Offside: The pursuit of happiness

It’s enough to bring a smile to any journalist’s face, to find out that the Flemish are such a happy lot. The papers often give an opposite impression. Bart De Wever may be happy to be out of the hospital, while Maggie De Block is delighted to be the most popular politician in the country, but most stories in the media are, let’s face it, pretty depressing.

Despite that gloomy picture thumping daily onto the doormat, six out of 10 Flemings are pleased to describe themselves as happy, compared to 46% last year. The mutuality has now created a Top Ten list of recommendations on how you can improve your own happiness index.

1        Wish people “Good Morning” more often
2        Don’t be in a rush
3        Cull some appointments out of your calendar
4        Write down your goals
5        Make sure you drink enough (water, we imagine)
6        Give yourself a compliment from time to time
7        Laugh out loud
8        Get more sleep
9        Breathe consciously in and out
10    Replace the words “have to” by “want to”

And there you are: the recipe for happiness. And if that doesn’t work, CM is also offering the services of a happiness coach, free to members. Non-members pay €25. Isn’t that good news?

www.plukjegeluk.be

Photo credit: Ingimage