Best Reason to Blog - Hold on to Your Joy!

The article below was in Prevention.com. In most all of the strategies listed the answer is in blogging! :)

"How we think and what we do can intensify, even prolong, the best moments in life. Here's how to tune in to the small stuff and reap huge rewards!"
Joy — How to Make it Last
"It's easiest to appreciate the good when fortune leans in our favor. But when we're ill or anxious or beset by tragedy, savoring positive events is all the more important. Happiness, Loyola University Chicago social psychologist Fred B. Bryant, PhD says, broadens our perspective and helps us recognize ways to cope with adversity. "Bad things will come--we can't avoid them," he says. As many a poet has written, joy is fleeting, and elusive. "But if you know how, you can go hunting for it, and you can make it last."
Here are 10 surefire strategies that Bryant says everyone can use to discover pleasure and satisfaction in everyday moments:

1. Share positive feelings— Sharing happy memories and experiences with others--or even simply anticipating doing so--is one of the most powerful and effective ways to prolong and magnify joy, Bryant's research shows. "It helps sustain emotions that would otherwise fade," he says. Affirming connections with others, he adds, is "the glue that holds people together."
   
2. Build memories— Take mental photographs of memorable moments that you can draw on later. Recall vivid, specific events, and pinpoint what brought you joy.
3. Congratulate yourself— Take pride in a hard won accomplishment. "A lot of people have trouble basking in an accomplishment because they feel that they shouldn't toot their own horns or rest on their laurels," Bryant says. It's a fine line between joyous self-congratulation and shameless self-promotion, but don't worry: You'll know if you're crossing it.
   
4. Fine tune your senses— Shutting out some sensory stimuli while concentrating on others can heighten your enjoyment of positive experiences--particularly those that are short-lived.
   
5. Compare downward— Comparing upward makes us feel deprived, but comparing downward can heighten enjoyment. Think about how things could be worse--or how things used to be worse. Just keep it light--you don't have to relive your cancer diagnosis or revel in a neighbor's misfortune.
   
6. Get absorbed— Some joyful moments seem to call for conscious reflection and dissection. At other times, we savor best when we simply immerse ourselves in the present moment, without deliberate analysis or judgment.
   
7. Fake it till you make it— Putting on a happy face--even if you don't feel like it--actually induces greater happiness, says Bryant. So be exuberant. Don't just eat the best peach of the season luxuriate in every lip smacking mouthful. Laugh aloud at the movies. Smile at yourself in the mirror. After all, he says, "a surefire way to kill joy is to suppress it."
   
8. Seize the moment— It seems obvious that the more quickly a positive experience evaporates, the more difficult it is to savor. Yet paradoxically, Bryant has found, reminding ourselves that time is fleeting and joy transitory prompts us to seize positive moments while they last.
   
9. Avoid killjoy thinking— The world has enough pessimists. Short circuit negative thoughts that can only dampen enjoyment, such as self recriminations or worries about others' perceptions. When you find yourself awash in happiness, give it space to grow--don't ruminate about why you don't deserve this good thing, what could go wrong, how things could be better. Consciously make the decision to embrace joy.
   
10. Say thank you— Cultivate an "attitude of gratitude," Bryant says. Pinpoint what you're happy about--a party invitation, a patch of shade--and acknowledge its source. It's not always necessary to outwardly express gratitude, Bryant notes, but saying "thank you" to a friend, a stranger, or the universe deepens our happiness by making us more aware of it."
    

So next time you have a joyful memory share it with others through a blog! :)