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Happiness is a skill you can develop.  Some people are born happy, while others have to work at it.  Some have to work harder than others.  Rather than work harder, work smarter.  Luckily, with all the focus on happiness, we now have a better body of knowledge to draw from.  Carlin Flora shares a collection of patterns and practices for skilled happiness from a variety of sources in her article, The Pursuit of Happiness, in Psychology Today.
Key Take Aways …

Do you have an effective technique for melting away your stress?   If you can dedicate 15 minutes a day, you can rejuvenate your body and sharpen your mind, as well as reduce stress-related symptoms, such as insomnia.  In Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks, Dr. Julian Whitaker and Carol Colman write about a technique called the Relaxation Response for reducing stress and improving relaxation.
The Relaxation Response
Whitaker and Colman write about how they use the Relaxation Response as part of their wellness program:
People often believe mistakenly that in order to truly …

Do you find yourself saying, “I have to do this” or “I have to do that?” Well … stop! You’re draining yourself, and taking away your chance to enjoy what you do. Instead, tell yourself, “I’m choosing to do this.” You may not actually like what you’re doing, but you are choosing to do it, either to gain pleasure, or avoid pain. In The Power of Focus: What the Worlds Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret of Finiancial Freedom and Success, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt write about …

What are the keys to improving job performance and satisfaction?  In Social Psychology: Theories, Research, and Applications, Robert S. Feldman identifies key dimensions that influence your performance and satisfaction.
Five Key Job DimensionsThe key job dimensions are:

Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback

Job Dimensions ExplainedFeldman explains what the five key job dimensions are:

Skill variety: the degree to which the job requires different skills underlying the activities that are part of the job.
Task identity: the degree to which an individual produces a whole, identifiable unit of work (versus completion of a small unit which …

Why do we need our personal space? Are we just territorial? It’s actually about protection, reducing stress, and focus. In Social Psychology: Theories, Research, and Applications, Robert S. Feldman identifies three models that explain why we need our personal space.
Key Take Aways I think this actually explains the effectiveness of Feng Shui and why it helps you feel good.

Your personal bubble can help reduce your stress. When people are in our immediate space, the threat of potential aggression has more impact. Our bodies go into red …

In The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber, writes about how each of us has different personalities inside and how they can work against us.
Every One of Us is a Set of Different Personalities
Gerber writes:
“Is it any wonder we have such a tough time keeping our commitments to ourselves?
It’s not that we’re indecisive or unreliable; it’s that each and every one of us is a whole set of different personalities, each with his own interests and way of doing …

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What if you spend your years climbing the corporate ladder, only to find that your ladder was up against the wrong wall? What if money can’t buy what you’re really looking for? What if there’s a simpler or more effective way to get what you want? In Work from the Inside Out: Seven Steps to Loving What You Do, Nancy O’Hara writes about an approach to help you figure out what you really want.

Key Take AwaysI had several take aways from this particular approach:

Frame out …

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The “Can’t Lose” System is a way to combat your fear of failure. It works by listing your fears, exposing distorted thinking, and identifying ways to cope.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about using the Can’t Lose System.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

List your worst case fears.  Start by listing your worst case fears.  This gets them out of your head and down on to paper where you can analyze them.
Rationalize your list.  Look at …

 
Test your cant’s. I think the name says it all. “Test” what you think you can’t do, rather than just “think” you can’t do it.  This technique is about putting your negative thoughts to the test.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about testing your cant’s.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Test your cant’s.  Rather than just think you can’t do something, prove it.
Test one step a time.  Rather than test the big picture, break it down into small hurdles and test one …

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You get what you measure. Measuring can be as simple as using a wrist counter and clicking each time you do a behavior you want to reinforce.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns shares an example of how one of his patients gained self-confidence using this very technique.Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Count what counts.  Step one is to decide to count your positive actions.  It’s easy for your positive actions to go unnoticed.  It really depends on what …

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One of the most effective ways to motivate yourself is to get a good image of the end in mind.  It should feel like a prize.  What doesn’t work well is beating yourself up.   You might get results in the short term with a stick, but a fat, fresh carrot works better in the long run. 
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about how to visualize your success.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Don’t beat yourself up.  Clubbing yourself …

If you’re depressed, do you have a chemical imbalance in your brain?  There is a theory that a chemical imbalance can cause depression, but it’s not a fact.  Before you chase a chemical fix, you might explore other options.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, Dr. David Burns says there’s no proof that chemical imbalance is a cause for depression.
Key Take AwaysHere are my key take aways:

It’s a theory, not a fact.   It’s a theory that chemical imbalance is a cause for depression, but not a fact.
We …

 
Does fear of failure hold you back?  Don’t be the person in your life that holds you back.  Be the first person that picks you up when you fall down. 
Perfectionism can get in the way of your best results.  Don’t let it push your off your path.  Mistakes are a part of life.  You can either embrace them and find the lessons, or you can try to avoid them and become a shadow of your potential self. 
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns …

Is smart a criteria for happiness? In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes that it’s not your intelligence, but your frustration tolerance that’s the key.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Don’t lower your expectations.  Happiness isn’t about lowering your expectations.
Raise your frustration tolerance.  Learn to roll with the punches.  Improve your ability to deal with things when they don’t go as planned.

This point rings true. I think the meta-point is that it’s not about lowering your expectations about things; instead it’s about improving your …

Criticism and critics can cut you down or build you up depending on how you react. The choice is yours.   Personally, I like to use it as a feedback loop for improvement where possible.  I get some of my best advice from some of my worst critics.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about the three reactions to criticism.
Key Take AwaysHere are my key take aways:

Know the 3 ways to react to criticism.  The 3 ways are: Sad, Mad, and Glad.  
Avoid the sad …

I’m a principles and practices kind of a guy, so I always like to know the underlying beliefs behind a system.  It turns out cognitive therapy is based on a few key principles.  This gets interesting. YOU control your mood by controlling what you think. No matter what happens in your life, you control the gap between stimulus and response. How you filter or perceive the world then becomes the biggest factor in how you feel!
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about …

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Are people giving you a bunch of great advice, but you don’t like getting pushed around?  You can use the disarming technique.  To use the disarming technique, you take the wind out of your nagging critic’s sails by agreeing with your critic, but making it your own decision, not theirs.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes how to use the disarming technique.
Key TakeawaysHere’s my key take aways:

Pushy approaches don’t work.  I don’t think anybody likes to be told what to …

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One of the ways to drain your motivation is to use a lot of musts, should, and oughts when you’re thinking about your tasks.  A more effective approach is to remind yourself of what you want to do it and why you want to do it. 
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about motivation without coercion.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Translate shoulds into wants.  Use “wants” over “shoulds.”
Expressing wants creates freedom.  Turning shoulds into wants produces a feeling …

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You can apply Little Steps for Little Feet to housework.  The idea is to break down tasks into smaller, more manageable parts. 
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns  writes about Little Steps for Little Feet.
My Key Takeaways

Timebox your efforts.  Decide how much time you want to spend each day. 
Own and confront your own fears of taking risks.  Don’t blame others.  Own your response and actions.

I like the idea of time budgets. I find that if I don’t carve out …

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How can you beat the boredom of meetings?  You can use Little Steps for Little Feet.   You can use this technique in meetings to beat the boredom, defeat the distraction, and increase your ability to concentrate.

In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about using Little Steps for Meetings.
My Key TakeawaysHere’s my key take aways:

Listen for 3 minutes, take one minute breaks.  Use timeboxed breaks to focus and concentrate.
While you’re focused, stay focused.   During your 3 minutes of listening, stay focused …