How can I be happy when my home is losing its value, my 401k is going down, and the price of everything else is going up?
That's a question I hear a lot lately. It seems that as the economy becomes more depressed, so do we. Now, more than ever, we need to learn to be happy from the inside out!

Doing the research for my book, Happy for No Reason, I interviewed scores of scientists, as well as one hundred unconditionally happy people, and discovered that it’s possible to experience a state of inner peace and well-being that’s isn’t dependent on external circumstances. I call this state being Happy for No Reason.

When you’re Happy for No Reason, you don’t need to manipulate the world around you to make yourself happy, you bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than trying to extract happiness from them.

So how do you do it? How can you build your inner happiness bank account amidst tough economic times?

The first step is to realize that your net worth is not just about money! What makes your life rich can be boiled down to four things:

• your relationships with your family and friends
• your connection to your source of spiritual support
• your body’s capacity to experience happiness on a cellular level
• your ability to tap into to your own unlimited creativity within

And the good news is that all of these can be nurtured and strengthened, no matter what else is going on in your life.

Here are four simple techniques—all backed by scientific findings in the field of positive psychology— to increase your inner wealth:

1.Reach Out and Touch Someone. Schedule time every day to call or visit someone you love or care about. It doesn’t have to be a long call or an elaborate outing. Remember to focus on expressing your love or care for them, rather than looking for them to fill you up.Taking the time to connect with someone from the level of your heart has been shown to make the actual rhythms of your heartbeat coherent, which is correlated with increased calmness, strengthened immune system functioning, normalized blood pressure, and improved general well-being. For some people, a much-loved pet can be a great heart connection. What’s important is focusing on the bond you feel radiating from within you that links you to the special beings in your life.

2.Anchor Yourself to Silence. Take a moment to step off the hamster wheel of your everyday activity and just “be” for a change. Trying closing your eyes, taking three long breaths in and out through your nose, and then sitting quietly for a minute or two, just allowing your thoughts to come and go easily, without attaching any importance to them. Or if you prefer, look out a window toward the horizon, and let your eyes rest on clouds, or trees or just the empty sky, as you allow your mind to become still.These are just two examples of the many paths of silence that also include prayer, meditation, and being in Nature, which have long been recognized as ways to access a deep place of peace and strength inside. Doing any of these on a regular basis supplies a spiritual dimension to life that anchors you when the winds of change (and economic turmoil) are howling all around you.

3.Become a “Joy Juice Barista.” Your brain contains a veritable pharmacopeia of natural happiness-enhancing neurochemicals—endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine—just waiting to be released to every organ and cell in your body. The way that you eat, move, rest, and even your facial expression can shift the balance of your body’s feel-good-chemicals, or “Joy Juice,” in your favor and help to banish the blues. If you’re under a lot of stress, of course be sure to give your body the rest, nutrition and exercise it needs.But here’s another tip for dispensing an extra hit of Joy Juice whenever you need it during the day: smile. Scientists have discovered that when you frown, it triggers the release of stress hormones, which increase blood pressure, weaken immunity, and increase depression and anxiety. Smiling decreases these substances and boosts happiness chemicals, which increase the body’s T-cells, reduce pain, and enhance relaxation. You may not feel like it, but smiling—even artificially to begin with—starts the ball rolling and will turn into a real smile in short order. Try it and see!

4.Don’t Just Stand There, Express Yourself. Studies show that when you engage your creativity, your level of inner happiness automatically increases. This is because when you’re being creative, the parts of the brain associated with fear, anxiety, and worry are less active. And, as an added bonus, you’ll usually experience an upsurge of energy and enthusiasm.
Don’t get hung up on whether you’re talented or not—you don’t have to be an artist, writer, musician, and so on, to reap the rewards of creativity. Planning a meal or a fun way to spend a day off is a creative endeavor. Learning new skills stimulates our creative powers as well. So, starting today, instead of stewing about the state of the economy, think of a creative project you can begin or a workshop you can take. (Check out courses at your local community college or surf the net for on-line tutorials.)

In times of uncertainty, when the events in your life seem beyond your control, the key to staying afloat—and even thriving—is to find that place of unshakeable peace and well-being inside. Join the ranks of the resilient by becoming Happy for No Reason. It’s the best Rx for the recession there is.

By Marci Shimoff. Based on the New York Times bestseller Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, which offers a revolutionary approach to experiencing deep and lasting happiness. The woman’s face of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a featured teacher in The Secret, Marci is an authority on success, happiness, and the law of attraction. To order Happy for No Reason, newly released in paperback, and receive free bonus gifts, go to www.happyfornoreason.com/mybook