Field Guide to Happiness for Women [NOOK Book]

Eat Quality Food

No matter what your opinion of your body and weight are, you will be happier if you eat quality (fresh, healthful, nutritious) food.  This has been described in detail in books like French Women Don’t Get Fat, so you are probably familiar with the idea.  You should be eating attractive, good-tasting, fresh, quality food at restaurants or at home.

Eating out at restaurants is an important social activity today.  When you lead a busy life, eating out can be a relaxing and satisfying experience.  Instead of going to eat at a chain restaurant, for a few more dollars you could go to a quality restaurant and have quality food. Isn’t that a more satisfying way to spend your money on food, too? Why spend it on an unmemorable meal at a so-so restaurant?

The same is true for what you eat at home. If you make meals from fresh ingredients, you know it will taste better and be more satisfying to all who eat it.  It will be a higher-quality experience at the table and even in your body – whose tissues benefit from the nutrients in better-quality food.  In today’s world, it only takes a little effort to find quality foods at a store near you.  There is a major trend for stores to stock locally grown and organic foods no matter what part of the country you live in.  In most cases, buying quality food is all about breaking a bad habit and replacing it with a good one.  Once you begin to purchase fresh ingredients, you will feel a difference within yourself.

It’s important to also be aware of the miracle of food and how it finds its way to your table.  And then there’s the miracle of the body, that you have a digestive, nutrient-absorbing, and elimination system that processes your food each day. Eat slowly, mindfully, with awareness for pleasure from your food.

Walk More

Walk more for better health and happiness. Walking has been around since we became upright mammals.  We are made to walk.  There are many benefits to walking, both physically and mentally.  Physically, walking helps make your metabolism more efficient thus helping you manage your weight.  Walking can also decrease your risk of a heart attack and help control your blood pressure.  Walking strengthens the heart and lets it work more efficiently.  Studies have also shown that walking can help lower your risk of a stroke, boost good cholesterol, reduce your risk of breast cancer and diabetes, lower stress level, improve sleep, relieve some types of arthritis, and protect against hip fractures, to name a few.  Walking is an independent activity, free from equipment, trainer or coach, and in most cases free of charge.  And most people who exercise by walking are out in nature, breathing the air and seeing the scenery.

The mental benefits of walking are just as important as the physical ones.  Walking helps you get to know yourself better.  If you choose to think while you walk, you may come up with solutions to problems or come to have insights into your being. You can also make walking a type of meditation.  This can be done by observing nature with all of your senses or by paying attention to your every step or every breath. The art of walking meditation is to learn to be aware as you walk, to use the natural movement of walking to cultivate mindfulness and be in the present moment.  Whether you are a walking thinker or meditator, you will be able to see the benefits you receive from walking quite clearly.  Even if you are a fast-paced walker, walking still contributes to taking an overall slower approach to life. 

Getting into the habit of walking more is certainly easier in better weather and safer places, but you can be creative in adding more walking time – even if it is walking in circles in your basement.  Many people add walking to their lunch hour or make it social by walking with a friend or partner.  A great safe place to walk is on a public school track when no sports programs are taking place.  Your tax dollars help to pay for the track, so take advantage of this great resource to walk more.  Whatever way you choose to walk more, walk in peace.

Lighten Up

This may sound flippant, but if you think about yourself being one person in six billion currently on earth – and then within the context of all human beings dating back millions of years, you realize your “importance” is really rather small.  You are put here on earth to find your passions and strengths, find a way to contribute to the world, and be happy for your sake and those around you.  “Lighten up” is a pretty good reminder when you take so many things too seriously, when you get angry about petty matters, when you spend so much time thinking and worrying about yourself.

Instead of being serious or angry or otherwise upset, how about trying to find either some humor in the situation or at least a lesson. If you have a different opinion from someone, it is probably not imperative that the other person understand your point of view. Explaining it, no matter how many times, will not clarify your position. It is really true that the only person you can change, in any way, is yourself.

Think about this: most things don’t amount to anything worth getting really upset about. If you take a circumstance that is upsetting and ask yourself if it will matter (or will you even remember it) in a day, a week, a month, a year, or ten years – well, you know that the majority of the time the answer will be “no,” that it will not matter.  Yesterday you worried about wearing the right outfit today.  But tomorrow when someone asks you what you wore the day before, you most likely won’t remember what the outfit was!  We get all in a tizzy about something, when we would most benefit from letting it go and lightening up.

Observing your opinions and harsh feeling, see them form and melt like snowflakes. Let go of the opinions and bad feelings. You will actually feel lighter.  Your example of “lightening up” will not go unnoticed by family, friends, and co-workers.  You will have a tremendous positive impact on all those around you.