The Happiness Adventure inspires you to build habits of happiness. This week’s theme is Being Positive – choosing thoughts and feelings that are resourceful and that move you forward.

How many times a day do you find yourself bothered by negative, anxious thoughts that go round and round in your head? Plenty, I’m sure, and that’s normal, but not desirable! Staying stuck with these thoughts leads to unpleasant emotions and can keep you in a groove of pessimism rather than optimism.

The last few days have seen a real flurry of new Happiness Adventurers getting on board, so a big, warm, happy welcome to you all!

In this little space before we get started on the next stage of the Adventure, I've been talking to many of you about your experiences so far. Already you are reporting that you are feeling more positive and powerful in your lives. The act of focusing on your happiness on a regular basis is really making a difference.

How have you made a happy difference to yourself?

Day twenty one of the first stage of your Happiness Adventure and I’m wondering how you have made a difference to your happiness already?

We all approach change and growth in different ways. Some Happiness Adventurers will have absorbed  the reflections and followed the suggestions for action in these postings to the absolute letter. Yet others will have dipped in and out. Some of you may have “not quite got round to it yet.”

All of that is fine.

Recall a forgotten talent

There will be something that you used to do, and loved to do, that you no longer do. Perhaps you played a musical instrument. Sang. Danced. Painted. Wrote. Made pretty handcrafted celebration cards, or got absorbed in needlepoint. I don’t know exactly what it was for you, but it was something creative, even if you never felt you did it really well. You will have let it drop for a 101 good reasons. Today I want you to start to think about bringing it back into your life.

Be someone else today

I’m all for authenticity. Being who you are, no masks. Someone about whom you’d say “there’s no side to her.” So it might seem a bit odd that I’m asking you to pretend to be someone else today. Bear with me, dear Happiness Adventurers, for there is a purpose to this playacting.

Walk amongst trees

Appreciating our nature isn’t just accepting ourselves in all our messy glory. It is also about accepting that we are a part of the whole of nature. And you don’t have to be a tree hugging, knitted sandals kind of person to enjoy today’s happiness adventure.