{"id":23496,"date":"2020-04-09T09:49:15","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23496"},"modified":"2020-04-09T09:49:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:49:15","slug":"gratitude-and-5-other-steps-to-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23496","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude and 5 Other Steps to Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fmr-subtitle\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-fmr-subtitle field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">By Laura Bakosh, Ph.D. Co-Founder, Inner Explorer<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fmr-multimedia-slick-slideshow slick-initialized slick-slider\">\n<div class=\"slick-list draggable\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<div class=\"slick-track\">\n<div class=\"slick-slide__photo slick-slide slick-current slick-active\" data-slick-index=\"0\" aria-hidden=\"false\"><a class=\"colorbox init-colorbox-processed cboxElement\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.3blmedia.com\/sites\/www.3blmedia.com\/files\/images\/48DE_Homepage_Update.jpg\" rel=\"slick-gallery-node-281381\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"fmr-photo-0\" class=\"slide--item-image\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3blmedia.com\/sites\/www.3blmedia.com\/files\/styles\/400w\/public\/images\/48DE_Homepage_Update.jpg?itok=7458sJAn\" alt=\"\" width=\"400px\" height=\"auto\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div id=\"fmr-date\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-fmr-date-time field-type-datetime field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">Wednesday, April 8, 2020 &#8211; 10:30am<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fmr-meta-container--top\">\n<p>Discovery Education guest blogger, Laura from Inner Explorer, talks about the importance of practicing happiness skills, particularly during the challenges of the global pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"fmr-body\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-fmr-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Yesterday, I received a package from my sister in law, Marsha, with a beautiful\u00a0homemade\u00a0face mask. Gratitude washed over me. Her generosity\u00a0released\u00a0a cascade of feelings that researchers acknowledge lead to happiness.<\/p>\n<p>In these unprecedented times, it is easy to lose sight of happiness and self-care. The following 6 learnable skills are proven to increase health and wellbeing and reduce stress and anxiety. Now is an ideal time to get started!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Gratitude<\/strong>. \u00a0In spite of challenges, it\u2019s uplifting to recognize the efforts many people make every day;\u00a0the healthcare worker tending to the sick, the store\u00a0employee\u00a0stocking shelves with food, the teachers bringing the\u00a0classroom and learning\u00a0into the home.\u00a0 Writing in a journal or listening to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oRBwUqsSEsQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>gratitude practice<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0can help re-enforce\u00a0the gratitude you feel.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Generosity<\/strong>.\u00a0Sharing a kind word, a simple note of thanks, or lending a hand to someone else can lift your mood and theirs. Doing just one generous act each day begins a cycle that can inspire others to pay it forward.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Purpose<\/strong>.\u00a0Inspiration can come from anywhere. My mother was inspired by Marsha, and began making masks this week for the folks in her retirement community. She\u2019s in her 80\u2019s with poor vision, yet she\u2019s engaging in this new sense of purpose.\u00a0 As Thoreau said\u00a0<em>\u201cOne is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something\u201d<\/em><em>.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<strong>What is your \u2018something\u2019?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Positive Outlook<\/strong>.\u00a0This may feel impossible during a pandemic, yet research shows focusing on the good helps\u00a0you\u00a0feel better, sleep better and be healthier. Balance pandemic news by tuning into the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Good News Network (GNN)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and explore all the good things happening. It may even spark a few new ideas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Human Connection<\/strong>.\u00a0There are many online and mobile resources like Zoom and Facetime to creatively connect people who are sequestered in their homes. A few \u2018face-to-face\u201d minutes can\u00a0boost your focus and your productivity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mindfulness<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Practicing mindfulness is the glue that ties these skills together.\u00a0When your body and mind are settled, creativity and compassion begin to flow naturally. Inner Explorer\u2019s free\u00a0mindfulness\u00a0app\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/innerexplorer.org\/compass\/family_onboarding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>I AM PRESENT<\/strong><\/a>, offers families brief daily practices that reduce stress, increase learning readiness and bolster resiliency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Inner Explorer, in collaboration with LG Electronics, Discovery Education and others, has brought the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lgexperiencehappiness.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Experience Happiness Initiative<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to over 3 million children and teens. \u00a0This crisis is providing a beautiful opportunity to practice being mindful, grateful, generous, positive, purposeful and connected. Please join our growing community and Discover your Happy.<\/p>\n<p>The materials from the Experience Happiness Initiative and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.learnexperiencehappiness.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Discover Your Happy<\/a>, a program created in partnership with LG and Discovery Education, are available at no-cost to families through the curated weekly content site known as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/den.discoveryeducation.com\/participate\/dailyde\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Daily DE<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Laura Bakosh, Ph.D. Co-Founder, Inner&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23497,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23496\/revisions\/23497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}