Learning Challenge: H.E.A.R.T, H - Happiness and Health

Today I decided to find out a little more about learning by HEART, specifically learning about happiness and health . I chose this topic because I often find myself feeling lonely or pessimistic (i.e. unhappy) instead of thinking positively, appreciating my time alone, or enjoying what I'm doing.

I did or learned about three things to improve my happiness today. 

1.  Being grateful is a good technique for feeling happier. Here is a short video about the effects of gratitude.  To practice this in my own life, I wrote 2 thank you cards to people in my life that recently went out of their way to do something nice for me. They were addressed to:

My manager - she recently purchased every one at the clinic cat-themed (adult style) coloring books as well as a large, reusable bag covered in - you guessed it - cats. 

My neighbor - just a couple of days ago she gave me a really cute coffee mug that she purchased while she was in Tulsa. I thought it was really nice that she was thinking of me while visiting my hometown. 

2. Happiness Jar: I can't decide if I'd rather make a physical happiness jar, or just make a blog post that I update daily (or both?!) I think doing both would be the most fun - it'll be nice to have a tangible collection of notes, but I also think doing it here would help me be more accountable for it.  I can't promise I'll do it every single day, but I'll do my best!

Happiness Jar. Source

3. Read about how to be happy on zenhabits.net
This website/blog used to be my google chrome homepage on my old laptop.  It's full of excellent posts, ideas, reflections, and more, on everything from happiness to productivity.  It seems like it would be an obnoxious or scammy website judging by the title, but it's not at all.  I'm glad I rediscovered it, because I had forgotten about it.  The article I read talks about how being happy about what you're doing in the moment, instead of thinking about what you COULD be doing, is an important part of being happy.