Increasing Your Joy Quotient!

About the Author:  Kate Olson, CPC, CHt, is a Life Coach, Clinical Hypnotherapist, EFT & NLP Practitioner & Reiki Master with a practice in Seattle, Northern Lights Life Coaching & Embrace Change Hypnosis & NLP. She offers workshops & classes, as well as, individual and group coaching. Her emphasis is on assisting clients in finding path, purpose and peace. Kate focuses on integration of mind, body, spirit wellness. It is her mission to help clients find joy through connection, creative expression and change facilitation. She is passionate about creativity, travel, the environment, personal growth and living with joyful purpose. She has another  wellness-related business offering Salt Therapy, Salt Works Saltariums. Salt Therapy offers an all natural treatment solution for respiratory and skin problems.​ All three businesses operate as Dba's under Total Well Resources, LLC.

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​  “Increasing your joy quotient” is a matter of accumulating enough happy and joyful moments in your life to give you the resilience to carry you through the times that are sad, difficult and challenging. There are ways of being happier and more joyful more of the time and there are also ways to build your resilience. Both of these will lead to a generally more peaceful, assured quality of life that is more joy filled and happy. It is much simpler than we sometimes think to be and stay happy.  The list below will keep a smile on your face and in your heart!
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• Spend time outside on a daily basis
• Exercise and get the endorphins flowing
• Get plenty of sleep
• Eat regular and healthy foods to get the nutrients your body needs
• Smile when you see yourself in the mirror
• Speak kindly of yourself, as well as, others
• Be grateful for what you have
• Help others whenever you can
• Set Goals
• Follow through with intentions and obligations
• Connect with friends
• Listen to music
• Spend quiet time alone
• Indulge in daily self-care and nurturing
• Be compassion and forgive
• Play and keep your child-like imagination active
• Be creative
• Express your feelings
• Speak out and stand up for yourself and your beliefs
• Look for the humor
• Laugh often and out loud
• See the good in others and yourself
• Celebrate your achievements big and small
• Appreciate the small and simple things
• Reach for help when needed
• Follow your intuition
• Don’t wait; follow your dreams now
• Look for solutions; not obstacles
• Believe in your abilities and capability
• Visualize the live you want
• Get a hug or give one

  If you do all of these things you will have an amazing life; if you do most of them you will be very happy and if you just do some of them some of the time, you will likely be happier than most people, most of the time. We will all, always continue to experience times that are sad, hurtful, challenging and just plain feel bad. It helps if we experience an abundance of happy times and the resultant happy feelings to carry us through those times. That ability to buoy ourselves up through the storm of difficult times is referred to as resilience and there are ways we can develop this characteristic, as well.  Below are a few ways to be more resilient.
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1. Develop your skills and abilities
2. Practice problem solving
3. Set goals and write them down
4. Practice
5. Nurture yourself
6. Believe in yourself and be your biggest fan
7. Be positive and optimistic
8. Embrace change and go with the flow
9. Develop strong social connections
10. Have a strong sense of purpose
11. Be at peace with yourself
12. Take Action  

 
If you learn to do the things listed above your resilience will grow and you will find that your ability to get through the tough times and bounce back more quickly from adversity will increase significantly. You will still feel things deeply and completely, but they will not defeat you and you will always see the light at the end of the tunnel and it will not seem so far away.