Running head: POSITIVE SEMESTER PROJECT 1
POSITIVE SEMESTER PROJECT
Tiffany Pexton
Salt Lake Community College
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This semester in my positive psychology class we were challenged to try five new
techniques to help improve our happiness. Each of the five techniques were to be done on three
different days so that we spent fifteen days throughout the semester trying to improve our
happiness. We took a happiness survey called the Oxford Scale of Happiness Questionnaire
Hills, & Argyle, (2002), which basically measures your current level of happiness. After
completing the five happiness techniques, we once again took the survey to see how or if our
score had changed. The five techniques I chose to do were to spend time in nature, take a break,
get rid of negative self-talk, use relaxation techniques, and exercise.
I chose to spend time in nature first. I am naturally an outdoors girl, I feel my most
relaxed and at peace when I am just surrounded by the sounds of the birds and bugs chirping
with a breeze running through the trees. Unfortunately, I live in Utah, and this semester was
during the winter so there wasn’t much opportunity for being in the outdoors the way I enjoy
doing it. However, my husband and I took our daughters to Hawaii for 2 weeks during the month
of February, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out the nature technique.
The first day I went outside during the sunset. My hotel had a hammock right on the edge of the
water where waves crashed against the lava rocks. I sat there until it was completely dark. I had
every intention of just staying there for a few minutes but I found myself immersed in the
moment. To sit there and look out as far as I could see and only see waves was amazing. It
makes you realize just how small you really are. The next night I had my girls with me so they
could experience it as well, although I think they were more excited about the size of the waves
than anything.
The next day I spent time in nature, we were taking a hike through the rain forest. I chose
this option because of a study done by Richardson, Cormack, Mcrobert, & Underhill (2016) to
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increase happiness by exploring a wild new place. On this hike we were following a path. I told
my girls to try and be quite and just listen. They decided to rub their feet across the gravel if they
couldn’t talk. Apparently, they need to be able to make noise opposed to hearing it. So, I let them
go a little further ahead with my husband while I walked slower and really experienced this
mysterious wilderness. I heard some noises that I have never heard before nor could I identify. In
all honesty I almost felt afraid. I couldn’t hear any human noises yet knew they were only a
minute or two away. Once again I felt small. Yet it was exhilarating.
The third and final day I spent time in nature was inside of an old volcano. This was truly
incredible. There were even small openings that still had steam coming from them. It made my
mind wander to think about what life was like back then and how this giant island was formed by
this volcano I was standing inside of. That same day I took a trip to the edge of the island where
there were 400 ft. cliffs that fell into the ocean water. On top of this cliff I stood as close as I
dared to get and looked over the edge where the water was crashing down. There was gusts of
wind that made me feel like I could fall over at any minute. Once again I felt the appreciation of
how large and incredible this world truly is.
The second method I chose was to take a break. This meant to stop doing things in your
daily life that are routine or cause stress or unhappiness. Some examples given would be to take
a bath, read something non-school related, listen to music or watch TV. In all honesty, I found
these to be pretty easy to do because I already do them in my daily life. However, when I took
the time to do these things on purpose for this project, I realized how little I actually enjoy them.
I think this is because I am always so wrapped up in work, school, parenting, and having a
relationship, that taking time for myself makes me feel guilty! Because I have so much going on
I feel as though I should be doing something else with my free time… like more work.
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The first day I took a bath. My usual reasons for taking a bath would be because I was
feeling sick or in pain. I used to love taking baths to really relax, but now it was almost as a
method of curing myself instead of preventing illness. What’s even worse is that to me a bath is
so time consuming that when I do attempt to take one I usually have a book for school to read.
But not this time. This time I had bubbles, I had bath salts, I had essential oils, and candles. I was
fully emerged in this taking a bath thing and it was marvelous.
The second day I took a break was a month later when I was feeling at my most stressed.
I decided to double indulge and watched a movie on my iPad while taking a bath. Once again it
was marvelous. Although, I found myself sitting in there a little too long so the water got cold
and the bath became unenjoyable. The third day I took a break, I did something I don’t ever
allow myself to do, play a computer game. I am really good at computer games, and get addicted
in a way that makes me feel guilty. If I ever do play a game it’s while no one is home to see me.
Which writing about it now sounds ridiculous, I don’t know why I feel such guilt doing
something I am good at and enjoy. Well on this day I announced to my family that I would be
doing homework and could not be disturbed. And that my homework was to play computer
games. It was awesome. I wish that could be my homework every night.
Getting rid of negative self-talk was the next technique I tried, and it was probably the
hardest. I am a very critical person and I always feel like I can do better. The suggestions for
how to go about this were to accept who I am and stop blaming myself for things I can’t control.
Not to take comments personal, increase optimism, and remind myself that I don’t need to be
perfect. I knew that just saying these things to myself wouldn’t work. So I chose three days in
one week to focus on this technique. I felt if I spaced it out too much than it would be harder to
gauge the difference I felt. All three of the days I failed at this. Although I did find myself
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excepting situations for what they were, I still felt guilt. I still found myself up at night thinking
of what I could have done differently. The only positive thing I found was the negative talk. I
stopped talking bad about myself and about others. Which was surprisingly hard, I talk bad about
other people more than I realized. It wasn’t gossip, or rude comments, but more how
disappointed I was in someone’s actions. I felt that when I didn’t talk bad about them I stopped
seeing them in such a negative light. In myself I noticed my confidence grow a little. Instead of
looking in the mirror and thinking I looked fat, or needed to tan or something, I looked at the
positive things about my body and would say them to my husband. Where before I’d tell him to
look at how fat I was in something, now I was telling him to notice how good my butt looked. I
wish I could say I kept this up after the week was over but I only realize now as I write this that I
am back to who I was before that week with the negative self-talk.
Relaxation techniques was the fourth one to try. This to me meant meditation and
centering my thoughts. For the first day I tried yoga. I know yoga may fit in with the exercise
technique, but I feel like yoga is one where your body and mind come together to be able to
relax. I haven’t done yoga in 5 years. Which was surprising to me when I realized that because I
used to love yoga and be really good at it. I wish I could say I still was good, but I found it very
challenging. I went to one of the group classes at my local gym for beginners. I felt like an idiot,
and was really uncomfortable so that wasn’t the best idea. The second day I decided to just
simply meditate. Since I was new to meditating I decided to only try for 10 minutes. I tried in the
morning after I dropped my daughter off at school but before I had to leave for my school. I
turned off all distractions and sat in a comfortable spot of my house where the sun shone in. I
also had a timer going so I wouldn’t stress about being late. I tried my best to focus on my
breathing and let my thoughts come and go but I kept finding myself thinking about something I
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had to do that day. The ten minutes felt like an hour. It was really hard. I feel like meditating is
something you have to work on for a long time before it comes easily to you.
The third day I attempted to meditate was the night before a midterm. I was lying in bed
alone in my house. I decided this time to try a guided meditation I found online where the person
speaks and tells you to breathe and then says affirmations. The one I chose was stress relief. This
was a failure, I fell asleep. I honestly don’t remember making it past a good 3 minutes. However,
I woke up feeling refreshed and definitely got a good night’s sleep. So I think overall the
nighttime meditation was a good thing, it just didn’t give me the exact result I was looking for.
The fifth and final technique I tried was to exercise for at least 30 minutes. I chose this
one because it was something I already did routinely so I thought it could be an easy thing to do.
Typically I go to the gym but I felt for this project I needed to do something different than my
daily routine. So for the first day I was at the gym, instead of doing my normal easy routine, I
pushed myself. I mean I really pushed myself. I am not a runner, I can’t even run a mile. So my
goal was to walk/run on the treadmill for 5 miles as fast as I could. I was exhausted but actually
did feel really good afterwards. I also slept really well and noticed that I didn’t crave junk food
but instead wanted something to simply fuel my body.
The second day I used exercise I took my dog for a walk. Something about actually
walking outside felt much different than it does to work out at the gym. I almost felt like I was in
a fog. I didn’t enjoy it all together because I had allergies, it was cold, my ears hurt, and also my
lungs were burning. Mind you I was only walking, yet my breathing was much harder to control.
Once I was home, I felt much more relaxed. I definitely couldn’t have gone outside to do
anything, but I do feel like being outside was more of a productive form of exercise for my
happiness that being in a gym was. I never actually completed the third day because I injured my
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tailbone, wrist, and foot, making any sort of exercise difficult. I suppose I could count hiking in
Hawaii, or some of the other hikes and exercises I did, like the yoga, as a form of the exercise for
this project but none of them were purposely for this specific technique.
Of the five techniques I used I found spending time in nature to be the most beneficial
when it comes to increasing my happiness. According to Richardson, Cormack, Mcrobert, &
Underhill, “Connection to nature may provide people with resilience to meet the challenges of
everyday life, while also facilitating exercise, social contact and a sense of purpose” (2016).
Which makes total sense to me. Although hiking was a form of exercise, it didn’t feel that way
because my interest was to be in nature and experience what was around me. I felt like I was on
an adventure going towards something. Being outside and experiencing the world the way that I
did gave me inspiration to do more in my life. My thoughts were able to travel freely, and I felt
refocused and centered the following day when I needed to accomplish something, like
homework (which I still had a lot of even though I was on vacation).
I also found the relaxing technique to be beneficial. Baths have been shown to improve
“overall blood flow and enhance musculoskeletal movement due to collagen softening”
(Ohshige, Ohwatashi, & Kiyama, 2015). Which relaxes the body and aids in healing sore
muscles. To me any type of activity that can enhance relaxation and soothe tired or sore muscles
would help to improve happiness because you are in less pain than you were before and are able
to focus on what is ahead of you instead of your pain or stress. It’s crazy to me that I felt guilty
when indulging in something that I enjoy, even if it isn’t productive. My health, whether it be
mental, physical, or emotional, shouldn’t be something I’m ashamed of. I have found myself
taking more baths and playing more games. Even though I have a lot to do, I know it is important
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for me to take time for myself. I told my husband this and he signed me up for a massage club
where I get two massages a month. I am really excited to see how different I feel.
The technique I found to be the least helpful was the meditation. I think this is a skill one
acquires over a long period of time of practice. It seems so simple to be able to just sit there and
do nothing but it truly isn’t. In a way it was more frustrating than relaxing. I felt grumpier after
meditating than I did before. Yoga may be an easier route for me to take if meditation is
something I want to try in the future. Since yoga is shown to improve “relaxation and calmness,
in the ability to concentrate, and in stamina and exhaustion” (Prasad, Varrey, & Sisti, 2016), I
think it would help to increase my happiness overtime.
I have retaken the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Hills, & Argyle, (2002), and my
score has improved by one point which makes me one notch higher on the happiness scale. I
would have actually assumed to be less happy due to it being finals and all the stress I am going
through compared to at the beginning of the semester. I don’t know if I answered differently
because of what I learned this semester or due to me actually being happier. I can’t say that using
the happiness techniques I tried helped me to become happier because they weren’t ongoing
activities. Some of them improved my happiness for a day or two but did not have a long term
lasting effect. I have recently gotten married and feel happier overall so that may be a reason for
the increase in my happiness.
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References
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. PsycTESTS Dataset.
doi:10.1037/t12353-000
Ohshige, T., Ohwatashi, A., & Kiyama, R. (2015). The varying effects of warm-water bathing
therapies: Partial bathing decreases exercise tolerance to levels similar to full-body
bathing. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 27(11), 3373-3375.
doi:10.1589/jpts.27.3373
Prasad, L., Varrey, A., & Sisti, G. (2016). Medical students’ stress levels and sense of well
being after six weeks of yoga and meditation. Evidence-Based Complementary &
Alternative Medicine (Ecam), 1-7. doi:10.1155/2016/9251849
Richardson, M., Cormack, A., Mcrobert, L., & Underhill, R. (2016). 30 days wild: Development
and evaluation of a large-scale nature engagement campaign to improve well-being. Plos
One, 11(2), 3-12. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149777
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Here are some pictures of our trip to Hawaii from inside the volcano and by the water edge
where I watched the sunset. Then a bonus picture with my husband when I am at my happiest.
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Happiness Activity Tracker
Date Time of Day Activity Comments2/15 Sunset Spend time in nature Watched sunset2/18 Morning Spend time in nature Went for hike in jungle2/22 Afternoon Spend time in nature Walked through volcano and over cliff2/28 Afternoon Relaxation Techniques Yoga, it was really hard.3/01 Night Take a Break Took a bath3/02 Afternoon Exercise Did 5 miles on treadmill. Felt good but tired.3/10 Morning Relaxation Techniques Meditation, felt distracted3/13 Exercise Exercise Walked dog, it was cold3/15 All day Get rid of negative self-talk3/16 All day Get rid of negative self-talk3/22 Night Relaxation Techniques Guided meditation, fell asleep3/28 All day Get rid of negative self-talk Talked positive about myself4/10 Night Take a Break Took a bath and watched a movie4/11 Afternoon Take a Break Played computer game
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