Karen Salmansohn - Instant Happy: 10-Second Attitude Makeovers

Copyright 2012 by Karen Salmansohn All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. The posters in this work were originally designed and published by Karen Salmansohn on her website, www.notsalmon.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Salmansohn, Karen.
Instant happy : 10-second attitude makeovers / Karen Salmansohn.
p. cm.
1. Happiness. 2.

Attitude (Psychology) 3. Optimism. I. Title.
BF575.H27S342 2012
158.1dc23 2012012083 eISBN: 978-1-60774-369-9 Book design by Betsy Stromberg v3.1 Images on Betsy Stromberg Image Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Images on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on Image on

H umongous thanks to my two wonderful guys, Ari and Howard, for being such inspiring musesmorning, noon, and night. (And sometimes inspiring me to create a poster at 5 a.m.!) Super-sized appreciation to my go-to support team: Gloria Salmansohn, Marcia Bronstein, Eric Salmansohn, Lia Salmansohn, Ross Salmansohn, Mary Beth Leonard, Lisa Attea, Donna Sonkin, Karen Giberson, Denise Barry, Jennifer Pastiloff, Danielle Pashko, Josselyne Herman, Natalia Petrzela, Susan Shapiro, Hyleri Katzenberg, Marie Forleo, Christi Smith Scoffield, Lalita Khosla, Lindsay Kriger, Dodinsky, Doe Zantamata, Lisa Blecker, David Maleh, Murray Hidary, Nigel Austin, Peter Winick, Richard Kastleman, Kizia Kastleman, Jay Weiss, Michael Simon, Rob Weiss, David Hepworth, Kyle Wilson, Jim Pinkenberg, BJ Gallagher, Eric Zentner, Jen Groover, Alexis Wolfer, Jonathan Fields, Gretchen Rubin, Heidi Krupp, Eric Handler, Keith Ferrazzi, Goldie Hawn, and Peter Guber. Venti-sized gratitude to the amazing powerhouse behind this book: Emily Timberlake, Rebecca Gradinger, Lisa Westmoreland, Betsy Stromberg, Kara Van De Water, and Elisabeth Beller.

Tidal waves of love for the awesome people who come to my daily blog at www.notsalmon.com and my Facebook fan page, and for all the wonderful members of my Be Happy, Dammit newsletter! Thank you all for cheering me on with your loving notes and inspiring stories of resilience!

W ant to be happy, dammit? If so, you gotta teach your old brain some new tricks and start thinking more optimistically! When you train your brain to think more positive thoughts, youre more likely to form positive habitswhich then leads you to more positive results. (And Im positive about that!) Unfortunately, its not always easy to think positively. Life is full of ups and downs; it ebbs and flows. And sometimes during the tough times, we find ourselves stuck in a downward negative-thought spiral. All too quickly we go from thinking this one thing sucks to my whole DAY sucks to my WHOLE LIFE sucks to THE WORLD SUCKS to DISTANT GALAXIES SUCK! So, whats the solution? Instant Happy, of course! This book uses a psychological tool called pattern interrupts to stop a moving train of negative thoughts in its tracks. Each page in this book offers a different pattern interruptor what I refer to as a happy-thought interventiondesigned to counteract limiting beliefs and jumpstart a new pattern of positive, productive thought.

But whats the big deal with positivity, anyway? Well, in order to answer that question, we first have to look at whats so wrong with negative thinking. Neuroscientists have a biological explanation for why those downward negative-thought spirals happen in the first place. MRIs have shown that every time people think angry thoughts or imagine worst-case scenarios, they send a surge of blood flowing into the brain regions associated with depression and angerwhich refuels their depression and anger in a destructive feedback loop. The sadder and angrier you become, the more your body gets flooded with troublemaking fight or flight neurochemicals, which shut down the more evolved neocortex part of your brain. Basically, when youre trapped in a really negative fight-or-flight thought pattern, youre limited to using a mere 20 percent of your brains thinking power. This is why during tough times you might find it very difficult to interpret events correctly, communicate feelings effectively, or think with a long-term optimistic lens.

Happily, MRIs have also shown that when people start to think happy thoughts, they send a surge of blood flowing into brain regions associated with happinesswidening their positive neural pathways and making it easier and more automatic for them to think better, calmer thoughts. Meaning? If you keep reading Instant Happy, and keep focusing on those happy thought interventions, then over time it will become easier and easier for you to think more positively! Kind of cool, isnt ithow you can create a happier reality simply by thinking in a happier way? Happiness truly does not come from the things you have. It comes from the thoughts you have! So, heres how you can use Instant Happy to boost your joy and peace of mind: Whenever you find yourself stuck in a limiting thought pattern, unstick thyself by flipping to a page, any page, in this book. What youll find is an inspirational flashcarda positive, affirming statement paired with a graphic. (Oh, and about those graphics: Research has shown that when you incorporate visuals into your learning process, you are better at recording lessons in your permanent memory bank. So the illustrations in Instant Happy arent just fun to look attheyre also an important tool that will encourage your brain to fully remember all the positive messages it is learning!) You dont have to wait until youre in a bad mood to read these inspirational flashcards.

Make a practice of starting or ending your day by reading one of emor two of emor fiveor twenty-seven of em! As youre first reading through Instant Happy, you may find yourself rejecting many of the positive affirmations because they conflict too much with your current, negative beliefs. Good! The inspirational flashcards that stir up the most resistance are the ones you should pay the most attention tobecause theyre definitely creating a pattern interrupt. Keep rereading these in particular! And remembereven if at first you have to fake the positivity, eventually you will make the positivity. After all, repetition works, repetition works, repetition works! It may seem hard to believe, but you think 60,000 thoughts a day. The purpose