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Everyday Matters

Principles of Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology and Multiple Sclerosis

Begin the Everyday Matters Program

  • The Happiness Advantage.”Positive psychology is the study of what works, not just what is broken. Through positive psychology, we know:
    • Happiness is a learned trait. It is a choice and often a difficult one.
    • Happiness is not just a mood — it’s a work ethic.
    • If we can change our mindset, change the way we view what's going on in our world, we can raise our levels of happiness. Focus on what you have, not on what you’ve lost. This is an important shift in mindset.
    • We need to find ways we can make that choice more often.
    Start training your brain to focus on the positive. Reflect on the past 24 hours. Pick out something positive that occurred. When you get in the habit of identifying something good that has occurred, it becomes easier to focus on the good in the present.The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania offers free resources to learn about positive psychology including strength inventories and more.

    9 Strategies To Increase Happiness

    Happiness is relative to each person’s experience. How we define happiness is based on how we each feel about our own lives.Here are suggestions to help increase your happiness:
    • Practice meditation. This ancient Buddhist technique is grounded in the belief that living a values-based life enhances well-being. Try a guided meditation.
    • Practice gratitude. The more opportunities for positivity we see, the more grateful we become.
    • Journal. Getting your thoughts and feelings onto paper might help you cope with living with MS.
    • Find something to look forward to. It’s important to schedule pleasurable activities regularly. These activities may be things you do with others or by yourself. They can include simple, inexpensive things — like going to a Sunday movie, meeting for tea or coffee, engaging in hobbies or taking a gentle walk. Get creative and stay engaged.
    • Commit conscious acts of kindness. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has quantified the effects of kindness.
    • Infuse positivity into your surroundings. Think about your home and the clothing you wear. Do the colors around you reflect positivity? What pictures do you have on your walls? Start small. It’s possible to make little changes on a budget. Surround yourself with positive people who make you feel good and laugh, and with whom you exchange mutual support.
    • Exercise. In addition to being essential to general health and well-being, exercise is helpful in managing many MS symptoms. Additional studies have confirmed the benefits of exercise, including improvement in cognitive function and mood.
    • Spend money, but not on “stuff.” Invest money in experiences and activities that are fun and pleasurable and that focus on self-care. This increases well-being and happiness and has a lasting effect. Plant a small garden or listen to a musical performance at your local university or community theater.
    • Exercise a signature strength. What are your best qualities and how can you continue to express them? Are you a good listener, community leader, artist, etc.? Remember, living with MS and adapting your life doesn’t have to mean giving up who you are. Your strengths can help you envision new ways to do things you love or help you develop new activities to pursue.

    These strategies may not resonate with you. Think of unique ways you can raise your personal level of happiness.    " c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    “For untold generations, we have been led to believe that happiness orbited around success. That if we work hard enough, we will be successful and only if we are successful will we become happy. Success was thought to be the fixed point of the work universe, with happiness revolving around it. Now, thanks to breakthroughs in the burgeoning field of positive psychology, we are learning that the opposite is true. When we are happy — when our mindset and mood are positive — we are smarter, more motivated, and thus more successful. Happiness is the center, and success revolves around it.”
    — Shawn Achor, “The Happiness Advantage”    Watch “The Happiness Advantage.”Positive psychology is the study of what works, not just what is broken. Through positive psychology, we know:
    • Happiness is a learned trait. It is a choice and often a difficult one.
    • Happiness is not just a mood — it’s a work ethic.
    • If we can change our mindset, change the way we view what's going on in our world, we can raise our levels of happiness. Focus on what you have, not on what you’ve lost. This is an important shift in mindset.
    • We need to find ways we can make that choice more often.
    Start training your brain to focus on the positive. Reflect on the past 24 hours. Pick out something positive that occurred. When you get in the habit of identifying something good that has occurred, it becomes easier to focus on the good in the present.The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania offers free resources to learn about positive psychology including strength inventories and more.

    9 Strategies To Increase Happiness

    Happiness is relative to each person’s experience. How we define happiness is based on how we each feel about our own lives.Here are suggestions to help increase your happiness:
    • Practice meditation. This ancient Buddhist technique is grounded in the belief that living a values-based life enhances well-being. Try a guided meditation.
    • Practice gratitude. The more opportunities for positivity we see, the more grateful we become.
    • Journal. Getting your thoughts and feelings onto paper might help you cope with living with MS.
    • Find something to look forward to. It’s important to schedule pleasurable activities regularly. These activities may be things you do with others or by yourself. They can include simple, inexpensive things — like going to a Sunday movie, meeting for tea or coffee, engaging in hobbies or taking a gentle walk. Get creative and stay engaged.
    • Commit conscious acts of kindness. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has quantified the effects of kindness.
    • Infuse positivity into your surroundings. Think about your home and the clothing you wear. Do the colors around you reflect positivity? What pictures do you have on your walls? Start small. It’s possible to make little changes on a budget. Surround yourself with positive people who make you feel good and laugh, and with whom you exchange mutual support.
    • Exercise. In addition to being essential to general health and well-being, exercise is helpful in managing many MS symptoms. Additional studies have confirmed the benefits of exercise, including improvement in cognitive function and mood.
    • Spend money, but not on “stuff.” Invest money in experiences and activities that are fun and pleasurable and that focus on self-care. This increases well-being and happiness and has a lasting effect. Plant a small garden or listen to a musical performance at your local university or community theater.
    • Exercise a signature strength. What are your best qualities and how can you continue to express them? Are you a good listener, community leader, artist, etc.? Remember, living with MS and adapting your life doesn’t have to mean giving up who you are. Your strengths can help you envision new ways to do things you love or help you develop new activities to pursue.

    These strategies may not resonate with you. Think of unique ways you can raise your personal level of happiness.

  • The Fulcrum and the Lever.”According to Shawn Achor, the happiness researcher, our brains operate according to Archimedes’ formula. Two important factors give us the power to maximize our brain potential:
    • The length of our lever: how much potential power and possibility we believe we have
    • The position of our fulcrum: the mindset with which we generate the power to change
    We can’t change reality through sheer force of will alone. But we can use our brain to change how we think about the world, in turn changing how we react to it. Our brains are organized to act on what we predict will happen. You get what you perceive.The fulcrum, our mindset, is the center point. By shifting this center point we can change our perceptions and, therefore, the outcomes. By calling upon, or leveraging your strengths, you can help move the fulcrum and change your mindset.

    Placebo Effect

    You’ve probably heard about the placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an ineffective one with no real medicine, to produce results simply because the recipient believes that it will work. Research has shown how powerful the placebo effect can be. According to empirical reviews of placebo studies, 55%-60% of placebos are as effective as most active medications.Biologically speaking, the expectation of an event causes the same complex set of neurons to fire as if the event were actually occurring. This triggers events in the nervous system, causing real physical consequences. In essence, beliefs can produce real results.What if we applied the placebo effect to our everyday thinking? What if we challenged our beliefs of what we can actually accomplish? Changing your mindset can be the start of real changes in your life.

    Changing Your Mindset

    Take a moment and think about goals you’ve set for yourself that you would like to make progress on. Maybe you’d really like to increase your physical activity but never thought you could. Or perhaps you’d like to find ways to spend more quality time with your children.What are the top strengths you can build on? If you’re a really organized person, apply those strengths and skills to increasing your level of physical activity. Plan physical activity as you would anything else. Believe that you can be physically active 5 minutes a day, plan it, and do it. Build upon those 5 minutes.How can you use your strengths to change your perceptions and get things done? Use this worksheetto set personal goals. Then explore how you can change your mindset and make progress on those goals.

    Mindfulness and Meditation

    Mindfulness and meditation, ancient Buddhist techniques, are grounded in the belief that living a values-based life enhances well-being.
    • Meditation includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate and slow your mind down to clear your mind and ease health concerns.
    • Mindfulness is a state of active attention to the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them as good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience. Mindfulness can help shift our perspective and change our mindset.

    If you’re interested in meditation, start off by practicing 2 minutes each day. Count your breathing for 2 minutes, focusing on each breath. Check out some guided meditation CDs available online or from your library. YouTube also has a variety of guided meditation videos of different themes and lengths.

    In Action

    “Soon after my diagnosis, I took a mindfulness-based stress reduction class… one of the things that course taught me was that meditation could be done anywhere and during any activity. During the course we would do walking meditations, lying down meditations, guided meditations.“I find kayaking very meditative. I've been doing it for so long that the rhythmic movement of back-and-forth paddling allows me to enter a meditative state and let my mind unspool.“The breathing exercises that I do are a form of active meditation. Occasionally I'll lie down and put on a CD of guided meditations, listen to a voice guide me through a half hour of meditation. All those work to lower my heart rate, take my mind off things that I'm worried or anxious about. Mindfulness-based practices help me be aware of them and then choose to let go of those thoughts.”
    — Chuck Curry, diagnosed in 2003

    Additional Resources

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    “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
    — Archimedes, Ancient Greece scientist and mathematician    Watch “The Fulcrum and the Lever.”According to Shawn Achor, the happiness researcher, our brains operate according to Archimedes’ formula. Two important factors give us the power to maximize our brain potential:
    • The length of our lever: how much potential power and possibility we believe we have
    • The position of our fulcrum: the mindset with which we generate the power to change
    We can’t change reality through sheer force of will alone. But we can use our brain to change how we think about the world, in turn changing how we react to it. Our brains are organized to act on what we predict will happen. You get what you perceive.The fulcrum, our mindset, is the center point. By shifting this center point we can change our perceptions and, therefore, the outcomes. By calling upon, or leveraging your strengths, you can help move the fulcrum and change your mindset.

    Placebo Effect

    You’ve probably heard about the placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an ineffective one with no real medicine, to produce results simply because the recipient believes that it will work. Research has shown how powerful the placebo effect can be. According to empirical reviews of placebo studies, 55%-60% of placebos are as effective as most active medications.Biologically speaking, the expectation of an event causes the same complex set of neurons to fire as if the event were actually occurring. This triggers events in the nervous system, causing real physical consequences. In essence, beliefs can produce real results.What if we applied the placebo effect to our everyday thinking? What if we challenged our beliefs of what we can actually accomplish? Changing your mindset can be the start of real changes in your life.

    Changing Your Mindset

    Take a moment and think about goals you’ve set for yourself that you would like to make progress on. Maybe you’d really like to increase your physical activity but never thought you could. Or perhaps you’d like to find ways to spend more quality time with your children.What are the top strengths you can build on? If you’re a really organized person, apply those strengths and skills to increasing your level of physical activity. Plan physical activity as you would anything else. Believe that you can be physically active 5 minutes a day, plan it, and do it. Build upon those 5 minutes.How can you use your strengths to change your perceptions and get things done? Use this worksheetto set personal goals. Then explore how you can change your mindset and make progress on those goals.

    Mindfulness and Meditation

    Mindfulness and meditation, ancient Buddhist techniques, are grounded in the belief that living a values-based life enhances well-being.
    • Meditation includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or life force and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. Meditation often involves an internal effort to self-regulate and slow your mind down to clear your mind and ease health concerns.
    • Mindfulness is a state of active attention to the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them as good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience. Mindfulness can help shift our perspective and change our mindset.

    If you’re interested in meditation, start off by practicing 2 minutes each day. Count your breathing for 2 minutes, focusing on each breath. Check out some guided meditation CDs available online or from your library. YouTube also has a variety of guided meditation videos of different themes and lengths.

    In Action

    “Soon after my diagnosis, I took a mindfulness-based stress reduction class… one of the things that course taught me was that meditation could be done anywhere and during any activity. During the course we would do walking meditations, lying down meditations, guided meditations.“I find kayaking very meditative. I've been doing it for so long that the rhythmic movement of back-and-forth paddling allows me to enter a meditative state and let my mind unspool.“The breathing exercises that I do are a form of active meditation. Occasionally I'll lie down and put on a CD of guided meditations, listen to a voice guide me through a half hour of meditation. All those work to lower my heart rate, take my mind off things that I'm worried or anxious about. Mindfulness-based practices help me be aware of them and then choose to let go of those thoughts.”
    — Chuck Curry, diagnosed in 2003

    Additional Resources


  • Tetris® is the puzzle video game that embraces the desire to create order out of chaos. We can apply the concept of creating order out of chaos by using our mind to create and affirm the daily experiences we want to live.Ever played Tetris for a while? When you’re done, you see shapes everywhere. This is because our brains easily get stuck in repetitious patterns of viewing things. So, when we are always looking for the negative, we see the negative.We can retrain our brain to scan for good things, even when faced with the challenges of MS. Instead of creating a pattern that looks for negatives and blocks our well-being, flip the switch. Scan the world for opportunities and ideas that allow well-being to grow. When our brains scan for and focus on the positive, we benefit from 3 valuable tools:
    • Happiness — The more we focus on things that make us happy, the better we feel.
    • Gratitude — The more opportunities for positivity we see, the more grateful we become.
    • Optimism — The more our brain notices the positive, the more we expect it will continue.
    Watch “The Tetris Effect.”

    Apply the Tetris Effect

    Start increasing your positivity today. Take a minute to answer the following:A negative thought pattern I want to work on and change is:

    Gratitude

    Practicing gratitude can help you retrain your brain to focus on the positive. Write down 3 things you are grateful for in your life. These can be anything you appreciate and want to focus on, such as a family member or friend, a nice park, or having a warm, safe home. Come back to this list often, read it again and add to it.Now, think of 3 positive things that happened over the past 24 hours, and write them down. Make a commitment to do this writing practice every day for a week, and then see if you just start to naturally focus on more positives. You might be surprised to feel more hopeful and upbeat. There are always at least several positive things occurring every day, which you can choose to focus on and remember — someone holding the door for us and smiling, talking with a kind friend, listening to beautiful music or seeing a cute animal." c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    Tetris® is the puzzle video game that embraces the desire to create order out of chaos. We can apply the concept of creating order out of chaos by using our mind to create and affirm the daily experiences we want to live.Ever played Tetris for a while? When you’re done, you see shapes everywhere. This is because our brains easily get stuck in repetitious patterns of viewing things. So, when we are always looking for the negative, we see the negative.We can retrain our brain to scan for good things, even when faced with the challenges of MS. Instead of creating a pattern that looks for negatives and blocks our well-being, flip the switch. Scan the world for opportunities and ideas that allow well-being to grow. When our brains scan for and focus on the positive, we benefit from 3 valuable tools:
    • Happiness — The more we focus on things that make us happy, the better we feel.
    • Gratitude — The more opportunities for positivity we see, the more grateful we become.
    • Optimism — The more our brain notices the positive, the more we expect it will continue.
    Watch “The Tetris Effect.”

    Apply the Tetris Effect

    Start increasing your positivity today. Take a minute to answer the following:A negative thought pattern I want to work on and change is:

    Gratitude

    Practicing gratitude can help you retrain your brain to focus on the positive. Write down 3 things you are grateful for in your life. These can be anything you appreciate and want to focus on, such as a family member or friend, a nice park, or having a warm, safe home. Come back to this list often, read it again and add to it.Now, think of 3 positive things that happened over the past 24 hours, and write them down. Make a commitment to do this writing practice every day for a week, and then see if you just start to naturally focus on more positives. You might be surprised to feel more hopeful and upbeat. There are always at least several positive things occurring every day, which you can choose to focus on and remember — someone holding the door for us and smiling, talking with a kind friend, listening to beautiful music or seeing a cute animal.

  • “Falling Up.”

    The ABCD Process

    Part of being resilient is changing how you perceive adversity.Changing your perception relies on developing insight — your ability to recognize your beliefs about the cause(s) of adversity and to understand how that may affect your emotions and behavior. Once you have this insight, you can see things as they are. You can put adversity in perspective without being influenced by fear or other emotions. Then you can avoid catastrophic thinking and other unhelpful mindsets. For instance, watch out for tunnel vision (focusing on just 1 aspect, rather than the whole picture, of a situation) and personalizing (attributing an adverse event to your own personality or actions).Psychologists outline the process for changing your perception of adversity as ABCD:
    • Adversity — Events in our lives that we cannot change
    • Belief — Our interpretation of the event, including why we think it happened, and whether we think it’s temporary or permanent
    • Consequence — How we act and feel as a result of the event or our belief
    • Disputation — Acknowledging our belief as a belief and not a fact, and then challenging it by looking for other possible explanations
    Developing a “counterfactual” — a new way of framing the event — can help us feel fortunate rather than helpless. To develop your “counterfactual,” it may be helpful to pretend you’re arguing with a friend about it.Here’s an example of the ABCD process that may help you rethink your own adverse event.

    Stories of Resilience

    “In my early 20s my family experienced a tragedy that was devastating. It caused me to reevaluate who I was. Relationships that I thought I understood, I didn't anymore. That was an experience that I think helped me become more resilient. It also was an experience that brought my mom, sisters and I closer together. That support network has been a huge help during and after my diagnosis with MS.”
    — Chuck Curry, diagnosed in 2003    “There's nothing like very nearly dying to really make you appreciate being alive. And today I literally wake up each morning and I am so happy to be alive. I think of all of the wonderful things that I can do that make-make life worth living.”
    — Michael Ogg, diagnosed in 1997

    Authentic Happiness

    The theory of authentic happiness includes 3 different elements that we choose for their own sakes:
    • Positive emotion: what we feel including pleasure, rapture, ecstasy, warmth, comfort, etc.
    • Engagement: flow, being one with the whatever is going on at that moment, time stopping, and the loss of self-consciousness during an absorbing activity
    • Meaning: belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self
    What contributes to your authentic happiness? Take the authentic happiness assessment.

    Additional Resources

    Resilience: Addressing the Challenges of MSResiliency QuizVIA classification of character strengths" c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    The human spirit is more resilient than we realize. Challenges and setbacks are opportunities for growth. It all comes down to what we make of the situation.Traumatic experiences can lead to positive growth. Do not define yourself by your MS. Define yourself by what you can make out of the changes it has brought to your life. Positive growth can take many forms including:
    • An increase in spirituality
    • An increase in compassion for others
    • Openness
    Watch “Falling Up.”

    The ABCD Process

    Part of being resilient is changing how you perceive adversity.Changing your perception relies on developing insight — your ability to recognize your beliefs about the cause(s) of adversity and to understand how that may affect your emotions and behavior. Once you have this insight, you can see things as they are. You can put adversity in perspective without being influenced by fear or other emotions. Then you can avoid catastrophic thinking and other unhelpful mindsets. For instance, watch out for tunnel vision (focusing on just 1 aspect, rather than the whole picture, of a situation) and personalizing (attributing an adverse event to your own personality or actions).Psychologists outline the process for changing your perception of adversity as ABCD:
    • Adversity — Events in our lives that we cannot change
    • Belief — Our interpretation of the event, including why we think it happened, and whether we think it’s temporary or permanent
    • Consequence — How we act and feel as a result of the event or our belief
    • Disputation — Acknowledging our belief as a belief and not a fact, and then challenging it by looking for other possible explanations
    Developing a “counterfactual” — a new way of framing the event — can help us feel fortunate rather than helpless. To develop your “counterfactual,” it may be helpful to pretend you’re arguing with a friend about it.Here’s an example of the ABCD process that may help you rethink your own adverse event.

    Stories of Resilience

    “In my early 20s my family experienced a tragedy that was devastating. It caused me to reevaluate who I was. Relationships that I thought I understood, I didn't anymore. That was an experience that I think helped me become more resilient. It also was an experience that brought my mom, sisters and I closer together. That support network has been a huge help during and after my diagnosis with MS.”
    — Chuck Curry, diagnosed in 2003    “There's nothing like very nearly dying to really make you appreciate being alive. And today I literally wake up each morning and I am so happy to be alive. I think of all of the wonderful things that I can do that make-make life worth living.”
    — Michael Ogg, diagnosed in 1997

    Authentic Happiness

    The theory of authentic happiness includes 3 different elements that we choose for their own sakes:
    • Positive emotion: what we feel including pleasure, rapture, ecstasy, warmth, comfort, etc.
    • Engagement: flow, being one with the whatever is going on at that moment, time stopping, and the loss of self-consciousness during an absorbing activity
    • Meaning: belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self
    What contributes to your authentic happiness? Take the authentic happiness assessment.

    Additional Resources

    Resilience: Addressing the Challenges of MSResiliency QuizVIA classification of character strengths

  • The Zorro Circle.”

    How To Start Small To Reach Big Goals

    See 2 examples of how you might break a large accomplishment into smaller steps to reach your goal.Goal: I want to clean and update my living room.
    • Begin with the bookshelf, sorting and clearing 1 shelf each day.
    • Clear and clean the cabinet, sorting and clearing 1 drawer each day.
    • Choose which furniture you no longer want, and call Goodwill for donation pick up.
    • Pick out accessible, comfortable furniture that fits your budget and have it delivered.
    Goal: I want to be happier and have more fun.
    • Write down fun activities you’ve done or would like to try, adapting them to your current needs.
    • Talk the list through with a friend or carepartner.
    • Select 15-minute daily activities you can do alone or with a friend or loved one. Make a plan and schedule the activities.
    • Pick 1 or 2 larger activities or outings and make a plan to do them weekly or monthly.

    Apply the Zorro Circle

    Use this worksheet to apply the Zorro Circle concept and increase success." c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    Zorro is a fictional character, known for fighting villains and making a signature “Z” with his sword. Zorro develops his skills by drawing a circle in the sand around himself and practices sword fighting only within that circle until he is proficient. In the same way, we can make small “circles” to accomplish goals by breaking them into small steps. Small successes can add up to major achievements.Sometimes we set big goals that are hard to meet, like “I will lose 5 pounds in 1 month” or “I will read all of the great novels this year.” The vastness of these goals can then feel daunting. Breaking big goals down into smaller, realistic steps, makes them accessible.Watch “The Zorro Circle.”

    How To Start Small To Reach Big Goals

    See 2 examples of how you might break a large accomplishment into smaller steps to reach your goal.Goal: I want to clean and update my living room.
    • Begin with the bookshelf, sorting and clearing 1 shelf each day.
    • Clear and clean the cabinet, sorting and clearing 1 drawer each day.
    • Choose which furniture you no longer want, and call Goodwill for donation pick up.
    • Pick out accessible, comfortable furniture that fits your budget and have it delivered.
    Goal: I want to be happier and have more fun.
    • Write down fun activities you’ve done or would like to try, adapting them to your current needs.
    • Talk the list through with a friend or carepartner.
    • Select 15-minute daily activities you can do alone or with a friend or loved one. Make a plan and schedule the activities.
    • Pick 1 or 2 larger activities or outings and make a plan to do them weekly or monthly.

    Apply the Zorro Circle

    Use this worksheet to apply the Zorro Circle concept and increase success.

  • The 20-Second Rule.”

    Building the Path of Least Resistance

    Think of something you’ve wanted to do and identify the barriers that keep you from it. Now choose 1 of those barriers and reduce or eliminate it. With less activation energy required, you can really get started. Pick something you want to start doing and apply the 20-second rule for a week.Goal: exercise in the morning
    • Barrier: preparation — Lay out your exercise clothing next to your bed in the evening so you will see them first thing in the morning, or better yet, wear the clothes to bed!
    • Barrier: distraction — If you tend to look at a tablet or phone before getting out of bed, do not bring the device into the bedroom. Instead, use an alarm clock to wake up.
    • Barrier: nutrition — If you need coffee or food to get moving, set the coffee maker to brew right before you wake up, and set out your breakfast the night before.

    Supporting Healthy Habits

    In addition, the path of least resistance can be applied to habits you WANT to continue! Make it easy to do the things you love. For example,
    • Make adjustments to your kitchen’s accessibility so you can continue to express yourself through baking or cooking.
    • Prep for dinner in the morning when you have more energy so you can continue enjoying healthy meals throughout the day.
    • If you liked being part of a book club but find it difficult to read, rent or purchase audio books instead of hard copies.
    Read about how Robert was able to continue his passion for gardening after his diagnosis." c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    Lowering the barrier to making a change — also called the “activation energy,” meaning the energy it takes to get motivated or started — by just 20 seconds can help you begin a new healthy habit. The more we reduce, or even eliminate, the energy required to activate our desires, the more easily we can start positive change.Limiting the choices we have to make also helps lower the barrier to positive change.The less energy it takes to kick-start a positive habit, the more likely the habit will stick.Forming a habit doesn’t happen overnight. It takes persistence, so be patient.Watch “The 20-Second Rule.”

    Building the Path of Least Resistance

    Think of something you’ve wanted to do and identify the barriers that keep you from it. Now choose 1 of those barriers and reduce or eliminate it. With less activation energy required, you can really get started. Pick something you want to start doing and apply the 20-second rule for a week.Goal: exercise in the morning
    • Barrier: preparation — Lay out your exercise clothing next to your bed in the evening so you will see them first thing in the morning, or better yet, wear the clothes to bed!
    • Barrier: distraction — If you tend to look at a tablet or phone before getting out of bed, do not bring the device into the bedroom. Instead, use an alarm clock to wake up.
    • Barrier: nutrition — If you need coffee or food to get moving, set the coffee maker to brew right before you wake up, and set out your breakfast the night before.

    Supporting Healthy Habits

    In addition, the path of least resistance can be applied to habits you WANT to continue! Make it easy to do the things you love. For example,
    • Make adjustments to your kitchen’s accessibility so you can continue to express yourself through baking or cooking.
    • Prep for dinner in the morning when you have more energy so you can continue enjoying healthy meals throughout the day.
    • If you liked being part of a book club but find it difficult to read, rent or purchase audio books instead of hard copies.
    Read about how Robert was able to continue his passion for gardening after his diagnosis.

  • Social Investment.”

    Social Relationships Are an Investment

    MS can be isolating, but you don’t have to let it be. Research shows connections are essential for coping, friendship, support and more. Instead of turning inward or allowing themselves to become isolated, the most successful people hold on tighter to their social support — or even reach out. So, at the time when you need support the most, don’t let go of social support. It’s your most valuable resource and investment.Social connections are not always family members or what we traditionally see as friendships. You can make important connections with people who share your interests or favorite activities — such as people you see at your exercise class, members of an online community you frequent, co-workers, etc.

    Talking About MS With Others

    Important relationships take effort and energy — even without the challenges of MS. While MS does pose some additional adversities, it can also enrich relationships and bring people closer together.
    • First, recognize that the disease affects not just you, but everyone who cares about you.
    • Next, decide with whom you want to talk about MS and what you want them to understand about it.
    • Last, look for ways to make room for MS in your personal and professional relationships without giving it more time, attention and energy than it really needs.

    Power of Human Connections

    “Human beings are incredibly oriented towards other people. We are very social beings. There's a tremendous meaning in being with other people and sharing things with other people. It just feels right to be connected with other people and share our experiences with other people. Other people can also be comforting. There's a tremendous amount we get from other people. But even in the absence of those sort of higher-level things, just being with someone else means something to us.”
    — George Bonanno, PhD, Teachers College, Columbia University

    Connect Now

    There are many ways to engage in your community and connect with others in the MS movement. Use the Personal Call to Action Worksheet (PDF) to come up with ideas about engaging in your community. Opportunities near you: Meet other people near you affected by MS! Search support groups and programs in your area. Volunteer with the National MS Society." c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    “In a study appropriately titled ‘Very Happy People,’ researchers sought out the characteristics of the happiest 10% among us. Do they all live in warm climates? Are they all wealthy? Are they all physically fit? Turns out, there was 1 — and only 1 — characteristic that distinguished the happiest 10% from everybody else: the strength of their social relationships.”
    — Shawn Anchor, “The Happiness Advantage”    Watch “Social Investment.”

    Social Relationships Are an Investment

    MS can be isolating, but you don’t have to let it be. Research shows connections are essential for coping, friendship, support and more. Instead of turning inward or allowing themselves to become isolated, the most successful people hold on tighter to their social support — or even reach out. So, at the time when you need support the most, don’t let go of social support. It’s your most valuable resource and investment.Social connections are not always family members or what we traditionally see as friendships. You can make important connections with people who share your interests or favorite activities — such as people you see at your exercise class, members of an online community you frequent, co-workers, etc.

    Talking About MS With Others

    Important relationships take effort and energy — even without the challenges of MS. While MS does pose some additional adversities, it can also enrich relationships and bring people closer together.
    • First, recognize that the disease affects not just you, but everyone who cares about you.
    • Next, decide with whom you want to talk about MS and what you want them to understand about it.
    • Last, look for ways to make room for MS in your personal and professional relationships without giving it more time, attention and energy than it really needs.

    Power of Human Connections

    “Human beings are incredibly oriented towards other people. We are very social beings. There's a tremendous meaning in being with other people and sharing things with other people. It just feels right to be connected with other people and share our experiences with other people. Other people can also be comforting. There's a tremendous amount we get from other people. But even in the absence of those sort of higher-level things, just being with someone else means something to us.”
    — George Bonanno, PhD, Teachers College, Columbia University

    Connect Now

    There are many ways to engage in your community and connect with others in the MS movement. Use the Personal Call to Action Worksheet (PDF) to come up with ideas about engaging in your community. Opportunities near you: Meet other people near you affected by MS! Search support groups and programs in your area. Volunteer with the National MS Society.

  • Everyday Matters: The Grand Finale.”

    Spread Positivity

    Start your own ripple effect. Reach out. Write a 2-minute positive email or note, or leave a voicemail, praising or thanking a family member or someone in your social circle.

    Stay Connected

    Support groups: Meet other people near you affected by MS. Search for support groups and programs in your area. Volunteer with the National MS Society.Join the National MS Society Community Facebook Group.Connect on social media: Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter).

    Additional Resources

    • Authentic Happiness Online Self-Assessments suggested questionnaires:
      • Brief Strengths Test — Measures 24 character strengths
      • Authentic Happiness Inventory — Measures overall happiness
      • Compassionate Love Scale — Measures your tendency to support, help and understand other people
      • Approaches to Happiness — Measures 3 paths to happiness
      • General Happiness — Assesses enduring happiness
    • The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
    • Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin Seligman, PhD (2004).
    • Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change by Shawn Achor (2013).
    • The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (2010).
    " c-nmssatomrichtext_nmssatomrichtext-host="">
    Once you start using the principles of positive psychology, the positive changes quickly stack up. Being happier in your own life can be an effective tool for spreading positivity — even helping each person around us be positive too. This ripple effect can have benefits for friends and family members who are also living with the challenges MS can bring.Positive emotions are infectious. Make them a powerful tool in your interpersonal relations. The happier everyone is around you, the happier you will become — and vice versa.Watch “Everyday Matters: The Grand Finale.”

    Spread Positivity

    Start your own ripple effect. Reach out. Write a 2-minute positive email or note, or leave a voicemail, praising or thanking a family member or someone in your social circle.

    Stay Connected

    Support groups: Meet other people near you affected by MS. Search for support groups and programs in your area. Volunteer with the National MS Society.Join the National MS Society Community Facebook Group.Connect on social media: Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter).

    Additional Resources

    • Authentic Happiness Online Self-Assessments suggested questionnaires:
      • Brief Strengths Test — Measures 24 character strengths
      • Authentic Happiness Inventory — Measures overall happiness
      • Compassionate Love Scale — Measures your tendency to support, help and understand other people
      • Approaches to Happiness — Measures 3 paths to happiness
      • General Happiness — Assesses enduring happiness
    • The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
    • Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin Seligman, PhD (2004).
    • Before Happiness: The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change by Shawn Achor (2013).
    • The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (2010).

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The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is proud to be a source of information on multiple sclerosis related topics. Unless otherwise indicated, the information provided is based on professional advice, published experience and expert opinion. However, the information does not constitute medical or legal advice. For specific medical advice, consult a qualified physician. For specific legal advice, consult a qualified attorney.