Is It Possible to Become Happier?
Happiness is a way of being. Happiness is a choice. In America, the pursuit of happiness is a right. With the markets tanking, our mortgages soaring, and the future shaky at best, only half of us are ‘flourishing.’
Studies say we can blame 50% of this on our genes, 10% on life circumstances and the big remaining 40% on our intentional activities. Think money is the difference? Guess again. The richest Americans (earning $10 million or more annually) report happiness only a little bit greater than their office staffers or blue-collar worker employees. How about being married? Isn’t that supposed to be good for men?
Author Sonja Lyubomirsky asserts through her research that, although married people are happier than single ones, the effect of marriage on personal happiness is actually quite small. In a landmark study of 25,000 residents of Germany over 15 years, results showed that marriage led to only a 2-year boost in happiness.
It’s all downhill after 65 too, according to a study of WWII veterans. Things don’t start heading down the slippery slope until after 75, according to the results.
Another study documents that if you reminisce at this stage in the game, you’re time will be happier than if you don’t.
If you still have some respectable calendar left to thumb through, take heart and get moving! Four months of aerobic exercise has been found to be just as effective at treating depression as four months of Zoloft. Now, that should make you happy.
