Increasing your happiness

Meditations for Fighting Depression

These exercises are most effective if you do them consistently. 

1. Focus on positive events. 

   Every evening for a month, write down three good things that happened that day and explain what caused each of them. This exercise increased happiness and reduced e symptoms of mild depression within a few weeks, and the effects lasted for six months, with particularly good outcomes for people who continue to do the exercise.

2. Evolving your skills.

   Think about your top five strengths. Make a point of using one of them in a new way every day for a week. 

3. Remember to be grateful.  

   Every day write down five things that you are thankful for. People who did this exercise for several weeks had more positive feelings and fewer negative feelings then people who did not. 

Aamodt, S. & Wang, S. (2008). Welcome to your brain (1st ed.). New York: Bloomsbury USA.