Are you a Happiness seeker?

Happiness is the 'holy grail', the universal motivator of human life, but do really all people search for it? What traits define a happiness seeker? And finally, is such an endeavor doomed to fail?

Find your happy moments

These questions are answered in the recent article of Dr. Lyubomirsky et al. (in press), entitled: 'Pursuing Happiness In Everyday Life: The Characteristics and Behaviors of Online Happiness Seekers'.

In this research the authors managed to describe the traits of individuals actively trying to be happy, by observing their daily life activities linked to happiness. The results were pretty intriguing; there exist 2 different groups of happiness seekers, which were called the 'depressed' and 'non-depressed' subgroups. The first group consists of people with high level of depressive symptoms, low level of satisfaction with life and lower ratio (1.9:1) of positive to negative emotions in their lives. In contrast, the latter group clustered individuals with very low levels of depressive symptoms, with high level of life satisfaction and a higher ratio of positivity (2.9:1), which is characteristic for flourishing people. Based on these data we see that the positive state of happiness is looked for by people who try to become even more happy or to feel at least a little better. Such conclusion sheds light on future research directions, as the up-to-date studies were aiming in general in examining the role of positive interventions for non-depressed people. As we see, there is the other side, with individuals for whom positive interventions can be a matter of health and normal life.

Thus, no matter how sad or happy you feel right now, if you want to be happier, you can try to be! Try to find things or activities which make you feel good, meet people who you like spend time with and think positively. Use different strategies simultaneously, because this way you can develop the best outcomes as Dr. Lyubomirsky's research showed and won't experience detrimental effects of adaptation. Remember, each person has the right to be happy! Sometimes, we are the sole barrier on the pathway to our happiness.

..even if it is a good amount of your favourite ice-cream :)

Finally, if you would like first to read about someone's own striving for happiness, you can find interesting the book of Gretchen Rubin, entitled 'The Happiness Project', describing 12-months of her different methods to be closer to an optimal, happy life.


Best luck in finding your piece of happiness..

How my friends impact me?

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Recently in the psychological field a lot has been said about social networks and the contagious effect of phenomena such as obesity, smoking habits, kindness and emotions like happiness.

The popularity of this topic has its roots in the work of Profs. Christakis and Fowler, the authors of the book 'Connected: The surprising power of our social networks', who analyzed the overwhelming amount of data collected during the Framingham Heart Studies. The obtained results were impressive, as they showed that people are influenced not only by their friends, but also by friends of their friends and even the friends of friends of their friends. This means that behaviors and other phenomena can spread through the network as far as three degrees of separation. In general, they displayed that when a friend of mine is putting on weight, I am more likely to do the same. On the other hand, good things such as happiness also spread within the network, so if you have thought that the best idea not to be contaminated is to separate yourself from your friends, it is not.

But, how is this happening? Is there some kind of a friend-dependent virus affecting us?

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Not really, the way in which we are influencing each other, is by contact, time spent together, imitation of our behaviors (healthy or detrimental habits) and emotional contagion, to name some. We are social animals, we do not live in isolation, therefore we catch others' emotions, preferences and behaviors. In accordance with this idea, another group of researchers (Carrell, Hoekstra & West, 2011) showed that students' individual fitness scores depend greatly on the standing of their team. Unfortunately, the biggest impact was observed to be made by the least fit peers, not the most fit ones. Also, the poorer fitness condition affected those students, who were struggling with their own poor physical fitness.

So, what can we do about it? Are we just the observers of contagious effects occurring around us? Fortunately, no! Changing one's behaviors and behaviors of his/her social network may be easier if you or your friend can bring better habits and activities that promote health, well-being and optimal functioning to your social circle. There is true wisdom in Mahatma Gandhi saying that: 'You should be the change you want to see in the world'. This way you are helping yourself, but also your friends, their friends and even friends of friends of friends. Living in a network can compel us to make unhealthy choices, but the same way it can help us improve our lives and the lives of others. 

The latter can be pictured by the TV series 'The biggest loser', where obese people fight together and motivate each other to become healthier and pursue a better life. Finally, in their newest article researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have found that weight loss is also contagious, resulting in outcomes depending on which team a person is in. They also observed that being a team leader provided additional lost kilograms, thanks to a greater motivation and engagement.

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Like Prof. Leahey said, "we're all influenced by the people around us, so if we can harness this positive peer pressure and these positive social influences, we can create a social environment to help encourage additional weight loss"

... and other healthy behaviors :)

So, how do you see the impact your friends have on you,
or you on them? Feel free to share!

What truly special can I offer to my Valentine?

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If you still haven't decided (small remainder - Valentine's day
is tomorrow!) how to express your affection to your loved one, you might find a small clue how to do it here.

The first question to ask yourself is: what do I want that my beloved person to remember of this day?

As research showed, positive autobiographical memories enhance the intimacy (warmth & closeness) in the relationship. Therefore, the basic idea for your Valentine's Day plan should be developed around experiencing and not necessarily material stuff.

But do not worry, if you have already bought something, you are not encouraged to throw away a prepared gift, especially because material things can possess some characteristics of the experiences. For example, when a gift has inscribed positive emotions to it, it will not land on the shelf being abandoned and insignificant. However, investing in experiences can provide you and your loved one with everlasting happy memories, additionally with the special feeling of connectedness and intimacy between us.

As the results of research run at San Francisco State University by Dr. Ryan Howell displayed, spending money on experiences brings more satisfaction and happiness than buying material items does. One reason for this is that experiences engage other people, foster social bonds this way and satify the need of relatedness. What is more, experiences can be relived in your memory and also they are prone to revisionism, so you can manipulate your memories in the way to obtain even more happiness. The truth is that you do not have even to do it, as with the time your memories became more extreme (more positive or more negative, depends on primary affect valence).

Therefore, a romantic dinner, movie theater experience, ride on a carrousell, but also a walk by the seaside, or a conversation while observing the sunset, will stay within you for ever. Finally, both you and your Valentine will never be bored with them and have an experience to share with your friends and family.


Lastly, you won't regret that some experience has passed you by!

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Have a happy Valentine's Day!

OPEN YOUR HEART TO GRATITUDE ! 

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It became obvious to me that this week a myriad of people are talking about, thinking about and feeling the love all around. However, not only this emotion should fuel our hearts in this Valentine's Day period, because when we love we are also grateful for our loved ones, our day-to-day experiences together, their smiles and support in both the bad and the good times. This is why I encourage you to spend maybe just a few minutes today on pondering – what are you grateful for in your life?

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Research showed that gratitude is connected with healthier, happier, and more hopeful lives and relationships. That grateful people feel more connected with others, are engaged in more altruistic behaviors and on the other hand, are less anxious, depressive or lonely. Being thankful can help you also to forgive and sleep better, as Dr. R. Emmons suggests: 'we should count blessings, not sheep' to start a day with more energy.

If you still have not decided whether it is your cup of tea to be gracious, let me tell you one more thing. Generally speaking, gratitude feels good, both for you and the person toward whom you are grateful. Like Dr. M. McCullough explains : 'Gratitude is what happens when someone does something that causes you to realize that you matter more to that person than you thought you did'. I hope there is no need to assure you that such a feeling will benefit your life. Therefore, if you would like to see 'how grateful you are' and what consequences it has for you, just log into your account on our site and take one of our surveys – the gratitude disposition scale.

Remember, that you can always try to experience more thankfulness in your life, as it always pays to strive to be a better version of oneself. The best thing is that it really does not require much effort of you to become more grateful, because most gratitude techniques demand just a couple of minutes a day.

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For example, you can start with running a gratitude diary (you can do it electronically at http://thankfulfor.com/, http://1thingapp.com/, use an iPhone app, or just write in your notebook). This activity consists of writing things for which you feel grateful in a certain day, week, or month. Research has shown that after a few weeks of such practice people report more satisfaction and happiness in their life.

Going further, you can write a 300-word letter to someone who changed your life for the better and then pay them a visit to read it to this person. We guarantee that both of you will benefit from such a positive experience.

Try to savor the beautiful moments and your surroundings (e.g. nature, architecture) in your daily life. Cherish in your memory the positive past events, of which occurrence you are appreciative. Recently, one more intervention has been explored by Dr. M. Koo, who argues that 'imagining away' blessings (i.e., imagining what would have happened if something good that happened to us did not happen: if you did not get into your school, did not meet your spouse, etc.) may be an even better way to feel grateful and satisfied than counting them, as it provides higher levels of positive emotions, making us even happier for the good things we have in our lives.

For more detailed descriptions of these other types of gratitude intervention go to the book 'Thanks. How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier' by Dr. R. Emmons and the website http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/practice_gratitude.html.

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For those of you who are interested in engaging in gratitude increasing techniques, I recommend to read a personal description of a 6-week gratitude challenge undertaken by Catherine Price at (http://tinyurl.com/7ecszhs). There, you can find out, how she managed her 'gratitude overdose', what conclusions she reached, and whether Dr. M. McCullough had to 'eat his hat', as he had promised, should this intervention fail.

Take home note:

'Gratitude is many things to many people , it is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, avarice, hostility, worry, and irritation' citing words of Dr. S. Lyubomirsky. But most importantly, it is 

 a key to your happiness, so would you take a chance to find gratitude for yourself?

Best of luck and THANK YOU for reading :)

Welcome

Positive psychology shapes life

I've thought that it is a good time to start a blog, as a more interactive part of my website.
Therefore, prepare for a myriad of positively flavored research news and their applications to daily life :)

Check every Saturday for a news piece!

                                                                           Research blogger - AilatanKom