I found this website: Plugin ID; in the blogs I came across one titled "8 things to stop doing right now". Of course this title really drew me in. The author is very persistent in that you need to stop doing these things, not you should try to, but that you need to stop.
en 1. Doubting yourself -
A person needs to believe in themselves.
2.Looking for answers -
Some questions we should not be asking, or even wasting our time on. The author gives the example of "Why do some people have all the luck?"
3.Procrastinating -
Does procrastination really do anyone any good? The author says that when doing a task and you start to procrastinate you need to ask yourself "Do I really want this?"
4. Blaming someone else -
A person needs to take full responsibility for their acts. You are in control of your life, you are the one in the driver seat, and you are the person who is responsible for the outcome you receive.
5. Judging others -
When you a judge a person is there anything that you can gain?
6. Waiting to live -
A person should not wait for life to happen to them. Life is occurring right now around us, and this is the only one we get, so we should enjoy what is going on in our lives now.
7. Needing reasons to be happy -
No needs any particular reason to be happy. You are in control over your emotions so what is to stop you from being happy for no good reason?
8. Caring what people think
The author believes that if you stop doing those 8 things your happiness and self awareness would go up. Also a person would be able to focus better on their goals. What do you think? Are there any other things that if we stopped doing them, that would overall benefit ourselves? I think the author has hit the main ones and I believe that if a person was actually able to stop doing all of these things they would be much happier. But with most of the items listed it is really hard not to do those things sometimes.
You can see the full article at: http://www.pluginid.com/stop-doing/
I completely agree with this article. I think that the most important aspect of being happy is realizing what it is that makes you happy and focusing on those aspects of your life and not the negatives. There is something to be said about being around happy people as well. I know a lot of times I find myself taking other peoples problems and dwelling on them as if they were my own. Another important aspect of being happy is having self-efficacy. Feeling good about yourself is so important in being happy. If you don't feel good about yourself and your abilities it's very hard to feel happy.
The book also discusses that happiness is something that is in our genes. Trying hard to change how happy you are is compared to trying to change how tall you are. One aspect that is also in your genes is extroversion which is positively correlated to happiness. People who are happy tend to enjoy other people and social situations. They also are more assertive and enjoy more exciting and stimulating situations. Emotionally, extroverts are happier than introverts and they enjoy more frequent positive moods than introverts (Reeve, 2009). It is not simply that extroverts are happier because they engage in more social interactions, but instead that they are more sensitive to the rewards of social interacting and are more sensitive to positive feelings.
So in conclusion, while I do agree with this article and that there are some ways to make yourself happier I do not think that they could work for everyone. I guess some people are simply destined to be mellow. Thanks a lot textbook.
References:Reeve, J. (2008). Understanding motivation and emotion. Danvers:
Wiley.