The Habits of Happy People                     

A Seminar for Health Professionals

Nurses: Approved by California Board of Registered Nursing Provider # CEP13896 for 6 Contact Hours

Folsom CA 11/5/15   San Ramon CA 11/6/15   Napa, CA  11/4/15

For Information on Education Credits for other Professionals, Other locations, dates and times, and other courses visit Institute for Brain Potential’s website >>>

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Understanding Happiness

“Happiness depends less on what happens to us and more on how we view the
past, enjoy the moment and create the future.”

• The New Science of Happiness: how happiness is defined, measured,
  and can be meaningfully enhanced.
• Sources of Happiness: about 50 is genetic, 40 is within our power to
  change, and orily 10 is affected by life circumstances.
• Unsustainable Sources of Happiness: why improving life circumstances
  (e.g., income or one’s appearance) does not make us sustainably happier
  due to hedonic adaptation.
•  Habits of Happy People: activities, thoughts, and beliefs that support
  positive emotions, thoughts, caring, commitment, motivation and
  meaning.

Happiness and Health

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

• The Stress-Resistant Mindset viewing problems as predictable and
  controllable; protection against the toxic effects of cortisol on the heart,
  immune system, and the Dram, e.g., impaired short-term memory.
• Developing Stress Resilience: how the mastery of mental and physical
  challenges can prepare us for physical and psychological stressors.
• Enhancing Physical Resilience: why happy people generally have better
  sleep! lower blood pressure and blood glucose, and are less likely to
  develop tangles and amyloid plaque related to cognitive decline.

Positive Moods and Thoughts

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy. ”

• Depression-Resistant Mindset: how happy people are able to see their
  problems as temporary, impersonal and solvable.
• Anxiety-Resistant Mindset: how happy people identify automatic
  thoughts and judgments that are maladaptive and revise (reframe) them
  in positive ways.
• Adaptive Coping: overcoming the tendency to ruminate, escape, deny
  or ignore sensitive issues; focusing on how we recover from setbacks and
  ways to master challenges.
• Acquired Optimism: practicing the habit of optimistic thinking; how
  it improves sleep, elevates mood and reduces worry; the link between
  serotonin and mood; dopamine and expectations; norepinephrine and
  motivation.

Interpersonal Awareness

“Happiness is when what you think, yuliat you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

• Expressing Needs: how happy people communicate emotional concerns
  in ways that facilitate meaningful change instead of triggering conflict.
• The Habits of Happy Couples: how self-less rather than selfish concerns
  transform relationships (from “me” to “we”).
• Gratitude: how counting our daily blessings and expressing gratitude to
  others meaningfully enhances our happiness; the role of the orbitofrontal
  cortex, social reasoning and the caring brain.
• Self-Compassion and Renewal: why health professionals often fail
  to have compassion for their own suffering; keys to self-compassion,
  renewal and self-healing.
• Acceptance of Others: how to accept traits in others that are unlikely to
  change; how happy people attain the self-healing gift of forgiveness.
• Self-Acceptance and the Gifts of Imperfection: how to tame our “inner
  critic” that demands unattainable standards; embracing who we truly are.
• Purpose: the health benefits of having life goals, values and higher
  meaning that engage the mind and promote the greater good.
• Finding Humor in Everyday Life: taking seriously the healing power of
  humor and laughter to reduce stress and to elevate mood.

Calming the Overactive Brain

“In the journey of life, take time to smell the roses and watch the sunset.”

•  Healing Self and Others: identifying the inherent wellness in mental and
  physical illness to provide hope, reduce suffering, and facilitate recovery.
• Self-Calming: how happy people reduce unwanted thoughts, facilitate
  well-being and improve sleep.
• Mindfulriess: experiencing moment-to-moment awareness of thoughts
  and feelings without judgment: practicing Mindfulness-Based Stress
  Reduction.how happy people take the time to lose track of time.

Attaining Happiness-Related Habits: Five Brain Challenges

‘The best kind of happiness is a behavior that becomes a habit.”

• Changing Reward-Based Habits: taming immediate gratification by
  using the wisdom of the prefrontal cortex to inhibit maladaptive habits
  and Initiate positive ones.
• Healthy Activities: practicing the power of proactive thinking to develop
  the courage to change and the patience to make incremental progress.
• Enhancing Resilience to Stress: how mastering positive mental
  and physical challenges prepare us to cope effectively with major
  psycfiological stress or life-threatening conditions.
• Fulfillment: substituting dopamine-related sources of craving and
  everyday addictions for endorphin-related sources joy and fulfillient.
• Applying Positive Psychology: empowering the creative, social, and
  self-aware prefrontal cortex to form positive habits by adding variety and
  flexibility to make positive habits become automatic.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Brian E. King, Ph.D., (Bowling Green State University) is an expert in Applied
Biopsychology and has conducted research concerning social and biological
factors that affect positive emotions, thoughts and habits. His acclaimed
instruction integrates positive psychology and cognitive neuroscience to
provide practical strategies to attain and maintain happiness-enhancing habits.

An outstanding and entertaining speaker, Dr. King also performs as a stand-
up comedian. His outstanding presentations provide practical strategies for
attaining and maintaining happiness-enhancing habits, Health professionals
praise his use of innovative teaching methods. In this presentation, film clips
and comedic dialogue will be used to characterize how to acquire happiness-
related skills and how to make them automatic.

Audiences applaud his insightful and practical presentations and enjoy his
sense of humor. In addition to (Q & A sessions in class, Dr. King will answer
your questions during the second half of the lunch break and by email after the
program concludes.

©2015 IBP

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