy
What was my Happy moment today? What was a moment of happiness? What was a Healthy moment? What did I do today to take care of myself? What did I do to take a break from stress and anxiety?
Think about when you had a few happy seconds. Delve on it. Relive those happy moments. Those should be the ones when you felt you were in the flow. It could have been a joke you heard, a moment of laughter or simply a good feeling of serenity and calmness. Remember that happy moment, as if it were a box of sunshine that you opened. Reinforce to think about your health and wellbeing. Remember a moment when you consciously took care of your body, enjoyed nice healthy food or had any moments of exercise, physical or mental pleasures.
A: Achieving & Accomplishing
What major or minor thing did I Achieve today? What was a task I completed? What was one of my main Accomplishments? What made me feel proud of myself today? What did I check off today?
Think about and be conscious of what you actually have done that day. Check off the few or many things that you have achieved. Ask yourself what made you feel a sense of pride. Remember that achievement. Feel the sense of accomplishment. It could be that you cleaned up your desk, finished that report, moaned the lawn, made a big decision, had an important talk, met a good friend or did an urgent or important matter that needed to be done.
P: Positive & Performing
What Positive moment did I have today? What was a moment of Positivity? What was I grateful for? What made me feel powerful, energized and Performing? What did I perform at my best?
Think about a positive performing moment that you have had today. It might be anything positive, something you felt or something you did. Think about what and how you performed at work or at home. Any positive thing that lightened your day. Some good thing that gave you a performing feeling. Every little thing that gave you a positive meaning.
When to do the HAP?
Preferably do this at night, just before falling asleep. Either think about it consciously or, better, take that special HAP notebook and write it down. Make it an act and create a routine. Starting today and until the last autumn days. Whenever you feel sad, just open up your HAP book and read it.
Good luck, feel your HAP moments: be happy, healthy, achieving, accomplishing, positive and performing!
Don’t be sad, but do the HAP. And ask yourself, how HAP was my day?
Nexus Consulting 