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Want to be more happy? Learn from the Irish – it’s not just their good luck. Here is a list of “happiness tips” we can learn from the Irish from around the world.

I work with great teams all over the world- and my colleagues from Ireland have this noticeable calming and cheerful presence. Given the approach of Saint Patrick’s day, I thought this was a great time to dig into some articles and I came across this great article in the Irish Times: Why the Irish are so happy and how you can be too – Who’s Happy? (Irish Times). It summarizes some studies on happiness and concludes that happiness is all about making connections and feeling gratitude, two prevalent character traits of many of the Irish (according to the article – which IS in an Irish newspaper). The other article I came across when I dug deeper is 3 Habits from the Irish We Should Be Borrowing.

So I summarized the top tips from each article, so you can practice Irish happiness tips on Saint Partick’s Day. And all other days, for that matter.

• Be social! The Irish are known to be social, warm, and welcoming with strong senses of humor and wit. They have had a long history of storytelling and telling jokes from that tradition. I don’t know about you, but sharing laughs with others (friend or fellow human), along with a nice meal is the best feeling ever!
• Eat a mix of protein, veggies and starchy carbs at every meal. Like Many other European countries, the very act of eating meals together is sacrosanct, as is the enjoyment of the meal in front of you. The Irish eat heartily balanced meals, yet portion control is what is watched. By eating smaller sizes of actual, wholesome foods, you feel satiated as and when you physiologically should. 
• Stop comparing yourself  to others, “Complain that you have no shoes until you meet a man who has no feet” -Irish Proverb. In this day and age, where we are surrounded by comparison and may find ourselves in these quandaries of such, it is important to take a step back and appreciate what you do have because there is always someone out there who has it harder. 
• Let the chips fall where they may: Let life unfold as it should, for everything happens for a reason! This is easier said than done especially for those of us who feel responsible for keeping the chips from falling. It is so hard to let things go that are out of your control, but even just saying this to yourself will help manifest a willingess to let it go and just let the universe do its job.
• Stop running on the “hedonistic” treadmill and think about what really makes you whole. Stop searching for things outside of yourself, looking for ways to escape from yourself to make you feel complete (i.e. buying lavish things, fine dining, drinking and substances). You are already whole just as you are, just take some time to observe yourself inside of you. 

Another way to up your happiness quotient? “Wonderful things are going to happen to me” was the message that brightly lit up my phone when I woke up this morning. I am- Positive Affirmations is an app that sends you beautiful affirmations daily that help keep you moving on a positive trajectory. You can even configure this to be a widget. I want to say thank you to one of our readers and my dear friend Allison for bring this to me.

Here is what it looks like – you can pick your own widgets and design, so that you have a positive shot of life everytime you pick up your phone (which on average, is 344 times a day):

Arena body bands – An upcoming post will be devoted to body band and slider workouts, but these woven bands can be used to do all kinds of stretches and exercise (an order comes with a workout guide). Here is an idea of what the bands look like – what’s cool about then is you can wrap it around a table leg or anything that is nailed down and just do your workoust! I am addicted to them and have a few bands in my bag always – they go from light to extra strong to scale your workout.

Silly little walk from Tik Tok – this is apparently trending and no more than really just getting up and going for a #sillylittle walk. You can walk to go get coffee, walk your dog, or take a work call. For me, the best time to do this walk is when there is an email cluster fug. You guys know what I mean. Go for a walk and after an hour usually the situation will have resolved itself and you can move onto things that actually matter.

What a great read about stress and how to keep staying resilient through it! 

Strong glutes are everything- your glutes are the most powerful set of muscles in your entire body! Keeping them strong makes everything a little bit easier and who doesn’t want that?! This a great series of moves that you can do at home! (Medical News Today)

Classic Root Beer that has a lot of fiber and hardly any sugar. Sign me up!

G.Tox Ultimate Dry Brush (Goop) – this product is pretty cheap for Goop, only 25 bucks (available at goop.com and at Sephora). What you do is exfoliate but BEFORE you shower and it does a better job of sloughing off dead skin cells from dry skin because there is more friction and a deeper penetration.