I WANT TO FEEL HAPPIER. NOW! PLEASE.

Feb 10

It’s FEEL GOOD FEBRUARY and by the way, it’s a leap year, so there is an extra day to feel good. But, really, don’t we want feeling good to last longer than that. Some of us may want to change some unhelpful or unhappy behaviours for good, but how long will it really take? And how do we do it?

A month of reminders about prioritising great feelings and happiness is a reasonable start, but how long will it actually take to turn my frown up-side-down completely?

We’ve heard of the mythical: do it 21 days in a row; just commit to 30 days; the rule of 40 repeats; or some other magic number…the truth is, the right number of repeats for you could be anywhere from 66 days (with consistent repetition) to more than 254.

It depends a lot on a few key things: how established the behaviour is that you want to change; how hard the new thing is that you want to do; and the strategies you are using to make the change.

Just think how long you have been doing the unhelpful or unhappy thought, feeling or action…some grown-ups may be thinking ‘Gee, I don’t remember when I didn’t do it, so that’s a long time’. That unwanted behaviour is a fast automatic brain superhighway – it is so well travelled it is a challenge for your brain to even consider taking any other old back road, and a real brain bender for it to contemplate building a new road entirely.

We may have to work our way up to a big change through some small changes and recruit some help to find the best brain strategies to kick start the change.

With advances in neuroscience and the tech to match it, we are now equipped in cutting-edge ways to capitalise on your brains built in ability to change (neuroplasticity) and ‘kick start’ these changes we desire.

Coupling brain change exercises with highly specific brain assessments (QEEG) and then targeted brain-based therapies (Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, tDCS) can accelerate the rate and scope of the brain change. It is a bit like the difference between either trying to build a road using your hands or building it with a jackhammer, excavator, loader and roller – I know what I’d choose.

We then have to be reasonable, human, and gentle on ourselves when we think about how long it is going to take. That it is going to take at least 2 - 8 months, perhaps longer, to build the new behaviour into your brain and your life – it is no quick fix. Your time and effort will be rewarded highly at the end though, and bit-by-happy-bit along the way. You will have achieved lasting brain change and witnessed the amazing change of YOU for the better. You will have changed your brain and changed your life.

So let’s get cracking! It’s already February, let’s feel good NOW!

It seems happiness loves a list…here is a one word summary of what we have found…

See how many you can jam into each day, play a game of happiness BINGO, or fill a jar with notes of what Random Acts of Kindness (RAK’s) you’ve done each day with your kids – count them up at the end of the month. Instead of making ‘happiness a daily decision’, make it a ‘little daily doing’…it will change your brain and your lives for the better.

Here are 28 things, and one for luck. There is a science-y link for each my happy brainy friend, so smile…and down the feel good rabbit hole, you go…

And ONE for leap year luck…

Grow

Logie winner and all round gorgeous, Greek, gregarious, gleeful, grounded and giving, garden Guru – Costa Georgiadis – presents ‘JOY in the GARDEN’ at the Happiness and Its Causes Forum, in Sydney last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwVHLLFrlUU

About the author - Ms. Emily Goss (Occupational Therapist, Senior Clinician, The Perth Brain Centre).