Hello and welcome back to another
episode of Holistic Happiness Club.
And before I start the actual episode,
I want to say thank you.
Thank you to each one of you who
decided to tune in to this particular episode
and spend next few minutes with me.
And special thanks to each one of you who decides
to tune into holistic happiness club each week, every week.
Your time, your investment in holistic happiness club.
This is what gives me motivation.
This is what gives me the energy to keep going
and keep doing the good stuff that I'm doing. Okay?
So thank you, thank you, thank you to
each one of you who has ever listened
to any episode of holistic Happiness club.
And let's talk a little bit about today's episode.
Today's episode is about pocket size
things for instant happiness boost.
Well, okay, let me explain this topic a little bit.
What is this?
See, we all know that we need a strong why.
We need motivation.
We need willpower to reach to our goal.
And there are lifestyle processes which we need.
There are consistency, there is discipline that we
need to reach to our goal, all right?
All these things are there.
These big things are there.
They help us to reach to our goal.
They help us in balancing our lives act
and therefore help us in staying happy, alright?
But in our day to day course, those big
things, sometimes they take a dip, all right?
There are times when we feel a little low.
There are times when we feel a little down.
And in those times, what are small, small things
which we can incorporate in our daily life?
Things that does not take much time, things that does
not take much of investment, that are very easy to
do and we can do them anytime, anywhere, right?
So small, small things, some small, small habits, some caveats that
we can adopt in our day to day life in order
to make our day more happier and in order to make
our day more productive and in order to feel more energized
and therefore getting more things done in the day.
And in the end of the day, feeling more happy.
And during the day, feeling more happy. Alright.
Alright.
So this is what today's episode is all about.
So without further delay, let's dive into the topic.
Hi, my name is Akshay Tiwari.
I am a holistic happiness coach, author of the book
named Usher, and the founder of Holistic Happiness Club.
Holistic Happiness Club is the place where we talk
about happiness and where we understand that happiness is
not a single faceted thing, it's a multifaceted thing.
And that is why it needs to be looked at holistically.
It needs to be looked at from multiple
angle, because there are multiple things that comes
together and creates a balance, and therefore they
make a person happy or not happy. Right?
So there are multiple things, and each
thing has their own, its own contribution.
So each thing needs to be looked after.
Each thing needs to be taken care in order to be happy.
And that is what we
understand in holistic happiness club.
And that is why we cover various topics
related to happiness in holistic happiness club.
All right, more about me and happiness.
Holistic Happiness club in the end of the episode.
But for now, let's discuss the topic of the day.
All right, so let's dive into the topic of the day.
Topic of the day is pocket
size things for instant happiness boost.
So I have made a list of few things
that we need to keep handy or that we
need to incorporate in our daily life for that
instant happiness boost or instant energy boost.
And first thing in the list is hydration.
Drinking more water.
Alright, so hydration is not only
important for health, but also important
for your energy, productivity and happiness.
In fact, all these are, all
these things are related, right?
So when you drink more water, it can take more oxygen,
it can get get mixed up, and it can carry more
oxygen, more nutrients to various parts of your body.
And that's how you feel more energetic and that's how.
And it also helps you to flush out the toxins.
And there are so many vital roles of water in our body.
So when you drink more water, then
it helps you regulate so many things.
And among so many things, there
is this thing called mood.
It elevates your mood.
It lifts up your mood. Alright.
Also, because it gives you more
energy, it makes you more productive.
And when you are more productive, when you are
having more energy, you are having better mood.
It increases your happiness as well.
Now, how much water should you drink?
It's a very good question.
So my answer to that is, you should drink
as much water as you are thirsty, right?
I don't have any concrete answer
that you should be drinking.
Eight glass, three liter, two liter,
two and a half liter.
I don't have any concrete answer.
I have studied, I have gone through many studies, but
none of the study has convinced me that there is
one single universal formula or one single universal answer.
That how much water should you drink?
So according to me, you should drink
as much as you are thirsty.
Drinking more water is also not good.
Drinking less water is also not good.
So listen to your body.
Your body is very, very intelligent.
So rely on the intelligence of your body.
Now, so many people say that.
That by the time you are
feeling thirsty, you are already.
Already dehydrated, severely dehydrated.
Well, that might be true.
But if you are in tune with your body, if you
are listening to your body, listening to what your body is
saying and paying heed to the signals of the body, then
it will not be that much of delay, right? What happens?
Because we have created this habit.
If you are watching a movie, we don't want to
get up and get that glass of water from the
kitchen because we are so engrossed in the movie or
whatever we are doing, whether we are playing video game
or we are doing the office work.
So keep that water bottle handy.
Whenever you are having you are feeling thirsty,
just take that water bottle and gulp down
one sip and take it slowly.
When you drink, I mean in a hefty
manner, then what happens is you are not
nourishing or hydrating your complete esophageal tube, right?
You are not hydrating your mouth.
So when your mouth is dry, it keeps
on giving the signal that you are thirsty.
So try to take it slow and try
to drink as much as you are thirsty.
There is no single answer how much you should drink.
According to me, if you found any, if you
find any answer that gives you very much clarity
that this is, this is the amount of water
you should drink, please let me know as well.
All right, so this is hydration.
You should be hydrated throughout the day.
That will improve your energy, that will
improve your productivity, that will improve your
health because it flushes out the toxins
and it will improve the overall happiness.
So it's a win win in every situation.
All right, so let's take a look on the next thing.
It's a no brainer.
Gratitude.
Say thank you more often.
Say, give compliments to other on a very,
very specific things which you have liked.
Genuine compliment, just not for the sake of giving
some compliment, some fake compliment that, hey, you are
looking good today, even if you don't mean it.
Say when you, when you give more compliment, when you
are grateful for the things that you have, right.
It shifts your mindset from poverty to prosperity. You.
You.
Instead of looking at the problems that you have,
when you, when you express gratitude, you shift your
mindset to the blessings that you have.
And that shifts the mindset, that
shifts emotion, that shifts thoughts.
And when that shift happen, you feel more energetic,
you feel more elevated, you feel more uplifted.
And that's how you, that's how you get more happiness.
That's how you get more energy
and you get more to work.
And when you get the mood to work
or spend the energy on something that you
like, it in turn, again increases your happiness.
So it's a good cycle, right?
So you need to start that good cycle by expressing
gratitude towards the thing that you are grateful for.
You need to say thank you to more people.
Say you need to give compliments to more
people, just not for the sake of it.
You need to mean what you are saying.
So you need to try to find
out the genuine, appreciable things in others.
And you need to really feel the gesture.
If somebody is showing some gesture to you.
Maybe something, somebody is passing something to you.
So you need to feel that gesture that hey, he has made.
He has saved some effort of mine.
So I should say thank you to this person not
for just for the sake of curtsy and all.
Feel it then say it.
The more grateful you will feel happier you become.
Alright.
Next in the list is stretch breaks.
See, most of us are working on a desk job, all right?
And even if we are not working on a
desk job then also most of us, our work
are kind of sedentary and they kind of.
They are not very, very physical in nature as
they used to be some years ago, right?
So because they are not very much physical in nature, our
tendency to sit for long hour has increased a lot.
And when we sit for long hours, when we are in
one position for long hours, maybe bing watching, maybe we are
lying, just lying down on the bed or couch.
When we are in the same position for long
hour, it starts restriction, restricting the blood flow.
Number one, our muscles starts tightening and
this is the result of stress, okay?
Even if you are moving, if you
are stressed, your muscles will start tightening.
Because it, it. That's why it is called.
It is also called tension
because it tenses your muscles.
Your, your, the whole system get tensed, right? Okay.
So because it's the outcome of a stress
but if it is happening because of any
other reason, your body starts feeling that stress,
your body starts feeling that negative impact.
So to release that negative impact you
need to take some stretch breaks, alright?
So it does not have to be very sophisticated.
It does not have to be very long.
You do not need any proper attire or I'm not
asking you to do yoga in any place but I'm
asking you to just get up from where you are
sitting, take 1 minute of break, just stretch your arms,
stretch your legs, just move your waist a little bit,
move your chest a little bit, move your shoulder a
little bit, move your head a little bit.
It will take hardly a minute.
If you are giving upper body like 30 seconds
and lower body 1020 seconds it is not going
to take more than 1 minute altogether.
So 1 minute break, 1 minute break in let's say
half an hour to 1 hour, not too much.
But in return, what it is going to do, it
is going to release the tension from your muscles.
It is going to restore the blood flow.
And when then these things happen, your mind
gets the signal that hey, everything is alright.
It's not that bad of a situation.
Your mind gets.
Gets a reset.
That's how you get the upliftment in the mood,
your moods get elevated, your blood flow gets restored
and because of that you feel more energy, more
vitality and more happiness and you can get more
done in, in the upcoming hour. Right?
So that was the advice on stretching stretch breaks.
So keep take stretch breaks.
It does not have to be sophisticated.
Again, I'm not asking you to do yoga.
What I'm asking you to do some simple stretches
and maybe in half an hour of break you
can do these simple, simple stretches while you are
sitting and while you are working.
Also upper body, lower body can, can
be stretched out while you are sitting.
You can take stretch breaks in
1520 and half an hour also.
But in 1 hour just make sure that you are getting
up and taking up a little bit of moment, doing a
little bit of movement in let's say a minute or something.
All right.
So that was about breaks.
Next in the list is smile more.
So like I have explained in the previous
example of stretching, so that when we get
stressed, our muscle starts getting tensed and contracted.
So when you stretch it gets released and it
starts the reverse effect of the stress, right?
Similarly, smiling has the same thing.
So when we are stressed, our
smile seems to be disappear.
Of course, you can't smile
when you are stressed, right?
So when we smile, our mind gets
the signal that everything is all right.
So there was this study, there was this experiment which
was done in one of the BPO in us that
the company asked the employees, the telecallers, to smile more.
And to make sure that people are smiling more,
they installed mirror in front of every desk. Alright?
So when people were talking, they
were asked to smile more.
Now imagine this, that people are talking
on phone, they can't see each other.
But when you smile, your mind's mind gets relaxed.
And because your mind get relaxed, you
start feeling that upliftment, you start having
that energy, you start feeling that happiness.
And when that happiness you feel
that comes across in your words.
And they were able to register more sales and they
were able to have more customer satisfaction ratio rate.
Just by asking people to smile more, they changed.
Nothing else.
This was an experiment.
It was a successful experiment.
So when you smile more, you de
stress yourself, you energize yourself, you uplift
your mood, you elevate your mood.
So smile more.
The more you smile, less you get stressed and better
it is for your overall health and happiness as well.
So smile more. All right.
So next thing in the list
is savoring your coffee or tea.
I know, I know, you might be saying, hey,
coffee is not good or tea is not good.
There has been this study, there has been that study.
Now for every study that says coffee and
tea is not good, there is another study
which says coffee or tea is good.
So there are good and bad in everything.
And so it is the case with tea or coffee.
Alright, now which tea is good?
Which tea, which coffee is good?
Black is good or with milk it is good.
Or herbal tea or green tea or whatever. Whatever.
I am not getting into that.
Whatever you like.
I am not here to talk about
the health benefit of tea and coffee.
What I am trying to say is that if you like tea
or coffee, right, and there is nothing, no harm in taking tea
and coffee in limits, of course, if your gut supports it, if
your gut allows you to have tea and coffee.
So if you like tea and coffee and
your health allows you to take it.
So somewhere in the middle of the day, most likely,
because if you are taking tea or coffee during or
late in the day, it might hinder your sleep. Alright?
So avoid taking caffeine later in the day.
But during the day when you are going to have
your tea or coffee, just sit back, relax, take a
deep breath and slowly sip your tea and coffee.
Enjoy each sip.
Feel it, feel the warmth, smell it, feel
how it is feeling in your hand.
And when you are taking a sip,
what kind of sound you are hearing.
So what I am trying to say is savor it, right?
Enjoy it.
So when whatever you are doing.
So tea or coffee?
Usually, it is usually people, I am a tea
lover and I take coffee as I like it.
And sometime when there is so much
work, also I like to have tea.
So when there I like to have
tea to de stress myself, alright?
So when I'm taking that tea and if I
am doing something extra in, let's say I'm working
on something which is again stressing me.
So then there is no point of having tea or coffee.
So my whole point is if you like coffee
and your health allows you to have coffee, savor
that coffee or tea however you like it.
You like it black or white, you like it.
Herbal tea or green tea, doesn't matter.
Whatever you are taking, savor it.
Enjoy each sip. All right.
Engage all your senses in that.
Each and every sip.
So that will de stress you. Number one.
Because of course, chemically also tea and
coffee are de stressors to some extent.
Yeah.
And also because you are engaged in that activity.
That is kind of a
mindfulness meditation, mini mindfulness exercise.
So when you are completely engaged, mindfully having that
tea or coffee, it will de stress you.
It will uplift your mood.
It will give you energy and increase your happiness.
Right? Okay.
So the next thing in the list is handwritten notes.
See, when you write, you engage your mind in
that particular thought about which you are writing, right?
Your mind is completely engaged and thinking
about that thought when you are writing
and your concentration is very high, right?
So that is why handwritten notes are more effective
than just thinking about something or maybe typing.
Also.
Now the question is what you should write about.
You can write about anything that you like, right?
You want to express gratitude.
You can write about that.
You want to express your emotions.
You can write about that.
You are feeling happy.
You can write about that.
You want to say thank you to something, someone.
Then you can write about that.
Maybe you can give that note to someone or you
do not want to give that note to anyone.
That's up to you.
But if you are feeling that you should say
thank you to someone, you can write about that.
Even if you.
If that person is not around, if you.
Even if you cannot give that note to
that person, if you are feeling sorry about
something, you can write about that.
So when you are writing about negative things which
you are holding on to, then writing helps you
express it out, let it out from your system.
And that is how it will help you de stress.
That is how it will help you untangle
and uplift your mood, uplift your happiness.
Question and if you are writing about something positive,
let's say about your dream, let's say about your,
let's say about feeling grateful, let's say about higher
power or anything else, then if you are writing
about positive thing, it will multifold that thing, right?
Because you will feel.
Start feeling that surge, that
energy inside you, right?
So handwritten notes are very, very powerful.
So when you should write it, maybe,
maybe you should take it this.
Do this exercise in the beginning of the day, maybe in the
end of the day, or maybe during any time of the day,
whenever you feel like beginning of the day and end of the
day are considered to be more effective if you.
If you want to take it in a routine.
But if you are a more impulsive person, you
can do it any time of the day.
Handwritten notes are very, very effective.
Whether you want to express gratitude, whether you
want to say sorry, whether you want to
surrender to higher power, or whether you want
to express any negative incident or event that
recently happened or happened late in the past.
Late in the past.
Handwriting is a great, great exercise for anything.
All right, let's move to the next thing.
Desk.
Plant or taking care of a plant.
See, soil.
Soil is what it represents.
Earth, right?
And earth is something which is.
I mean, when we say that you need to be
more grounded, which means you need to be more rooted.
And Earth represent all that.
In Ayurveda, Earth kind of represent,
kind of that static energy.
It represents grounding, it represents holding on.
I mean, being stable, all those things. Right?
Okay, so when you take care of a plant
or when you have a plant in your desk,
first of all, studies have suggest that if you
are looking or looking at something green, it de
stresses you, because we are the creature of nature.
We have been in on this earth for a
very, very long time, for millions of years, right?
And we have been seeing green. So we.
When we see green, we know that it is.
It is a good place.
It is a good, good place to be. Right.
When we see white, completely
white, snow laden mountains.
We know that it is not a good place to
be in because it is, this place is not fertile.
We will not get anything to eat.
So it is something in our evolution that
when we see green, we get distressed.
All right, so first of all, that thing,
and the second thing, that soil, that grounds
you, that whole, that gives you the energy
that balances you, then stabilizes you.
On the contrary, in the ayurveda itself, on
the contrary, that your stress, your anxiety is
the kind of energy that air is.
It is called vata. Right?
So if you are stressed, if you are
more anxious, your thoughts are running all over
the place, your energy is all over, you
are not able to get anything accomplished.
You need to be more grounded.
So taking care of plant or keeping a plant
on your desk gives you that kind of energy,
to be more grounded, to be more stable.
And that's how you get, you
know, stable mood, not fluctuating mood.
And that gives you a constant kind of energy, constant
happiness that helps you uplift your mood and let you
be more happy and more productive and more energetic.
All right, last but not, not the least, but
I think you all must have heard of it.
Playlist or uplifting music. Right?
So you need to have this playlist if you
are, if you like music, and I think there
is a majority of people who like music, maybe
your taste in music might be different.
You might be liking classical, somebody might
be like jazz or hip hop or.
I don't even know how many varieties are there.
I like classical for myself.
Classical music is something that de stress me, that helps
you, helps me feel grounded, helps me feel stable.
So that is about me.
But you might be having a different taste.
You might be, might be needing a
more energetic song, something that, that gives
you energy, something that pumps you up. Right.
So it's up to individual what kind of music they like.
But everybody has a taste.
Not everybody, but majority has a taste for music.
And if you do not have, if you have not tried
it yet, which is highly unlikely, but at least you can
try with the sounds of nature, like sound of sea waves,
sound of river, sound of birds chirping, sound of wind.
All right.
All these sounds are soothing
because they are natural sounds.
So you can have this playlist handy, whatever
kind of music you like, you can have
this playlist handy whenever you are feeling down,
whenever you are not feeling motivated enough, you
can use that playlist to uplift your mood. Right.
So that was it.
That was it about today's episode.
But today's a topic, but today before we end the
episode so let me make some announcement that I want
to invite invite all of you to join holistic happiness
club and become a member of holistic Happiness club.
There are so many perks of becoming
a member of holistic Happiness club.
I will leave, I will leave a link in
the description so that you can check out all
the perks and everything else about holistic happiness club.
How can, how you can become a member and
what kind of perks you are going to get
if you become a member of holistic Happiness club.
Also, I have written an ebook, pocket size ebook.
Again very small but very handy.
It is full of actionable item.
What you can do to increase your happiness quotient.
The name of the ebook is the happiness blueprint.
Practical stretch strategies for
achieving fulfilled life, right?
So you can download this ebook.
I will also leave the link in the
description so that you can download this ebook.
So I will.
I will request all of you to download this
ebook because it is full of actionable steps and
apply those, apply those nuggets in your life and
let me know how, how did it go?
How did you feel about after
doing, after taking those steps?
Also, if you want to book a one to one
call, it's a discovery session that when you want where
you want to know more about your challenges, you want
to means design a blueprint of your happiness path.
You want to discover your happiness path.
So if you want to book a one to one call
with me, you can book a one to one call by
clicking on the link which is giving in the description.
Alright, I will leave that description as well.
I will leave that link also in the description. Okay.
All right.
And if you want to connect with me
on social media, Instagram is the place.
@happinessarchitect is my Instagram handle.
And if you want to check out my
website, akshayatiwari.in is my website. Alright.
So with that we have reached to the end of the episode.
Till the time we are meeting each other again, stay
well, take care of yourself, take care of your loved
one, take care of the people around you.
And always remember, happiness is a lifestyle.