Connect! Unite! Act! Pikes Peak, DC, NYC, L.A. & Florida Meet-up Info! — What Makes You Happy?

A daily series, Connect! Unite! Act! seeks to create face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups regularly socialize but also get out the vote, support candidates and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert influence on the powers-that-be. Visit us every morning at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time to see how you can get involved. The comment thread is fun and light-hearted, but we're serious about moving the progressive political agenda forward.

I see lots of people in my Acupuncture practice including every type of personality. For some reason there are cycles of how people are handling the stress of their world. Smileycreek will tell you the same thing. Sometimes most of the folks that come in are stressing out and not so happy. Other times most people seem fairly mellow and relaxed about their lives. Recently the folks I've been seeing have been pretty stressed, some to the point of having anxiety.

Whenever I talk with anxious people I ask them what's causing it. Sometimes they can point to a specific thing, however often they can't. I call those situations "free floating anxiety" meaning it isn't about any one thing but just an overall state of anxiousness. When folks are in that place, their anxiety will "hook onto" anything out there. It will keep "hooking onto" different things throughout the day. Pretty much whatever the person thinks about for which they have any bit of concern their free floating anxiety attaches to that making it bigger and worse.

I ask folks in this state of being what makes them happy. You might be surprised to know they normally don't know. So I ask them to remember the last time they felt really relaxed and happy. If they truly can't come up with an answer, I ask them to remember a great vacation they had or a fun time they had with others. I ask them to remember their favorite beach and how it felt to walk on it. If they do that their anxiety quiets for a moment because they've tapped into the feeling of those good times. That's the antidote to anxiety, stress and frustration because every thought has a feeling associated with it.

You can purposefully choose how you feel by choosing the thoughts you're generating because every thought we have is created by us. It's all an inside job! If you are having thoughts that have an unpleasant feeling connected to them, you can absolutely choose to have a different thought on purpose. This is how you stop living by default and start living by choice.

We are all different in what makes us feel happy. Some need a lot of outside distractions and excitement. Others need less outside influences. Some need company. Others need a quiet place with a good book while taking a bath. And so it goes.

Lots of times people's lives are extremely hectic with no two days having the same rhythm. I tell people it is important to have one "physiological anchor" and one "psychological anchor" each day to help with stress. Doing these things each day has a cumulative effect and pays big dividends over time. Really!

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