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This is so simple and will almost certainly make you feel happy. You might think, 'it's all a bit of a faff', but try it, it will only take a few minutes.
1. Procure a cup of tea, coffee or perhaps a glass of wine, a pencil and some paper.
2. List, in any order you like, your 10 favourite moments of the year. Moments, not things or people. Not what should have been your favourites. But moments when you felt like you love to feel.
Specific moments. Moments that brought feelings of childish lightness and joy. When time stopped and you were elevated. It might have lasted a few seconds or a few hours. Maybe you felt your heart swell or perhaps deeply, gratefully, calm. When you felt one with the music.
So make the list. Take your time. These memories can be shy children. They might be holding on to your leg. Invite them to come forward.
3. When your list is complete, simply pick one. Take a breath and enter the scene again - in your imagination. The senses help here. And some will stick out more than others. So recall the taste or smell. Perhaps look around and see and feel who is there. You may have been alone. Perhaps you saw or heard something beautiful. Can you feel the warmth of the sun or the cosiness/texture of your clothing? Inhabit the moment. Feel the feelings. Feel them in your body. Let's say it is a feeling of being with someone, loving and feeling loved. Feel that. Where do you feel the feelings? Allow the feelings to grow a little and just be present with them for a short while.
It doesn't have to be for long, say just 20 seconds. When it's right, return to now. How do you feel? Recalling and embodying feelings like these is one of the best things you can do for your physical, mental and emotional health. The science is rock solid. (Fellow geeks Google Rick Hanson).
We do this exercise all the time, by the way, naturally. We call it worry - when we focus on what's going wrong in our lives.
I promise that if you do this regularly (even just once, badly), it will make you feel happier.
4. You are invited to do this as often as you like.
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