Positivity Ratio Test – How Happy Are You?

I’m reading this book called Happier Human: 53 Science Backed Habits to Increase Your Happiness. Working so closely with clients in the wellness promotion profession we see and hear about individuals inner struggles, fears, frustration or happiness and gratitude as we have general conversations and also about these may influence their nutrition and fitness habits.

Being in the helping profession of fitness, nutrition and health we wanted to bring about awareness of your inner voice or true self. Many of us know we need to eat right, exercise and be healthier in an overall quest to feel happier. If you eat like crap then all the chemicals in the food are going to mess with your body chemistry and brain emotions. If you don’t sleep enough you won’t be able to control your emotions enough to have more patience when you need it either with yourself or others. So many of us become conditioned in our brains to think, I will be happier when  get “xyz” happens. Maybe you have wanted that new upgraded cell phone or new car and when you finally got it you were happier for a short period of time, then got use to it only to notice your focus was then turned to something else dangling in front of you for another fix of happiness. This concept was named years ago the hedonic treadmill. The more we have the more we want and overall our happiness set point goes back to where it was before.

As we all know your happiness levels can change day to day. Especially if you are down the rabbit hole of social media and “validation hunting” as some researchers call this act. Stop comparing your life to anyone other than yourself. This can bring about depression as someone can always appear to be much happier than they actually are. There is always going to be people that are smarter, better looking, faster, stronger, more clever, etc…Just stop comparing as it’s not healthy. You are wonderful just the way you are and there is always room for improvement for yourself NOT others.

Unless you are daily programming your brain with positive messages, giving back to others without expecting something in return, meditating, learning a new skill, etc then your set point happiness gauge eventually goes back to…well a set point. Some people are just genetically born with more positive attitudes while others have to work at it. Why is it that some people that grew up with very little in the terms of material possessions are able to recognize that they are blessed and have a grateful attitude while many others have an entitlement attitude. We aren’t even guaranteed another day on this earth so why not make steps to make the best of every day and work on being present right now.

Here’s a Happiness Scale Test (it’s rated on the last 24 hours). I had trouble opening at first so work with different browsers if you need to as it’s worth it. Here’s the actual link if you need to copy and paste: http://www.positivityratio.com/single.php

You can take the short quiz everyday for two weeks to see if your new habits (read the book for suggestions as this post can only include so much) you might decide to incorporate into your daily living will actually bring about more happiness.  A score ratio of 3 to 1 is optimal with 80% of the population scoring in the 2 to 1 ratio.  I scored a 2 to 1 ratio. I find the questions interesting as their is such a vast range of emotions we can feel in any given twenty-four period. Be honest with yourself as you take the quiz, nobody is watching.

A more positive attitude and thought patterns research has shown has greater chances of a marriage surviving, business team members success, college students, healthier minds and bodies, recovering from illness faster or preventing illnesses. Did you know we have sixty-thousand thoughts per day and about forty-five of them are the same. Start listening to your inner voice. Is he/she nagging, negative, angry, entitled, focused, frustrated, pleasant, zen, grateful?  Take your inner voice to the school of positivity and start living and being happier most of the time.

As I write this article I think about the saying “The beatings will commence when morale improves”, this just is how far down you might have to dig down inside of yourself to make real change. Some days it won’t be fun but your health is worth is and so is your happiness because they are connected.