People, For Heaven's Sake, Get Happy!

I read an article in U.S. News & World Report today 50 Ways to Improve Your Life. The very first sub-article was part of a health section. This sub-article is entitled "Get Happy, and You'll Live Longer". Here is an excerpt from the article by Deborah Kotz:

[begin excerpt] Ever envy those Pollyanna types who skip around with a smile on their faces? While some people may be born with sunny dispositions, happiness isn't necessarily based on genes or luck. Psychologists now believe it's a learned skill, almost like knitting. In fact, Harvard's how-to-be-happy course, with more than 850 enrollees, has become the university's most popular class. Its first lesson? Embrace your failures and frustrations. "When you give yourself permission to be human," says course instructor and psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar, "you are more likely to open yourself up to positive emotions."
And better health. Nearly a dozen studies show that happier people live longer. They're also less likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, and pain from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Plus, Carnegie Mellon researchers last month found that people who express positive emotions come down with fewer colds and flus after being exposed to the viruses than those who express negative emotions like anger, sadness, or stress.
Set point. While moods can change day to day-even hour to hour-psychologists used to believe that life satisfaction levels remained stable over time, always returning to a "set point" after a traumatic or happy event. A recent study from the University of Illinois, though, suggests that this set point can shift over the years. What's more, there are ways to push the needle on the gauge toward happy. In fact, experts-who refer to themselves as positive psychologists-have found that such simple acts as being grateful for what you have can help improve your outlook. "We need to look for happiness in the right places," Ben-Shahar says.
Those places don't include Tiffany's or a BMW dealership. The joy in acquiring objects of desire dissipates quickly. "Like french vanilla ice cream, material things are great at the first taste, but then after a while they lose their flavor," says happiness researcher Martin Seligman, who started a positive psychology master's program at the University of Pennsylvania. Through his studies, he identified specific steps that can help increase happiness over the long haul.
Go for real goals. It's better to think of happiness in terms of leading a meaningful life. "It's about being in the flow, completely absorbed by your work, the pursuit of your goals, the people you love, and your leisure activities," says Seligman.
Make a gratitude visit. Deliver a thank-you note to someone who's been especially kind or helpful but never properly appreciated. When you feel thankful, you get pleasure from remembering a positive life event. Plus, you'll strengthen a relationship that may bring you future happiness.
Focus on the good things. You probably spend more time each day thinking about what went wrong rather than what went right. Jot down three things that went well each day and explain why. "This will help you feel more grateful for what you have and more hopeful about the future," says Seligman. [end excerpt]

I found the section on the relationship between happiness levels and healthiness levels quite interesting. When I think about it, most of the generally happy people I know tend to be very healthy people who hardly ever get sick, never take medicine, and only get a cold maybe once a year at the worst. The generally unhappy or negative people I can think of that I know tend to be sick or ill quite frequently, take pills and medicines for every little ache and pain, and are always complaining of some sort of ailment or another. hmmm....interesting.

Well, I've always been an overall happy, positive person. It takes a lot to get me down or to make me angry, and even then I bounce back to my happy state quickly. However, I often run in to people or get involved with persons who, in general, seem to be brimming with unhappiness, negativity, and pent-up anger and frustration. I know a person's background may play some role in that type of behaviour and way of thinking. But I also think a person chooses and makes an effort to be a certain way as well. If someone wants to be a happy person, they think that way, and make a conscious, positive effort to do so. This then overlaps into other areas of their life serving as a positive influence.

I've traveled a lot to many places in this world and have seen things that most people in the United States who have not traveled cannot even imagine. People in the US are incredibly blessed beyond imagination and most seem to take that for granted or have no conception of that concept. Many in the US also seem to have a mentality of "entitlement", which I also do not understand. They get mad, angry and frustrated over petty, insignificant little things that don't even matter. And these "glass half empty" people almost seem to want to spread their negativity to those who are naturally "glass half full" people. Well I for one refuse to let that happen to me. Maybe the negatrons are just jealous of us naturally positive folks. I suggest they make a conscious effort to become more happy and positive themselves.