Happy and healthy living is living happily everyday. When the day’s work is done forget the whole thing and be done with it. Do not worry about any mistakes you might have committed. It is done and can never be undone; hence there is no point in crying over it. You may learn a lesson or two from your mistakes, but try not to repeat the same.

A man who learns to live everyday will live happily as long as he lives. Bernard Shaw was right in saying " Do not try to live for ever, you will not succeed ". Many suffer even bodily discomfort because of worrying about the unborn tomorrows. The dead yesterday is gone for ever and the tomorrow is yet to be born. The only reality is today; if you live well today, you will have lived happily everyday. What are the secrets of living happily everyday? At the end of each day be done with it. Follow the golden rules given below to help you cope with daily living.

Positive Thinking:-
Start the day with meditation to instill only positive thoughts into your system. Deep slow breathing, using the diaphragm, called " belly button breathing ", will soothe your nerves. Sitting quietly or lying in bed with loose clothes and empty stomach, one can learn to breathe slowly, counting four while holding the breath in and counting eight while holding the breath exhaled, will give you a rate which is very comfortable. Doing this for five minutes will make you tranquil and at that time you may repeat to yourself that the day is going to be a happy one and you will be able to contribute positively this day. This may go on for another five minutes. Optimism is the best bet to happiness.

Exercise for Happiness:-
Regular exercise will also assist the mind to rest well. Half an hour a day or even thrice a week of outdoor exercise, preferably walking at one’s own pace, enjoying Nature on the way, is the best exercise. Walking up and down gradients is still better. Jogging and running are bad. Bouts of strenuous exercise are also bad for the heart. Worrying about missing a session of exercise is not good, as the latter will build enough tension in the mind to destroy your happiness.Swimming is good if one is used to it.

Food for Thought:-
Nourishing food is another factor of good health. Small frequent meals are good. Do not skip a meal. Avoid heavy fat laden food. Avoid fried food. Meat is not good but is not taboo. Fresh vegetables and fruits should form the bulk of your diet. Fat intake should be kept below 30% of the total intake. All oils are good in moderation but not in fried state. Animal fat is very bad. Butter is better than refined oils or margarine. One teaspoon of butter contains only 15 mg of cholesterol. Coconut oil is not bad, and has no cholesterol. Avoid refined oils and use fresh oil only. Nuts are good in small quantities as they contain lot of magnesium, good for the heart. Drinking lot of water ( 8-10 tumblers a day ) is good. Coffee, tea and other beverages are not good, but are not poison in small quantities.Soft drinks are very bad as they have lot of calories and also plenty of caffeine. One must have at least four small meals a day at regular intervals.

Rest:-
Sleep is the best tonic to rejuvinate the system for work again. As age advances the need for sleep decreases. Six to eight hours should be enough for most of us, but many of us can manage with four hours also. Worrying about not sleeping is worse than not sleeping at all. In the hot climate a small ( half an hopur ) nap in the afternoon is good for health. Early to bed and early to rise is a good age old adage. History is replete with examples of people who have worked very hard with short breaks in between, without the need for long bouts of sleep. Both Napolean and Churchill were said to take short naps in between heavy work.

Comraderie:-
Good friends can be a great asset in daily living. True friendship should be an end in itslef and not a means to an end; it needs lot of giving and very little taking. Compassion is the best bet for a happy and healthy life. Well knit family and good friends are an insurance against disease. Studies have shown that unmarried people have higher resting heart rates and higher average blood pressures and are also said to have higher incidence of anginal chest pains.

Mental Outlook:-
Patience in what we do gives us happiness. Hurry leads to worry, and destroys the mental peace. Most problems in life get solved if one has enough patience. To have patience one must have faith. Even the western thinking now seems to be going in this diredction. People who are believers have less physical and mental diseases compared to non believers. God has been the best doctor in saving millions of peoples lives. Severe depression is the most important cause of suicidal death and faith is protective against severe depression. Total surrender to God saves you from the feeling of depression and be the best psychotherapy even in the modern world. The age old ideas of Freudian psychology have developed cracks in them and do not serve the purpose anymore. Faith is the best preventive against unhappiness and consequent physical disabilities.

Laughter:-
Laughter is the best tonic for good health and happinss. It is only human beings that have been bestowed with the capacity to laugh. As Milton said " If I laugh, ’tis because I do not weep". Good hearty laughter stimulates the secretion of useful endorphins which elevate the mood and boost the morale to keep you happy. There are humour clubs in some of the western hospitals for the benefit of patients. Norman Cousins, a famous American journalist, was admitted to Harvard Medical School Hospital, with an incurable disease.All his doctor friends there had predicted a very dismal outlook for him. Having accidentally discovered that a bout of laughter brought some relief to him, his friends got all the humour movies to his hospital room. He quickly made complete recovery and wrote a book " Anatomy of an Illness." He was later invited to be the Professor of human behaviour at the University of California medical College. Laughter, in addition, also relaxes muscles. Many of us suffer aches and pains all over , mainly because of the muscles of the body getting tensed up while we go through difficult periods in our daily life. If we have a means of relaxing those muscles we will get rid of our aches and pains very easily.

Forgiveness:
Ayurveda, the great Indian system medicine, has this good advice for all of us. " Have the capacity to forgive others, and you will be healthy". Nothing could be as important as this aspect of our life. Disease and disability, to a great extent, are due to our incapacity to forgive our enemies. The minute you decide to forgive someone you get the relief immediately. New classification of human beings is being done byu experts and there is a class called the "D type" or the distressed type where the basic underlying trait is hotility. The old classification into A,B, and C have been given up. The best preventive measure to avoid hostility is to cultivate the art of forgiving.

Contentment:-
Finally, at the end of the day, it is the contmentment that gives you happiness. If one looks up in life there is no happiness at all. There is always something better than what one has, but if one looks down there are millions of people who are worse than us. The common saying goes " I had a pain in my leg until I saw a man without legs at all". Ishopanishad has the best advice-"Enjoy what you have and never be greedy." How true and how nice. If all of us try to live everyday happily this world will be a happier place for all. Even if ten percent of people in an area become tranquil, it is estimated that crime rate in that area goes down by more than fifty per cent.