Mastering A Skill Makes Us Stressed In The Moment, Happy Long Term

October 31, 2009

No pain, no gain applies to happiness, too, according to new research published online this week in the Journal of Happiness Studies. People who work hard at improving a skill or ability, such as mastering a math problem or learning to drive, may experience stress in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis and longer term, the study suggests.

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Your happiness could be contagious

December 4, 2008

Researchers document the contagious power of happiness in social networks

A laugh can be infectious. You don’t need a sophisticated study to tell you that. But does this happy contagion vanish as quickly as a smile?

New research from James Fowler of UC San Diego and Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School shows that happiness spreads far and wide through a social network – traveling not just the well-known path from one person to another but even to people up to three degrees removed.

This holiday season, during gloomy economic times – which, if things get dire enough, might be called a “depression” – it is heartening to know, said Fowler, that “happiness spreads more robustly than unhappiness” and seems to have a greater effect than money.

Read the complete article by Inga Kiderra…

Keywords: happiness, centrality, Framingham, British Medical Journal, New England Journal of Medicine

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Think Happy, Be Happy

September 8, 2008

The mind is a wonderful thing. Even though no one has ever seen it directly, we have all experienced its power. For example, you’ve heard of paranoia—the mistaken belief that people are out to get you. Well, that very same mind can also produce the opposite phenomenon, called pronoia—the mistaken belief that people really love you more than they do. Two opposite phenomena, with two very different consequences, both produced by the same mind. Pretty amazing. Or take the "placebo effect"—you actually get better physically because you believe you will. Once again, your mind can produce just the opposite, too, called the "nocebo effect"—you actually can make yourself sick (or sicker) because you believe you’ll get worse.

Read the complete article by Dr. Tom McDonald, Ph.D….

There are tons of recommendations out there about how to become a happier person. But the greatest tool you have is your very own mind. It’s right there in your head and it costs you nothing. So use it, use it carefully, and use it often. Believe it or not, you can think your way to a happier life. -Dr. Tom McDonald

Keywords: nocebo, placebo, happiness, mind

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Come On Get Happy – The Taoist Approach to Life

June 2, 2008

Lori Jewitt says, “It’s no strange coincidence that so many of us are looking for happiness.  The more we have separated ourselves from nature and from each other, the more miserable we have become. We are struggling to find happiness, as if it is out there somewhere hiding from us.  But it’s right where it has always been…we’ve just lost sight of it.”

Basic principles of Taoism:

• P’u – The Uncarved Block …A clear, calm open mind can makes sense, and make use, of what it sees.  It doesn’t over-think things…
• Recognizing our Inner Nature -  You need to understand who you are, what you can do and what you can’t.
• Wu Wei – Act wthout doing, making or causing.
• Slow Down -  “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”
• T’ai Hsu – The Great Nothing.

Allow Lori Jewett to show how applying these Taoist principles can lead to a happier life. Read Lori’s complete article…

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Happiness Meditation

April 21, 2008

Susan Helene Kramer
BellaOnline’s Meditation Editor

Happiness and harmony go hand in hand: Harmony reflected outwardly is the feeling of happiness…

Because happiness is an underlying spiritual quality, not dependent on the state of relationships and worldly issues, we retain consciousness of happiness even when people and things go from our life.

Think of it like this: When the current in a river changes, the qualities of the river remain the same. When events in our life change, the spiritual person we are remains the same: happiness is a quality of our spiritual nature.

Read the full article…
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art56576.asp

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