5 Tips On How To Be Happy and Reduce Stress -
Don't Worry Be Happy!

by Jane Johnson
(Littleton, Colorado)

When I first heard Bobby McFerrin's song “Don't Worry Be Happy,” I thought it should be my theme song since much of my philosophy of life can be condensed into these few uplifting words.

Sometimes situations in life are outside of our control, and we let anger, depression, pessimism and self-condemnation enter our lives. Don't let those feelings control your life. It is entirely possible to be happy, every day.

Every time you feel yourself start to worry, say to yourself, I Let Go And Let God! Then turn it over to God to bring about the highest and best solution. You may have to Let Go fifty times a day, but after a period of time you will begin to relax in God's care and think of your concerns less and less.

Remember Jesus' reassuring words, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Put your worries out of your head and don't worry be happy now.

5 Tips On How to be Happy and Reduce Stress

1. Fight Stress Through Exercise
Nothing relieves stress and helps you forget your worries like exercise. Exercise fights heart disease and high blood pressure. Clear your mind with daily walks, yoga, cycling or swimming.

2. Spend Time With Nurturing Friends and Family
Spend time with people who are optimistic and have a positive attitude. People who motivate you and build your self confidence.
Like creates like. Being around happy people is contagious.
Avoid watching to much news. This only leads to unnecessary stress.

3. Learn to Embrace Change
Everything must change. Learn to embrace change instead of fearing it. Have faith that God is “Bring Everything Together for Good.” Have hope, hard times and concerns eventually come to an end. Wait with high expectation and things will be better before you know it.

4. Give Thanks in All Things
Thank God. When you are thanking God for your blessings, you won't have time to dwell on the voice of chaos in your mind.
Thank God for the smallest thing; working toes, a smile from a stranger, an email from a friend.
Find the good in all people. The more you do it the easier it becomes.

5. Laughter is the best medicine
“Laughter is the Best Medicine” isn't a famous quote for nothing. Laughter cures disease, lifts depression and makes even stressful situations easier to take. If you try, you can find the funny side in almost anything.
When things don't go as planned, watch I Love Lucy reruns until you finely open up and laugh.

Think about this quote from J. Sig Paulson:
“I struggled to carry the universe, until I discovered that the “everlasting arms” were doing it already."

By Jane Johnson

Note from a-spiritual-journey-of-healing.com

Dear Jane, Thank you for a really excellent article on how to be happy and reduce stress.
As this is a site used by a lot of people living with illness, I do want to add that some of the tips may not exactly apply to those in the extreme situation of having severe CFS/ME.
I want to give validation to those people. When living with chronic illness, I was not able to draw on these tips on how to reduce stress, except for number 5 – Definitely always number 5!
I would say though that I worked with adaptations of all of them.

When we are feeling ill we can find it easy to be hard on ourselves. We tell ourselves we should be able to think differently, feel differently and do more to change our situation. So if you are very ill and reading these and feeling lonely that you cannot apply them, just to let you know you are not alone! Please take what you can from Jane's wonderful tips on reducing stress. Use them to help, not to feel worse!

Jane, I love your reference to letting go and letting God and being held in the everlasting arms.

With thanks and blessings,
Katherine

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