Example: Happiness Collage

Here's a collage I made to illustrate Topic: A Collage of Happiness.

This collage includes images of a kitty, a pink sunrise, Robot Chicken, chocolate, plarn (plastic yarn), mountains, yarn, and a Nintendo 3DS XL.

The thing to remember when you work on your own happiness collage: the pictures need to be things that make you happy.  What makes you happy is the "right answer" to this exercise.  We're all individuals, with different tastes.

So what makes you happy?

Topic: Your Daily Happy Thought

This is one that I challenged my friend with a few days ago.

Upon waking up, find something good to be happy about.  It can be anything that makes you happy.

Yesterday, it was feeling rested.  Today, it was pretty pink clouds at sunrise.

It sounds easy, right?  When you're depressed, it can be quite a challenge to find just one happy thought.  It's also tough if you're used to thinking negatively.  It's like drinking a really bad wine.  The first gulp is awful.  The second one isn't much better, and after the third, you hardly notice anymore.  But it still does harm to you, all the same.  And you get "hooked" on the intoxication.

It's the same way with thinking dark thoughts.  They're not good for you, but they're habit-forming.

Well, give this exercise a try.  It doesn't matter how small the happy thought is, just do it.  Get into the habit of thinking happy, one thought at a time.

Topic: A Collage of Happiness

First, for those that may not know what a collage is, it is traditionally a page of pictures cut out of newspapers and magazines, and these pictures glued onto the page.

Second, I got the idea after thumbing through a friend's Weight Watchers book and realized the exercise adapts well to those of us with mental disabilities where we think negative/dark thoughts.

So here's the challenge: Look for pictures that make you happy.  They can come from newspapers and magazines.  Paste them all in a jumble on a piece of paper.  You can even do this exercise on the computer if you wish.

If you're stuck in the "think negative" rut, this exercise is intended to get you to think happy things.

Topic: Another Coping Skill

This is one I forgot to mention, and it can be useful.

Three Things Now: When you realize that your mind is thinking negatively, stop yourself.  Now think of three good things.  This helps get your mind off of thinking that things are going bad.

I'd never heard of this technique until I went to the hospital.  But it's simple and it works.