Bring joy.

Positive emotions and joy, as much as stress, are self-generated. Thinking about pleasant events creates anticipation, which makes you as happy as the event itself. Bringing joy into the moment allows you to respond with humor and grace to life’s challenges and makes you feel grateful and appreciated.

1. Insert appreciation, surprise, wonder, and challenge into the day.
   Every morning, think about joyful acts that you could do and imagine their positive outcomes. Ask yourself, “What can I be excited about today? Who can I surprise or show my appreciation for?”

2. Add triggers that will remind you to be positive and grateful.
   Set up alarms, change the wallpaper on your smartphone screen, engrave it on a bracelet, etc. Try out a door-frame trigger: each time you step into a room, say a positive sentence that will define how you will feel and behave when you pass through the door.

3. Set up a routine to replay the positive moments of the day.
   In the evening, write down three things that made you feel good. Close your eyes and relive them with full emotions. On Sunday evening, check-in again and relive the three best events of the week.