Control your Feelings, being in control is being happy

Being happy isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something you do. You need to control your feelings. Take control of the things going on around you and you will feel a lot more positive. These eight actions are all aimed at doing something proactive. Feeling in control of things leads to feeling happier about things. So try these eight activities now ,and you will find that doing these simple things will make you feel better. Try to get into the habit of doing them all the time, and start to control your feelings all the time.

How to control your feelings

Take every chance to exercise

The way to feel less tired is to do more exercise. There are so many ways to get exercise into your daily routing with even noticing it. Choose to take the stairs. Park the car a long way away from work. Get off the bus three stops early. When you don't know what to do next, walk around the block.

If you work in an office, go and see the person, instead of phoning or emailing. If you are on the phone, stand up, especially if you are making the call. If you have a sedentary job, try to build in some sort of activity at least once an hour. If you are feeling stressed or bored, find some excuse to move around.

Take a break outside

Better still, if you can, try to get outside several times a day. Light stimulates your brain. Your eyes are actually part of your brain and light sends signals direct to the emotional center which controls your mood. Some forms of depression can be treated by staring at a lightbox.

Try to get out at lunchtime or walk to work on fine days. Just take a walk around the block. You will find that the walk will lift your mood as well as giving you fresh air and exercise. Lack of exercise is linked very strongly with feeling down.

Don’t eat lunch at your desk. Eat it outside.

Take care of your social circle

Think of someone you haven’t seen for a while, someone you haven’t heard from, and call them or email them. It doesn’t need to be much. Just say “Hey I haven’t heard from you for a while. How ya doing?”. Other people will love it, and it will make you feel good too. Making a habit of this will make other people think you’re really friendly, and they will remember you, and include you in other things. Social bonds are really important in managing how you feel.

Take charge of your to-do list

All the little things that we need to do and don’t do eventually build up. There is no point giving yourself stress when you don’t have to. If you need to call the landlord, or book your car in, or sort out your Internet problem, then schedule one of them for today, and do it. Getting rid of a minor irritation is a minor triumph. Doing it will make you feel as if you are making progress.

Take control of your surroundings

Untidiness is like graffiti on walls. Just its presence makes you feel on edge. There is no particular reason why it does, but it just does. So if you have lots of little things to do, and it feels like they are all building up, then put aside 10 minutes to tackle them.

Tell yourself “I will just spend 10 minutes on this, and then leave it”. Giving yourself a very limited time will encourage you to have a go, to make a start. It might surprise you how much you can do in 10 minutes. And you will be even more surprised at the positive effect on your feelings when you have made a dent in the problem.

Take time to help someone else

Think about the people you know. Think about how you might be able to help one of them. Maybe one has a problem that one of your other friends could help with. You could introduce them. Maybe you could volunteer some knowledge of some skilled help another friend. Is someone you know going through a bad patch? Send them a word of encouragement. Helping other people make you feel good about yourself.

Take responsibility for your feelings

Nobody feels great all the time. But when we do feel down, it’s up to us personally to take over and make ourselves feel better. Being happy is something you have to work at. So when you think you feel a bit down, it’s time to get out the maracas and start dancing. Deliberately acting happy when you feel down, actually does work. So shake yourself out of it, and put on your happy face. At the very least you will cheer up other people.

Take the next step in your career progression

All of us know how to drive better than we do drive. All of us know how to manage better than we do manage. All of us know that we can be better than we actually are right now.

So invest in yourself. Set out to learn something valuable every day. Decide what skill, knowledge, ability you want to have. Give yourself a goal, and go for it. Set yourself a target of learning some skill that will increase your value to an employer, or will increase your self esteem. And then do something every day that helps you to achieve that goal. Progress towards a goal automatically makes you feel good, and to control your feelings.

Happiness has been defined as the pleasure you get from constantly achieving steps on the way to some goal that you think is worthwhile. So find your goal and make sure that you do something every day towards achieving it.

Practicing these eight things will give you more control over your life generally, and control your feelings.