Project Happiness Articles

I was a sickly child and I hated being sick. In my early 20s (which was 54 years ago!) I decided that I was done being sick and done not having energy to do all the things I wanted to do. I started doing research on what creates health, and I was fortunate to read a few books that changed my life. At that time, I threw everything out of my kitchen and started to do my grocery shopping at the one tiny health food store in Santa Monica, California.

You might feel this way about turmeric, the spice that is having a big moment right now. Numerous peer-reviewed studies and research on the long-beloved spice are piling up every day, and its list of health and emotional benefits just keeps growing. 

When you were in school, did you take a class about taking good care of yourself? Probably not. Like doing laundry and effective housecleaning techniques, taking good care of ourselves – e.g. self care – is one of those vital life skills we never really get taught.

Laughter may actually be the best medicine! People define happiness in many different ways, but at its core, leading researchers have proven that happiness involves feeling positive emotions that express life is good and meaningful. Understanding, accepting and living this idea of happiness reduces your risk of heart disease, strengthens your immune system, and might ultimately add years to your life. 

We live complex, stressful and often disconnected lives, often bombarded by media that convinces us that buying all kinds of stuff will make us happy, beautiful, successful, prestigious, and even more loveable individuals. Sometimes it does, in the short run. The real problem, however, is that this media-created trance can blunt our quieter universal quest for deeper joy and kindness. But there is very good news. Deep happiness is within reach.

Do you crave more? More money, time, love, happiness? Whether you want to make a huge change in your life, or simply find peace with everything around you, including with your finances, gratitude is the place to begin.

It is important to take the time to rededicate ourselves to becoming a little more aware of the beautiful things we’ve been given. And maybe we can say in discovering the earth, we’ve discovered ourselves.

Research suggests why the experience of gratitude is transformative and offers tremendous health benefits. Thankfulness awakens our brain’s pleasure centers, and our bodies produce bio-chemicals that activate a strong and powerful sense of our potential, well-being and connection.

When we truly realize and trust that we are created from the fabric of Love, and thus this frequency lives in us, activating it feels not only possible, but inevitable. Love is in our DNA. Our Blueprint. Even if we are not feeling it coursing through us at the moment, it is still who we are; waiting to be realized. And the more we put our focus on awakening the Love within us, the more it shows up.

I learned early on to smile in the face of slurs, to bury my emotions, and I convinced myself everything was fine. For most of my adult life, I was able to maintain a sunny disposition on the outside, priding myself on being available to anyone who suffered from lack of joy or who needed help.