Brrrrrr. Winter has arrived with a flourish in this neck of the woods..But with such a long &  warm lead-up, hopefully it will be a short one. If you are like me, it can be harder to stay happy and on top of things in the winter, when the days are short and it's grey and cold outside. Yet being happy/cheerful/positve/optimistic (or whatever we want to call it) can be such an important thing to try and do. Whilst the field of Positive Psychology may make some seemingly wacky assertions at times, they also say some things that make a lot of sense. A key position they take, is that if we are happier,  many parts of our lives will run more smoothly. Basic but true...Our relationships with the people in our lives will be more rewarding. People will do better at work- not only are they nicer to be around, but the happier person is more likely to get the pay-rise, more likely to get the promotion, has less chance of experiencing burnout. There are also likely to be better outcomes for our health- we are less vulnerable to disease if we are happy, and happier people are likely to live longer.

We probably don't need (or want) to turn into continually smiling fools, to receive the benefits. But being more optimistic, being more attuned to what is actually going right in our lives can be important steps towards inner contentment & increased positivity. And whilst we need to be genuine and true to ourselves, the PP people also talk about the usefulness of faking happiness, in the absence of the real thing. For instance forcing ourselves to smile actually starts endorphins moving- and if it feels forced, but we still keep it up, we actually do start to feel more genuinely positive anyway...Interesting- might be worth experimenting with.