Here are five ways to boost your happiness right now:
1) Take care of yourself: Get enough sleep, exercise, and nutrition. Gretchen Rubin, creator of the Happiness Project blog and author of the forthcoming book by the same name, has studied ancient texts as well as recent research on her quest to become happier. The first step, she says, is to take care of your own body by getting enough sleep, exercise, and nutrition.
2) Become more charitable. “If you’re feeling impoverished . . . a way to counteract that feeling is to do something generous,” she says. It’s a way of convincing yourself that you have something to give, adds Rubin. Signing up to be an organ donor or giving blood are two easy (and free) options. People also feel happier amid an atmosphere of growth, says Rubin. If your salary is frozen, then learning Photoshop or building a garden can generate a feeling of personal growth.
3) Spend more time and money on enjoyable activities, from traveling to cooking to studying Mandarin, suggests M.P. Dunleavey, author of Money Can Buy Happiness. Research shows that people are at their most satisfied when they feel engaged and challenged. For Dunleavey, that meant buying ice skates recently.
4) Invest in relationships. Dunleavey also recommends investing in relationships, another positive influence on happiness levels. Buying a train ticket to visit a friend or putting $30 into a “romantic weekend away with hubby” fund can be valuable investments in your well-being, she says.
5) Focus on what you’re grateful for. Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California–Riverside and author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, suggests cultivating a sense of appreciation through something like a gratitude journal, where you write down three to five things for which you are thankful. If you lost your job, think of other dreams that have come true, such as living in the city you want or marrying the right partner. “It’s not trivializing what’s happening but trying not to focus on it all the time,” says Lyubomirsky.
While the advice might sound obvious, Lyubomirsky points out that it’s also supported by empirical research—so we know it really works. But that Fab Four didn’t need empirical research: “I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love.”
The question is where is the line really drawn between an application for fun or is it educational. Some apps can be considered a strategy game and therefore, would have educational value, right? For example, the game traffic – where you are trying to get the car out of the parking lot – is a stragegy game. You have to think ahead and maybe make a move that looks like you are moving backwards to be able to get the red car out in the end. I also just downloaded a audio book to my 3rd grade iPods. I think it is important to keep literacy active and enjoyable, I hope they listen to the whole book! There are apps for putting the states in the correct place, practicing division, and counting money. All good skills to practice. I just don’t want to have too many choices that the students are overwhelmed. Acutally, this update was to keep them excited as they have become bored with the current applications on the iPods.