How to stay Happy! :)

7th May 2021, Friday at 2:00 PM was the time it started in the mind and swiftly took over the body. At the beginning, there was a slight restlessness. It increased to drumming the leg and twisting the hands, to an unheard rhythm. And it grew until it was impossible to stay still. The heart was pounding, the skin was sweating, muscles were tensed to the point of pain, thoughts raced too fast, breathing, and particularly breathing deeply was an effort, and I paced or raced around and around unable to stop.

The past two years (the pandemic basically), has been tough on my mental health, as it has been for millions across the world. Surviving bells palsy, losing two family members amidst covid, starting a new job, and in dark corridors of hospital almost losing my father has been a hell of a roller coaster for me which triggered many panic attacks and anxiety episodes as there were no cheerful moments left in my daily life.

In my Depression episode, the emotional thermostat was fundamentally broken. It whizzed up and down on a whim and with seemingly little control. And, I found myself suddenly, apropos of nothing, on the verge of despair, gasping for breath, without any ability to climb back to normal range. Sometimes there were triggers which with a fair wind can be noticed and the subsequent descent avoided. Some of the triggers were the smallest things — a word, a flavor, a smell that threw me right back into the midst of an emotional waterfall. But worse were the times when there were no obvious triggers — I just woke up feeling broken and each breath I took, each step through the day made me feel worse. There was nothing to explain, rational or irrational, the chaos was just there and overwhelming.

Are you feeling a little overwhelmed? Stressed? Lost in the madness of life and looking for some ways that you can bring more happiness into your life? Do you fancy trying some new things that will show you how to be happier? There are four exercises that I tried to get control back of happyness:

Smile, Smile, and Smile

According to research, scientists gathered some patients and put something in their mouths to fake a smile, and then they scanned their brains throughout the process. And guess what, it took only four minutes to turn off the parts of the brain that register sadness and light up the part of the brain which registers happyness. And I can attest to it, I remember a day when I was crying and having a really horrible day and I was supposed to deliver a? facilitation session to about 50 young adults. While logging into the zoom meeting, I took some deep breaths and said, Ahmad, it’s just 2 hours, in and out, and you will be fine. I wiped out my tears and turned on my zoom camera and a fellow (Allah bless her) turned on her mic and said: “Sir Ahmad, Good Morning! See, as per your instructions, I joined the session 5 minutes early.”, and then she started smiling like a little child on my face. And that time, I really did not want to smile, but how could I not smile back at this cute little gesture. She further said: “Sir Ahmad, do you know why I joined the session early? –? because I know it will make you smile and you have a very beautiful smile and when you smile, we feel happy. It made my day, days, and week. So, please smile, smile and smile!”

Shake hands, Give Hugs, and Spread Love

According to research, scientists took some individuals who were having depression and anxiety episodes and they group them into three different groups - 1 to one group they gave them antidepressant and second group they gave them sugar pills (Placebo) and guess what, for the third group they asked their family members to touch their skins to have skin to skin connection for about 10-12 minutes a day.? The group that got 10 minutes of skin-to-skin contact for a day reported a lower level of depression even lower than the group who took antidepressants.

Thx thx thx and thx

Write journals and be grateful for the things you have and you are grateful for. It can be the fact that you woke up this morning and you have a healthy heart pumping 2,000 gallons of blood and you did not have to ask it to do it. Please write at least 3 things every day. Studies also show that doing this exercise for 21 days increases your baseline of happyness by 20- 25%.?

Be Kind and appreciate

Write appreciation notes/letters/texts or whatever it is that works for you to your friend/husband/wife/parents/siblings/loved ones. Let them know you love them, their existence matters. Feeling genuine appreciation lifts people up. At the most basic level, it makes us feel energized.

Men are three times as likely to die by suicide than are women. In this age of oversharing on social media, when it has never been more socially acceptable to tell your peers how you feel, men are still struggling.

“Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living or where you come from, it doesn’t discriminate, we all kind of go through it.” – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

If you need to talk or would like to share your feedback please don’t hesitate to write at [email protected] or 03314941373

With hugs and love,

Ahmad