…is a blank screen. According to a 31-year study of 30,000 people, TV sucks. My wife won’t want to hear this, because she is tired of hearing me lecture about how I would rather do things than watch others do things. Of course, my idea of doing things is not always what the study says will bring most happiness, being somewhat of a hermit…
“TV doesn’t really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does,” says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author. “It’s more passive and may provide escape, especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.”
Robinson and his research team compared the activities of people who described themselves as happy with peeople who described themselves as unhappy. The unhappy people watched 20 percent more television than the happy people.  Those who considered themselves to be happy were more likely to:
If you want to influence people, give them the right environment. Of this there is no question. Most recently, a study confirmed what we all knew about how they cleaned up New York City. This line from The Globe and Mail a few days ago:
Urban decay is contagious because people generally behave badly when others in their neighbourhood do, say Dutch researchers whose article was published yesterday in the online journal Science.
This principle applies in the home and in the workplace, too. If you leave things all over the house or allow employees to get sloppy in their work habits, expect more and more of the same.
On the other hand, if you want people to take pride in their work or keep the house tidy, apply yourself to the task. Pick up stuff around the house when others are not around. And when they are, solicit their help in tidying up. The tidier you keep it, the tidier they will, too. And, the more attention they will focus on cleanliness and following rules and generally responsible behavior.
By the way, this is the same psychology I have repeatedly mentioned with regard to smiling. The best way to brighten up your environment is to smile. Your smile will be contagious. And before you know it, you will notice that all those grumpy people you kept bumping into have given way to smiling, happy people.
Â
Are you frustrated because someone in your family keep forgetting
things or you information just does not sink in? Well, the more ways
you deliver the information, the more likely he or she will remember.
Tell him.
Write it down.
Send a follow-up email (Yes, intra-home emails!).
Leave a voicemail for her.
Show the situation so that she can act on what she sees, not just on
what you tell her you see.
Ask what he thinks should be done. He will remember the conclusion he
draws better than any solution you come up with.
If there is anything visual, such as a map, draw it.
So, “Honey, don’t forget to pick up milk”, “uh-ha”
becomes….
1. Honey, don’t forget to pick up milk.
2. Here’s a reminder note (a drawing of a carton of milk)
3. Come to the fridge. See, there’s just a couple drops left, what
do you think we should do?
No need to be frustrated when you can make sure that the forgetful
one remembers.
Another Blog Post one from A Daily Dose of Happiness…and this one is ideal to forward to anybody who might be feeling a little down. Share it with your Twitter and faceBook friends, too. Some of them will appreicate it…Â
Up escalator. Down escalator. No, that’s not the name of a new Dr.
Seuss book. It’s a pairing of two very handy mechanisms that are
both quite necessary. True, we could survive without escalators, but
we would still need to go up and down stairs…you can’t just keep
going up.
In life, we need both ups and downs. If you plan to chase happiness
means that you’ll try to avoid all downs, you are in for trouble.
Downs are inevitable. Things happen that just don’t go your way,
and human beings are hard wired to react. When someone close to you
passes away or just goes away, you are supposed to feel down. When
someone hurts you. When a friend fails. When you fail. When traffic is
particularly thick or your wallet is particularly thin. There are so
many times when you will feel down.
Yes, even the happiest people feel down.
But a happy person does not stay down long. A happy person moves
fairly soon from mourning a loss to celebrating a life. From feeling
like a failure to grasping the lesson and renewing his determination.
From feeling frustrated to just letting the universe unfold.
Up. Down. They are both fine – the question is how long you stay
down.
All I would tell people is to hold onto what was individual about themselves, not to allow their ambition for success to cause them to try to imitate the success of others. You’ve got to find it on your own terms.
I know, I know. You heard that is was a picture that is worth a
thousand words. Well when I tweeted this though (posted at http://twitter.com/amabaie ), one of my followers replied “does this
mean a picture of a smile is worth 2000 words?”
Cute. But that’s not the point. A smile is a picture. It says so
many things. It says, “I’m happy”.
It says “You’re OK”.
It says “I like you”.
It says “Don’t worry”.
It says….well, I’m not going to let this post go on for 1000
words. Why not hop on over to Twitter and tell me what else you think
a smile says? Just type in @amabaie and say your piece.
They say that time is money, but it’s not. Time is everything.
No matter what you are doing, you are spending time. You can’t slow
down or speed up the pace of the time you spend. All you can do is
increase or decrease the value of what you get for that time.
If you are spending a lot of your time in drudgery work or watching a
TV or computer screen, maybe you could do something to increase the
value of the time you are spending. Perhaps you would like to spend
more time with people, more time playing sports, more time
philosophizing…whatever you enjoy doing, whatever fulfills you,
that’s how you should spend your time. Because whatever you are
doing, you are spending it, and even where there is a money-back
guarantee, there is no time-back option.
If happiness rests on health, health rests on…four pillars.
1. Nutrition. How we choose to fuel our bodies very much effects our health, and certainly as we grow older it makes a difference how mobile and disease-free we feel. If we fill our bodies with sugar and artificial coloring, will that really make us healthy?
2. Fitness. As I watch family and others age, it is clear that nothing affects their mobility more than their level of fitness throughout their lives. It’s never too late to start, and it’s always too early to stop.
3. Stress. If we feel stressed all the time, it takes a toll on our bodies. We can’t always feel relaxed, but we can take control of our stress and just say “no”. Not always easily, but we can do it.
4. Sleep. Boy, am I in trouble. Sleep affects everything else, and I never get enough of it. When we feel fatigued, we tend to eat all the wrong things, skip the workout and create stress with people around us.
How are you doing with your four pillars of health and happiness?
I love this story in the New York Times. It tells of  Joel Moss Levinson, a college dropout who can boast of dozens of failed jobs. So far, he has won 11 contests by creating homemade corporate commercials, user-generated video content that promotes their brands or their products virally on places like YouTube and MetaCafe. And so far, he has earned $200,000 in cash and prizes.
Let’s keep in mind that each one of those contests is a whole new ball game. You don’t get credit for previous efforts in other contests. You don’t get seniority or stability. You have to earn each one with the quality of your work. Imagine if each month you had to apply for your job, along with thousands of other people.  I wonder how many people would retain their jobs.Â
 What I am trying to demonstrate, is that this is a truly monumental accomplishment for a vagabond dropout.Â
I am a big believer in education, but I am also a big believer in taking life by the horns and creating your own destiny. And formal education is not always the same thing as education. So I salute Mr. Levinson, and perhaps it will be an inspiration to a few other people to jump in and find their calling…especially if they are either job hopping or stuck in a rut where they really don’t get satisfaction.
THEHAPPYGUY.COM: ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR PERSONAL GROWTH WEBSITES ON THE INTERNET SELF-HELP HAPPINESS: ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR PERSONAL GROWTH BLOGS ON THE INTERNET
