Science Backed Happiness

“Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It's something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.”

- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 

---

Anyone who knows me well -  knows that I am passionate about happiness and it's benefits. I talk so much about the benefits of happiness, that I'm sure I begin to sound like a broken record.  But as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow and co-founder of the Positive Psychology movement points out "happiness doesn't just happen."Positive Psychology points out the many benefits to happiness.

• Happiness brings large social rewards and interactions, superior work outcomes including higher income, more energy and activity, greater self-control and coping abilities, a bolstered immune system, and longevity.

• Happy people demonstrate a self-serving bias, believing they are healthier, able to get along better with others, are more fun, have good ideas, are more intelligent, and are more ethical than others.

• People who are positive about aging live 7.5 years longer than those with less positive perceptions. Interestingly, this benefit surpasses the results for smoking cessation, exercise, and obesity control.

• People with increased SWB (subjective well-being) demonstrate high personal confidence, self-esteem, personal mastery, and control.

• Happy people feel like they are in control and are empowered.

• Characteristics related to positive affect include confidence, optimism, self-efficacy, likability, prosocial behavior, activity, energy, physical well-being, flexibility, creativity, and the ability to cope with stress.

• People who experience positive emotions, namely joy and contentment, right after experiencing negative emotions recover faster cardiovascularly than ones who have no positive emotional experience.  This suggests that positive emotions may fuel psychological resilience.

• In a longitudinal study of older Mexican Americans, individuals with higher reported positive affect versus lower positive affect were half as likely to have become disabled or dead during a two-year follow-up.

So I often say, Choose Happiness! As I pointed out in an earlier post, 40% of happiness  is up to you.But what can you do to be happier?  In a recent article in Business Insider, writer Dina Spector listed 25 things that will make you happier.Some of them made sense:

In a survey of 350 people, researchers found that those who felt more powerful were more satisfied with their lives, especially in their jobs.

But some of them were surprising:

Studies have shown that eating high-calorie comfort foods can make your happier. The downside is this will also make you fat.  As an alternative, a study published in the Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science in May 2013 found that simply drawing pictures of foods high in fat, like cupcakes or pizza, and foods that taste sweet, like strawberries, can also boost your mood.

The study showed that these 25 things will make you happier:

• Draw pictures of healthy foods

• Be both an optimist and a realist.

• Get your hands dirty.

• Become a florist or a gardener.

• Have sex — with one partner.

• Spend money on many small pleasures rather than a few big ones.

• Eat lunch on the beach.

• Make your bed.

• Focus on what you're doing right now.

• Move to Australia . . . (not sure about that one! *a New Zealand joke!)

• Eat seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day.

• Maintain a position of power.

• Master a skill.

• Seal your worries in an envelope, literally

• Surround yourself with happy people

• Volunteer.

• Play with puppies

• Smile more (even if it's fake)

• Live in relatively cool temperatures.

• List three good things that happened today.

• Spend money to free up more time.

• Stop comparing yourself to others

• Shorten your commute to work

• Exercise

• Listen to upbeat music

It's well worth looking at the article to understand the reasoning behind each of these suggestions.I want to close with a great short video that describes positive psychology in less than five minutes.  A fun and succinct explanation. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJvS8v0TTI] Let me know if you read the article in Business Insider,  I’d love to hear what you think of it. And as always, thank you for stopping by.  I appreciate it.