Gretchen makes the point that part your happiness includes your identity or how you see yourself. There are a lot of pieces that make this up like your job, your titles, your relationships, your skills, your accomplishments, your knowledge. If you have many elements that make up your identity it is easier when you lose a piece of it like your job. Although from my perspective as a child of God, this title will never go away. Perhaps at times I will feel unworthy to claim such an identity, however, it always remains and means much more than any other identity I will ever have. If everything else goes away, that will always be there and it will be enough to get me through anything.
She reminds us that success seeking comes with a lot of failure, so we need to be able to embrace failure if we are ever going to be able to continue to seek success. As she was working to get her blog up and going and her career as a writer going she hit a few bumps. She had to keep telling herself, "It is fun to fail." Risking failure allows you to score success. She also liked to tell herself when things got hard, "This is the fun part." If you can see hard times as a challenge that you believe you are up for then it changes your perspective and you can remain happy through your trials.
We need to learn to enjoy now. She talked about three fallacies that keep us from enjoying now. They are...
Arrival Fallacy-The belief that once you meet your goal you will be happy
Floating World Fallacy-The belief that pleasure without purpose brings happiness
Nihilism Fallacy-The belief that it is not possible to be happier than you already are
If you want to read more on these fallacies, you can probably check online or read the book "Happier" by Tal Ben-Shahar
She then quotes Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "The end of the melody is not the goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached it's end it would not have reached it's goal either. A parable."
Studies show that remembering happy times helps boost your happiness in the present. I suppose that is a no brainer but another study showed that happy people remember happier times and depressed people remember sad times because it fits their present mood. Just as there are stages of grieving, there are also stages of happiness. She says these are when we anticipate it, savor it, express it and recall it. You can follow these steps to eke out the most happiness of an experience.
Gretchen wanted to have more happy moments with her children because she discovered that parents are only as happy as their unhappiest child. She set a goal in the month to increase her happiness with her children. She had to work to discover what made her happy and she stressed that you shouldn't try to change what makes you happy or deny what makes you happy because it isn't cool, is too childish or doesn't seem legitimate. Finding people who share your interests boots life satisfaction 2%.
I am only about half way through this book so I imagine that this book will get two more posts out of me. Then the only thing I have to do is try to discover what makes me happy and get to work on it. :)
Monday, June 23, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
The Happiness Project (part one)
So my latest book is called, The Happiness Project. Thanks Brooke for the loan! :) It is written by a lawyer turned author, Gretchen Rubin who shares her year long experience of having greater happiness in her life. At first she did a lot of research to see what all the experts were saying about happiness and then she spent more time trying to incorporate all of this happiness into her life. I am just about 1/4 of the way through, but as in the past I would rather my posts don't get as wordy as the books I am reading so I am going to deliver this in parts.
Her first goal is to get her energy up. She decided this will be the best way to get her project off to the right start. So she starts by being sure she gets sleep and exercise. I was surprised she didn't say anything about food because I have heard that 80% of your training is what you put in your mouth. Oh well. Here is what she did say about sleep. The average person sleeps 6.9 hours on weeknights and 7.9 hours on weekends. That is 20% less than in 1900. Sleep deprivation impairs memory, weakens the immune system, slows the metabolism and may foster weight gain.
The things that helped her out most were, getting ready for bed early, not using alert thinking too late at night, keeping lights low before bed and then really dark when she slept, not using caffeine, breathing deeply and keeping her room a little on the chilly side. Then she stresses that you have to do what works best for you.
For her exercise she took the advice of a friend and got with a personal trainer and did weight training for 20 minutes a day. The benefits of exercise are, people are healthier, they think more clearly, sleep better, they have more energy and they have a delayed onset of dementia. She also was a fan of walking. She said that it triggers the bodies relaxation response and clears the mind.
Her next goal was to improve her marriage. She worked on not nagging, or snapping at her husband and not expecting praise from him. She focused on the things he did that she appreciated and let things that bothered her go. She also had to resist the urge to be pessimistic and shoot down her husbands hope by sharing too many discouraging facts. She talked about loneliness and she said that the greatest predictor of people not being lonely for both men and women is how much time they spend with women. Apparently when men have guy time, it doesn't decrease their level of loneliness as much as when they are with women. I thought that was interesting. She also said that studies show that expressing anger doesn't relieve it, it only amplifies it.
She said that when one spouse is 30% happier they can increase their spouses happiness. When a spouse is unhappy they will also drag their spouse down with them. She decided to give proofs of love to her husband instead of just telling him she loved him. She gave him one week "extreme nice" where she just focused on his happiness and she didn't tell him she was doing it. He just new that she was trying to improve their marriage in the month of February. In the end she said that if you want to be happy you need to fight the urge to determine what your spouse can do to make you happier and focus on changing yourself.
During her whole writing process she wanted to have a simple formula to create happiness in her own life. Her formula boiled down to eliminating bad and increasing the good while growing as a person. She said that we have to feel right with ourselves and where we are as a person. She said we need to do what we know we need to do and be meeting the expectations we have set for ourselves. Do we have a sense of purpose? She said based on a lot of what she read, she agreed that, "It is not goal attainment but the process of striving after goals - that is growth - that brings happiness."
She quoted William Butler Yeats who said, "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."
The things that helped her out most were, getting ready for bed early, not using alert thinking too late at night, keeping lights low before bed and then really dark when she slept, not using caffeine, breathing deeply and keeping her room a little on the chilly side. Then she stresses that you have to do what works best for you.
For her exercise she took the advice of a friend and got with a personal trainer and did weight training for 20 minutes a day. The benefits of exercise are, people are healthier, they think more clearly, sleep better, they have more energy and they have a delayed onset of dementia. She also was a fan of walking. She said that it triggers the bodies relaxation response and clears the mind.
Her next goal was to improve her marriage. She worked on not nagging, or snapping at her husband and not expecting praise from him. She focused on the things he did that she appreciated and let things that bothered her go. She also had to resist the urge to be pessimistic and shoot down her husbands hope by sharing too many discouraging facts. She talked about loneliness and she said that the greatest predictor of people not being lonely for both men and women is how much time they spend with women. Apparently when men have guy time, it doesn't decrease their level of loneliness as much as when they are with women. I thought that was interesting. She also said that studies show that expressing anger doesn't relieve it, it only amplifies it.
She said that when one spouse is 30% happier they can increase their spouses happiness. When a spouse is unhappy they will also drag their spouse down with them. She decided to give proofs of love to her husband instead of just telling him she loved him. She gave him one week "extreme nice" where she just focused on his happiness and she didn't tell him she was doing it. He just new that she was trying to improve their marriage in the month of February. In the end she said that if you want to be happy you need to fight the urge to determine what your spouse can do to make you happier and focus on changing yourself.
During her whole writing process she wanted to have a simple formula to create happiness in her own life. Her formula boiled down to eliminating bad and increasing the good while growing as a person. She said that we have to feel right with ourselves and where we are as a person. She said we need to do what we know we need to do and be meeting the expectations we have set for ourselves. Do we have a sense of purpose? She said based on a lot of what she read, she agreed that, "It is not goal attainment but the process of striving after goals - that is growth - that brings happiness."
She quoted William Butler Yeats who said, "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing."
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Happiness Quiz
I would say that I am a relatively happy person and that seem to be able to cope well in my life when things don't go as I'd like but I wanted to see if I really was as happy as I think I am so I decided to take a few online tests and see what they can tell me. I started with Oprah's "ARE YOU HAPPY" Quiz. My results...
I even tried to take the quiz again and answer like I was the happiest person in the world and I got the same results so I don't know if I could get a higher score on this test. If you take it and get a higher score than me, then I need to shake your hand.
Next I took the Psychology Today test which I don't recommend. After answering the 47 questions they just give you a teaser and expect you to pay $4.95 for a full report. This is what they told me...
If I was truly naïve I might fork out $4.95 for your full report. Apparently I am too cynical to trust you, but then again you should know that already if you knew your stuff. Besides, I didn't ask how cynical I was, I asked how happy I am. Sheesh! The more I think about this the more frustrated it makes me. They are telling me that I am not cynical enough? They want me to go around doubting everyone and everything? No thanks that is not the kind of world I want to live in. I prefer to listen to Haim G. Ginott (I hope I have the right guy because the quote below has been attributed to a few different people) who said,
“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”
This is the kind of world that I want to live in. If it so happens that I live in the way described above, and I get taken advantage of or walked all over or mistreated than so be it. I will leave it to God to right where I have been wronged and fight my battles. Living in a world of constant cynicism seems to be to be a far greater prison than the alternative.
I was going to take a few more online quizzes just to prove to myself that I am happy, but I think I know myself well enough. I am far from happy at all times but I do my best to be a good person, to be optimistic and to serve others. I have an amazing family and many supportive friends and I think that that is good enough. It doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement but I have little to berate myself with.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Happiness Questions
So as I am going along here more and more I start to have questions that I can't seem to find answers to. Hopefully I will find these answers eventually but if anyone has any wisdom to share I am all ears. Here are my questions.
1. I have heard that anxiety can exacerbated by thinking errors. This has made me wonder how much of Cognitive Distortion leads to unhappiness? How much happiness do we really control in our minds? How much of our own happiness can be destroyed with our own thoughts? Are these learned behaviors? Are they a product of our mood or mindset?
2. Along with the questions above, how much of our happiness hinges on our ability to see and believe in limitless possibilities? Obviously our belief in possibilities leads us to act and if we believe in nothing we are hopeless and we are in a position to do nothing about it. My coworkers were talking today about all the school shootings going on now and they were saying people who get in those situations see it as their only option. It has made me think of myself and how narrow minded I can be when I consider the things that will make me happy in life. Are there many other possibilities that I have ruled out unnecessarily just because my brain isn't creative enough to think of other options? Are there new experiences that I could be enjoying right now that I have somehow ruled out in my mind and I am standing in my own way?
3. How much of diet affects your levels of happiness. Obviously your body has nutritional needs and when they aren't being met we can all get irritable but does this also connect with our overall happiness and if so how?
4. My last question seems to be a simple enough one but I have yet to see or find any studies that prove my thoughts either way. The question is, when we serve other people does it matter if our service is noticed, recognized, appreciated, or rejected? Obviously the Savior healed all 10 lepers even though only one of them showed gratitude so I am not suggesting that we should only serve people when we receive praise, recognition, acknowledgement or gratitude, but how does all of that affect our happiness and does it have to? Can I be just as happy doing service for a person who slams the door in my face as I am serving someone who is incredibly grateful?
Like I said these are my questions and if you have any thoughts or can site any studies I would be happy to hear what you have. In the mean time I will keep searching. Thanks friends!
1. I have heard that anxiety can exacerbated by thinking errors. This has made me wonder how much of Cognitive Distortion leads to unhappiness? How much happiness do we really control in our minds? How much of our own happiness can be destroyed with our own thoughts? Are these learned behaviors? Are they a product of our mood or mindset?
2. Along with the questions above, how much of our happiness hinges on our ability to see and believe in limitless possibilities? Obviously our belief in possibilities leads us to act and if we believe in nothing we are hopeless and we are in a position to do nothing about it. My coworkers were talking today about all the school shootings going on now and they were saying people who get in those situations see it as their only option. It has made me think of myself and how narrow minded I can be when I consider the things that will make me happy in life. Are there many other possibilities that I have ruled out unnecessarily just because my brain isn't creative enough to think of other options? Are there new experiences that I could be enjoying right now that I have somehow ruled out in my mind and I am standing in my own way?
3. How much of diet affects your levels of happiness. Obviously your body has nutritional needs and when they aren't being met we can all get irritable but does this also connect with our overall happiness and if so how?
4. My last question seems to be a simple enough one but I have yet to see or find any studies that prove my thoughts either way. The question is, when we serve other people does it matter if our service is noticed, recognized, appreciated, or rejected? Obviously the Savior healed all 10 lepers even though only one of them showed gratitude so I am not suggesting that we should only serve people when we receive praise, recognition, acknowledgement or gratitude, but how does all of that affect our happiness and does it have to? Can I be just as happy doing service for a person who slams the door in my face as I am serving someone who is incredibly grateful?
Like I said these are my questions and if you have any thoughts or can site any studies I would be happy to hear what you have. In the mean time I will keep searching. Thanks friends!
Sunday, June 8, 2014
I Believe in Science
Well sort of. The thing with Science is that it is usually changing and evolving but it does have a way of uncovering facts, that is until the facts are proven otherwise. For this next post I wanted to look at how my study so far of the science of happiness connects with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Savior's teachings on happiness. As I was doing this research, I kept having all of these ah-ha moments where I thought, hmmm... I have been taught this my whole life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Community Mindset- Is science really telling me that I will be happier if I take my visiting teaching responsibilities seriously? I have to say that I have always tried to do my visiting teaching since I got my first assignment in my Minneapolis singles ward. I have developed a lot of good relationships through the process and learned to love a lot of people that I wouldn't have known otherwise. You see the struggles that they are facing and you have an opportunity to offer help. This goes with the whole developing compassion, having a good support network and participating in acts of kindness below. You also develop a bond with people that is so essential to us not feeling alone and uncared for.
Building relationships- Obviously the church is one of the biggest supporters in the world of the family. Family relationships are so important and I for one don't know where I would be without mine. They have been such an amazing support system to me through everything. Whether we agree on how we should be living our lives or not we have always been there for each other. We may have our fights and our disagreements but we get over it. Even my brother who is not active in church was telling me last week, how glad he was that our family has remained strong. He sees a lot of his friends that don't have family support and he is grateful that he does. One only needs to take a moment to read The Family Proclamation to see how vital the family is to our church leaders. Sad how this institution is being threatened on a regular basis, sad how many families fall apart and sad how so many never get started.
Physical activity- It is nice to see that our church leaders have mentioned in the afore mentioned proclamation "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." Our leaders are actually telling us to go and have some fun. How cool is that? We also have people with the specific assignment to serve on recreational committees. Obviously this is important to leaders of the church.
Believing in and contributing to something bigger than yourself- Oh GOSH! Where do I even start with this? Let's see, well I would say that God is definitely something bigger and better than myself and we are going to go so far as to try to be like him. He is all knowing, all powerful, loving, kind, longsuffering. Then if that isn't enough, we have the more human example to follow his son Jesus Christ. Let's see, he was able to heal the sick, turn water into wine, feed the 5,000, raise the dead, fast for 40 days and still withstood temptation, he forgave sinners and he raised himself from the dead, atoned for our sins and that is just a few examples of his life that was documented by his apostles. As far as us contributing to this wonderfulness... well, every member of the church should have a calling, a home or visiting teaching assignment, we do missionary work, we do temple work, we do family history, seminary, boys and girls camp... the list goes on forever and ever. I'd say we have this one pretty well covered.
Having a good support network- Well we already covered some of this with Home and Visiting Teaching, and we are taught to have and give family support, but we also have the support from a vast array of church leaders in our wards, stakes, and even up to the 70s and the apostles and prophets. What a mess I would be without their guidance and direction.
Developing compassion- Hmmm... where on earth would we learn about developing compassion? I was just at an institute class last week where we discussed how the savior showed love. Here are some of the things we discussed.
Participating in acts of kindness- Again the list is endless. I ask myself do I even start such an endless list of ways members of the church participate in acts of kindness? If you really need some examples here because they aren't obvious enough, you just let me know and we can go over them in greater detail.
In conclusion, based on the science of happiness, I don't know if there is another group of people with more opportunity or advantage in the happiness department. The reality though is that the church's teachings were never based on scientific experiments or studies. These teachings are as older than time and still they are proven by science to be effective means of happiness. What else can we conclude then except God love's us and he wants us to be happy. Our greatest challenge to happiness then is to apply the teachings of the gospel in our lives. The more we apply them the happier we can become.
One last thing I want to say, because I do not want anyone to misunderstand what I am saying here. Member's of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, will not be happy every moment of every day. We will all have trials and challenges that will help us grow and develop if we will allow them to. It is my belief that God's desire for us to become like him outweighs to a much greater degree his desire for us to be happy all the time. This process can be incredibly painful at times and in those moments, happiness is very hard to find. It is also my belief that God wants us to have joy and this feeling supersedes happiness and has a slightly different path. Perhaps I will do a little more studying on joy while I am at it.
Community Mindset- Is science really telling me that I will be happier if I take my visiting teaching responsibilities seriously? I have to say that I have always tried to do my visiting teaching since I got my first assignment in my Minneapolis singles ward. I have developed a lot of good relationships through the process and learned to love a lot of people that I wouldn't have known otherwise. You see the struggles that they are facing and you have an opportunity to offer help. This goes with the whole developing compassion, having a good support network and participating in acts of kindness below. You also develop a bond with people that is so essential to us not feeling alone and uncared for.
Building relationships- Obviously the church is one of the biggest supporters in the world of the family. Family relationships are so important and I for one don't know where I would be without mine. They have been such an amazing support system to me through everything. Whether we agree on how we should be living our lives or not we have always been there for each other. We may have our fights and our disagreements but we get over it. Even my brother who is not active in church was telling me last week, how glad he was that our family has remained strong. He sees a lot of his friends that don't have family support and he is grateful that he does. One only needs to take a moment to read The Family Proclamation to see how vital the family is to our church leaders. Sad how this institution is being threatened on a regular basis, sad how many families fall apart and sad how so many never get started.
Physical activity- It is nice to see that our church leaders have mentioned in the afore mentioned proclamation "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." Our leaders are actually telling us to go and have some fun. How cool is that? We also have people with the specific assignment to serve on recreational committees. Obviously this is important to leaders of the church.
Believing in and contributing to something bigger than yourself- Oh GOSH! Where do I even start with this? Let's see, well I would say that God is definitely something bigger and better than myself and we are going to go so far as to try to be like him. He is all knowing, all powerful, loving, kind, longsuffering. Then if that isn't enough, we have the more human example to follow his son Jesus Christ. Let's see, he was able to heal the sick, turn water into wine, feed the 5,000, raise the dead, fast for 40 days and still withstood temptation, he forgave sinners and he raised himself from the dead, atoned for our sins and that is just a few examples of his life that was documented by his apostles. As far as us contributing to this wonderfulness... well, every member of the church should have a calling, a home or visiting teaching assignment, we do missionary work, we do temple work, we do family history, seminary, boys and girls camp... the list goes on forever and ever. I'd say we have this one pretty well covered.
Having a good support network- Well we already covered some of this with Home and Visiting Teaching, and we are taught to have and give family support, but we also have the support from a vast array of church leaders in our wards, stakes, and even up to the 70s and the apostles and prophets. What a mess I would be without their guidance and direction.
Developing compassion- Hmmm... where on earth would we learn about developing compassion? I was just at an institute class last week where we discussed how the savior showed love. Here are some of the things we discussed.
- He healed the sick
- He taught truth
- He loved God- President Monson stated, "We cannot truly love God if we do not love our fellow travelers on this mortal journey. Likewise, we cannot fully love our fellow men if we do not love God, the Father of us all."
- He noticed and spoke to women and children even though it wasn't socially acceptable to do so.
- He didn't fight those trying to kill him
- He healed the soldiers ear that was cut off when they were trying to arrest him
- He forgave
- He continued to teach even though his life was under constant threat
- He had patience
- He atoned for our sins
- He invited and challenged people to be better
- He elevated people
Participating in acts of kindness- Again the list is endless. I ask myself do I even start such an endless list of ways members of the church participate in acts of kindness? If you really need some examples here because they aren't obvious enough, you just let me know and we can go over them in greater detail.
In conclusion, based on the science of happiness, I don't know if there is another group of people with more opportunity or advantage in the happiness department. The reality though is that the church's teachings were never based on scientific experiments or studies. These teachings are as older than time and still they are proven by science to be effective means of happiness. What else can we conclude then except God love's us and he wants us to be happy. Our greatest challenge to happiness then is to apply the teachings of the gospel in our lives. The more we apply them the happier we can become.
One last thing I want to say, because I do not want anyone to misunderstand what I am saying here. Member's of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, will not be happy every moment of every day. We will all have trials and challenges that will help us grow and develop if we will allow them to. It is my belief that God's desire for us to become like him outweighs to a much greater degree his desire for us to be happy all the time. This process can be incredibly painful at times and in those moments, happiness is very hard to find. It is also my belief that God wants us to have joy and this feeling supersedes happiness and has a slightly different path. Perhaps I will do a little more studying on joy while I am at it.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Science of Happiness (part four)
The constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. -Benjamin Franklin
I think the most encouraging thing taught in the happy documentary was that being a happy person is a skill that can be learned just like learning to golf or play the violin. This to me was very encouraging. A large part of our happiness depends on our values. I made this amazing happiness chart just for your visual pleasure. ;)
I think the most encouraging thing taught in the happy documentary was that being a happy person is a skill that can be learned just like learning to golf or play the violin. This to me was very encouraging. A large part of our happiness depends on our values. I made this amazing happiness chart just for your visual pleasure. ;)
I had to fix the chart after I created it. At first I thought that depression was the opposite of happiness but in the new book I am reading, "The Happiness Project" the author makes it explicitly clear that unhappiness and depression are totally different things and need to be treated very different. Things that can help make an unhappy person happy are not necessarily the same things that make a depressed person happy.
Looking at the chart above makes me realize it is pretty sad how our society is doing a really good job convincing us that we will be happier if we focus on external goals. They would have us all so focused on ourselves that we fail to see the needs around us. We would be living for ourselves and miserable at the same time.
Some specific ways we can promote dopamine release include...
Physical activity-This is especially helpful when it involves silliness and play. However, competition doesn't always help the whole community feeling if we take things too serious.
Experiencing Flow-This involves a very focused mind that works on a rhythm. It often involves being completely in tune with ones body and mind. This can include activities like rock climbing, cooking, playing a musical piece, writing a computer program, skiing, surfing, inline skating (this would be my flow) or other related activities. It allows the mind to leave behind all cares and worries in a self contained universe where everything is black and white and where there is immediate feedback.
Having a good support network-Studies of the happiest people showed without exception that they all had close family and friends. Social bonding is intrinsically rewarding to humans.
Compassion meditation- Studies have shown that people who participate in this type of meditation can increase their happiness to a higher level than their medications can provide. These people develop compassion and loving kindness. This can change the human brain including the size.
Participating in acts of kindness-Studies have shown that this is more effective than the compassion meditation, so that must be pretty amazingly effective. It allows us to inhibit our own self interests to do something for someone else.
Another wonderful thing to remember about the list above is they can all be done for FREE! YIPPEE! Money can't buy you love or happiness, well lasting happiness anyway.
You may ask, "Does religion make people happier?" Not necessarily, you probably should ask yourself if they align with the above. If they teach compassion, caring, and gratitude they probably have a good shot. Fundamentalist religions who believe that they are all going to be saved and every one else will burn usually aren't very happy. More competition and less community feel there for sure. I have more to say about this, but that may come in a separate post. :)
Country Studies
They have said that Denmark rates as one of the happiest countries. They have free education through college and free medical care. Many people live in co-housing communities with multiple families sharing chores and supporting each other. There is enough community here to make many American's sick. I guess we would have a case if we rated higher on the happiness scale.
Japan is known as one of the least happy countries in the world. Ever since WWII, they have been so focused on rebuilding and economic growth that they have surpassed almost every other country in economic development. They also literally work their people to death because of their competitive nature. This happens so regularly that they have a name for it and call it Karoshi. They work 10-12 hour days and don't see happiness as being important. However if people in Japan want to be happier, they probably need to move to Okinawa because some of the oldest people alive live there and they are known for strong community and high levels of happiness.
The country of Butan on the other hand has decided that instead of making the GDP their #1 goal, they have decided that their goal is to maximize Gross National Happiness. This is a new idea and there is no data on how successful this idea will prove to be, but I thought it was a good idea anyway.
At this point I can't think of a good reason for us to not share the love with those around us. It is free and it can make us feel so good. I am going to have plenty of goals for myself after my research project is done.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Science of Happiness (part three)
Okay so I REALLY liked that documentary called happy. I totally recommend it. It didn't just pump me up with useful information about happiness, it actually gave me a clearer view about what makes people happy and how much control we have over our own happiness.
The chart below shows us what determines our level of happiness.
I am sure you all know what genetics are they determine 50% of our happiness. Circumstances include your health, success, and finances. We will get more into the "How You Live" part in my next post, which accounts for 40%. The thing I think is interesting is that only 10% of our total happiness is determined by our circumstances and I think that most people tend to believe that they mean everything when they really mean so little in the whole scheme of things.
So why is this such a big deal? Well the bottom line is that we all want to be happy, don't we? I have listed some of the benefits of being happier below that they listed in the film, but I would wager that there are probably a lot more that we are unaware of.
- Happiness helps your relationships
- Happiness helps you meet your goals
- Happiness helps you make more money
- Happiness helps you recover from tragedy faster
- People like you more when you are happy
- Happy people are able to respond to adversity and do not just ignore it
- The more happiness you have, the more everyone around you has
Seems to me that being happy can automatically make you more happy. Crazy how that works. It can really affect every area of our lives so it really is a BIG deal. They said that taking lots of little steps in our lives really can make a BIG difference in the long run.
Another thing I think was interesting is their talk on the brain. They said that happiness basically boils down to the transmission of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine also affects motivation, pleasure, cognition, memory, and fine motor control. This transmission happens in one of two ways, either through drug therapy or naturally, by the way you live. The brain is also like a muscle, in the way that the more these transmissions happen the more they are capable of happening in the future. We NEED to seek out these happy experiences because it is a use it or lose it function. They also said that the brain changes and adapts as it needs to. It can even develop new areas of the brain as it adapts to the changes in our lives. Everyone's dopamine levels decrease as we age starting in our teenage years so it is really something we all need to be aware of.
Okay well I think this post is getting to be longer than I usually like so, I will save my list of things we can do to be happy for my next post. :) Until then keep smiling, keep shining!
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