Saturday, November 8, 2014

Be a "Supremely Happy" Person

Every day in class, my finance professor gives a spiritual thought. It is nice because it breaks up the lecture, and I always really appreciate what he has to say. This week he sent out an email with title, “Too long for a spiritual thought in class.” I wasn’t going to read it because of the “too long” part, but I decided to just take a quite look at it, and I'm glad that I did. It was a link to an article titled The Surprising Science Behind “Supremely Happy” People. It was really interesting to read and I definitely want to apply some of those principles in my life. Here is the list that they gave of “The Habits of Supremely Happy People.” Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Happy people surround themselves with other happy people. Joy is contagious. People are four times more likely to be happy in the future with happy people around them.

2. Happy people try to be happy. When happy people don’t feel happy, they cultivate a happy thought and smile about it.

3. Happy people spend money more on others than they spend on themselves. Givers experience what scientists call the “helper’s high.”

4. Happy people use laughter as a medicine. A good old-fashioned chuckle releases lots of good neurotransmitters. A study showed that children on average laugh 300 times a day versus adults who laugh 15 times a day.

5. Happy people use the power of music. Researchers found that music can match the anxiety-reducing effects of massage therapy.

This was a really good reminder to me of what really makes us happy. My very favorite is the first point of surrounding ourselves with happy people makes us happy. It makes me really appreciate all of the wonderful people in my life and remind me that I need to be that happy person in other people’s lives as well. I hope you enjoyed this little insight! 

3 comments:

  1. Awesome! I totally agree with this thought. If we choose to be happy then we will be. It is great advice for anyone struggling with something.

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  3. I love talks and books about happiness and how to better cultivate it in our lives. One of my favorites is "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor. This book emphasizes that it's not what happens to a person or what a person has that makes them happy, so much as their attitude and perception of things in their life. My favorite point in your list is number two. Sometimes I catch myself envying those people who seem to be "on" all the time--those who have a positive, happy energy all the time. It's a good reminder that those people have to try, just like we all do! Bad days and unfortunate circumstances won't just make the average person happy. They have to try to be uplifted by something or keep a positive attitude! Great post Valerie--thanks for the reminders!

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