Even happier

Week1 On Being Grateful
Psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough conducted a series of studies in which they asked participants to write down on a daily basis at least five things, major or minor, for which they were grateful. Participants' responses included everything from their parents to the Rolling Stones, from waking up in the morning to God. It turns out that putting aside a minute or two every day to express gratitude for one's life has far-reaching consequences. Compared with the control group, the grateful group not only became more appreciative of life in general but also enjoyed higher level of well-being and positive emotions: they felt happier, more determined, more energetic, and more optimistic. They were also more generous and more likely to offer support to others. Finally, those who expressed gratitude also slept better, exercised more, and experienced fewer symptoms of physical illness.
I have been doing this exercise daily since September 19, 1999 (three years before Emmons and McCullough published their findings), when I heard Oprah tell her viewers to do it -- and so I did! From around the time my son David turned three, we have been doing a variation of this exercise together. Every night I ask him, "What was fun for you today?" and then he asks me the same question. my wife and I regularly remind ourselves what we are grateful for in each other and in our relationship.
When we make a habit of gratitude, we no longer require a special event to make us happy. We become more aware of good things that happen to us during the day, as we anticipate putting them on our list. The gratitude list can include the name of a person you care about, something that you appreciate that you or someone else did, or an insight that you had as a result of writing in this journal.

Week 2 Rituals
There is much research suggesting that change - learning new tricks, introducing a new behavior, replacing old habits, -- is extremely hard. Most attempts at change, whether by individuals or organizations, fail. In their book The Power of full engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz provide a different way of thinking about change: they suggest that instead of focusing on cultivating self-discipline as a means toward change, we need to introduce rituals.
Initiating a ritual is often difficult, but maintaining it is relatively easy. Top athletes have rituals:They know that at specific hours during each day they are on the field, then in the gym, and then they stretch. For most of us, brushing our teeth at least twice a day is a ritual and therefore does not require special powers of discipline. We need to take same approach toward any change we want to introduce.
According to Loehr and Schwartz, "Building rituals requires defining very precise behaviors and performing them at very specific times - motivated by deeply held values." For athletes, being a top performer is a deeply held value, and therefore they create rituals around training;for most people, cleanliness is a deeply held value, and therefore they create the ritual of brushing their teeth.
If we hold our personal happiness as a value and want to become happier, then we need to form rituals around that too.