4 Dark Sides To The Pursuit of Happiness Fake smile? Here’s how to avoid four hurdles on the road to happiness. Healthy people want to be happy. And there’s little doubt about all the benefits of positive emotions. Amongst other things, they make us more sociable, allow us to think more flexibly and they’re associated with better physical and psychological health. It’s little wonder that pursuing happiness has become a modern obsession, an obsession that psychologists have mostly encouraged (see: 10 Easy Activities Science Has Proven Will Make You Happier Today). But, like any emotion, it has it’s time and place. Yale University’s Dr June Gruber has spent years researching happiness and has found that sometimes, at the extremes, the search for happiness can go wrong. Gruber and her colleagues have looked at positive and negative emotions in particular and identified four dark sides to the pursuit of happiness (Gruber et al., 2013), each of which shows that sometimes the pursuit of pure happiness can go wrong: 1. 2. 3. 4.
So what just is the secret of true happiness? Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia has discovered the secret of happiness. In a new book, ‘Happy Money; the new science of smarter spending’,she reveals all. Her five principles are been worked out after much research, and include some that are stock financial wisdom, such as more careful use of credit cards. Her key principle is that pepole should use money to buy experiences, not possessions. Now there’s some wisdom there! Dunn is right in saying that possessions cannot buy happiness; but she is wrong to imagine that there is some magical formula to guarantee happiness. Frankl is suggesting that happiness is not in possessions or in experiences but in attitudes.
How To Be Happy: 8 foundational principles of deep & lasting happiness Happiness may not be quite as simple as some of the self-help gurus suggest, but neither is it as far out of reach as the panicky headlines of the evening news implore you to believe. This isn’t about peppy giddy euphoria — though that’s nice too. Before diving deeper, let me clarify what I mean by “happiness.” I am not referring to the “Oh yay, I found a ten dollar bill in my coat pocket!” No doubt these are all happy moments in their own right, and I wish for you many such moments in your life, but they’re not the kind of happy at topic today. Instead, I’m speaking specifically about the deep, abiding happiness that exists with a consistency and resilience the peppiness, giddiness and euphoria lack. Think of the former as the mountain top, and the latter three as snowflakes. That is the deep and lasting happiness these 8 principles support. But isn’t that mountain reserved for the wealthy, the privileged, the few? In my experience, it is a collection of qualities and perspectives.
Achieving Happiness: Self-acceptance makes it easier to change behaviors - CapitalGazette.com: Achieving Happiness I live with someone who’s difficult: strong-willed, obstinate, opinionated and even argumentative at times. You know the type: they want what they want, and they fuss with you if they don’t get their way. No, I’m not talking about my mate. I’m talking about myself. For years I denied that this part of me existed. “Stupid” was the word that I most often used to describe myself when recalling moments that made me feel badly about myself. The problem with fighting the pig-headed part of me is that I just got covered in muck — and the pig seemed to enjoy the experience. Nowadays, I really do know better. That fact makes me, like billions of other people, an imperfect person. Accepting myself actually makes it much easier to change my behavior, I’ve discovered. I have been blessed with some exceptional strengths: intelligence, compassion and gratitude to name a few. When you’re struggling with your weaknesses, you can’t see your positive qualities. The chief simply replied, “The one I feed.”
Dear Diary: Who Am I? “What do you wish you could tell your 13-year-old self?” This is a common parlor-game sort of question, leading to warm and fuzzy discussions about how difficult adolescence is and how we wouldn’t want to be teenagers again. Pink has even turned it into a song, “Conversations With My Thirteen Year Old Self.” But in a twist on that, I am finding that my 13-year-old self has some things to tell me. I kept a diary from the age of 12 until I was 35, which is more years ago than I care to admit. But every five to 10 years, usually when I’m in some sort of crisis or transition, I pull those diaries out and reread them. Delving into the past is, of course, a mainstay of psychotherapy. The diaries give me perspective. With the diaries I can compare memories with what actually happened at the time. I’m presently halfway through the diaries. Reading about the hijinks of my early to mid-20s is a lot less fun. Sophia Dembling is author of The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World.
The Correlation between Money and Happiness oney and happiness have been married and divorced umpteen times by economists. A recent study by University of Michigan professors Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers united moolah and mirth after Richard Easterlin, an economist and professor at the University of South Carolina, separated them in 1974. While the Easterlin Paradox stated that rise in income does not necessarily increase happiness, the new research refutes it by proving that the higher the income or the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the more happy the person or the country is. No conditions apply. Between the two polar studies, several researchers tried to bring money and happiness together by establishing a threshold till which they hold hands before parting ways. But on a macro level, what does the country’s GDP say with regard to the happiness-meter of its citizens? However, Terry Babcock-Lumish, a professor of social sciences at West Point, thinks the contrary.
Is Happiness living life through rose tinted glasses? Arriving in the harbour at Symi As I leaned over the railing being violently sick, surrounded by tourists admiring the view of the Panormitis monastery on the island of Symi from the deck of our boat, I dimly remembered a similar boat trip, albeit slightly less sunny and a few hours longer, and remembered my words never again! Yet there I was, on a boat again! And as I groaned, I remembered we had the return journey later this afternoon. I realise that I, possibly like many people, live my life looking through rose tinted glasses. My last boat trip lasted 14 hours across the Atlantic Ocean ended in gale force 8 winds (the wind force does go up with each telling!) Feeling a little better on dry land! After a little research I realised I’m not alone, Lord Admiral Nelson and Winston Churchill were both sufferers of sea sickness and as Churchill said, if it’s good enough for Nelson, then it’s good enough for me!
The Challenge of Happiness | Maura Sweeney Recently, I was invited to speak at The Challenge of Happiness Conference. The annual event is sponsored by the Juvenile Justice Board in Tampa Bay and designed to acknowledge and encourage social workers, lawyers and others dedicated to ensuring positive development and well-being of families in the area. As closing speaker, I was to tie a proverbial bow on the day's events. Before I spoke, a behavioral scientist from Boston provided clinical proof that we only see what we believe. Unlike previous speakers who approached the conference from clinical and academic backgrounds, my approach was personal. I've always loved stories, whether I played listener or teller. In one story, I told the tale of my learning how to dance, something that didn't happen till I was nearly 50. In my case, a half century of patterning had created a nearly impossible chasm. My journey in learning to dance brought me through a seemingly-impossible divide. Do you have a happiness challenge?
Outgoing Young People Become Happier Seniors: Survey By Amy NortonHealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Aug. 9, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- People who were outgoing and energetic as young adults seem to be happier with their lives by the time they hit retirement age, a new study suggests. Researchers found that for nearly 4,600 British adults followed for decades, those who were "extraverts" in their youth gave higher ratings to their well-being and satisfaction with life once they'd reached their early 60s. The same was true of people who were more emotionally stable -- less "neurotic" -- in their teens and 20s. The findings, reported online recently in the Journal of Research in Personality, don't prove that an outgoing nature is the reason for people's happiness. "How likely people are to feel happy and satisfied with their lives is in part affected by their personality, but that is far from being the only influence," Gale said. But, he said, personality can be seen as a composition of a few "core" traits that contain "smaller traits" within them.
10 Simple Things You Can Do To Be Happier, Backed By Science Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. I would love to be happier — as I’m sure most people would — so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are 10 of the best ones I found. Exercise More You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7-minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Sleep More Another study tested how employees’ moods when they started work in the morning affected their work day.
UAE workplace: 6 simple ways to be happy at work Many in the UAE workforce are over-worked and over-stressed, and in such a scenario, being a happy person is not easy. Take the case of Penny Oscar, a British national working in Dubai. She’s in the PR industry and believes it is very difficult to be happy at work if the atmosphere is not conducive. “In our industry, we are always trying to keep everybody happy – the clients and the media – and whilst doing, so we become the most unhappy ones. Most of us here work long hours. If you are in the same boat as Oscar, and believe there is no light at the end of the tunnel, it would be best to move on but if you can’t for various reasons, then try to salvage the situation even if you believe it’s the worst office in the entire world you are in. And while there is no magic wand that will make workplace woes disappear completely, bigger problems can be made lighter if we try a bit harder. “Job satisfaction is a personal choice and it is one that we make every day. #1 Be happy to have a job
This article also discusses findings of the Grant Study, noting that people are most affected by love, and almost unaffected by money, status and power. It also noted that challenges, bring about perspectives that often increase happiness. This follows similar logic to the law of attraction, believing that if one looks for the good in a situation it will manifest itself in positive ways. by brittanyacooper Feb 25