Happiness through gratitude and mindfulness

It is that time of the year when we all tend to think more about the people and things we are thankful for. Whether it is expressing our gratitude through sharing a meal with friends and family over Thanksgiving or exchanging gifts and greetings at Christmas, we all have many moments of thankfulness sprinkled throughout the ‘holiday’ season. For many, though, this season can also bring stress and anxiety: from the prep for and expense of family travel to family quibbles coming to the fore. There has been a lot of talk lately on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness in controlling and reducing stress and of recognizing and expressing gratitude as a pathway to greater happiness and health. For those looking to make these tools a regular part of their everyday life we have a couple of suggestions:

“On a Positive Note” Notebook from Corso

WIth the many mental and physical benefits potentially associated with gratitude, one of the popular ways to practice that is through keeping a gratitude journal. That’s where this new notebook from Corso come in. Corso has collaborated with the Live Happy Magazine for this happiness-themed “On a Positive Note” notebook. Weaving the science of positive psychology through inspiring content, relatable stories, and sage advice, Live Happy intends to help readers discover their personal journey of happiness. The notebook contains a variety of content to help guide readers on their gratitude journey by offering, on each page, inspiring quotes, tips, statistics and activities in addition to space to jot down work notes, grocery lists and your daily gratitude list.

We have already written about the benefits of actually writing things down (instead of typing it out on your favorite mobile device) in other places on our site. Hence, we would recommend a notebook like this where you have to sit and write things down rather than an app.

As per Deborah K. Heisz, Live Happy CEO, co-founder and editorial director “…nearly everyone could be at least a little bit happier. And the happier you are, the more good things come your way, including better health, living a longer, more satisfying life, making better decisions, receiving more pay raises and coming up with more creative solutions for life’s many challenges.”

A good way to use this colorful and well-designed notebook is to take a few minutes to read the daily quote, stat or activity and apply it to your life. At the end of each day, sketch out what you’re grateful for at the bottom of each page. You’ll find that this regular happiness practice will bring you joy, confidence and success!

Headspace: Mindfulness on your phone

For novices, terms like mindfulness and meditation can be a little confusing and intimidating. In very simple, and broad, terms meditation is any method to train the mind and mindfulness is more of ‘an attentive, nonjudgmental mind-set’ achieved through meditation. The combined effect is to reduce stress and anxiety and make one more capable of dealing with whatever daily life has to throw at us. As with anything subjective like stress, results can and do vary by individual.

Headspace is an app that brings the practice of meditation to today’s mobile generation, by offering numerous guided meditation lessons in a very simple and accessible way. The app’s design, animation and color scheme are very clean, appealing and soothing. The lessons start off at a basic level for the beginner, lasting a few minutes at a time, and are intended to get one started with and maintain a regular meditation practice. Also, the narration for the lessons is so calming that started relaxing by just the sound of it! You can try some beginner lessons for free and, if so inclined, can unlock the full potential of the app for a fee.

Products received. Thanks to Corso, Headspace and PR for providing us products. All opinions are our own.