I have a new pal. Her name is Gretchen Rubin and she is the author of the #1 International Bestseller 'The Happiness Project'. Unlike me, Gretchen is highly intellectual, and has done all the painstaking research into happiness, and how to find it. I really like her down-to-earth and business-like approach to the subject.
To learn some more on the topic, she plunged into Plato, Boethius, Montigne, Bertrand Russell, Thoreau, and Schopenhauer - God bless her energy! I'm kinda lazy - I just want to catch the happiness bug, without the effort - if you get my drift.
Well, thanks to a massive amount of reading, she has come to the positive conclusion that YES - it is possible to make yourself 'happier'! According to current research (quoting Ms. R) in the determination of a person's level of happiness, genetics accounts for about 50 percent; life circumstances, such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, income, health, occupation, and religious affiliation, account for about 10 to 20 percent, and the remainder is a product of how a person thinks and acts. So basically, people have an inborn disposition that's set within a certain range, but they can boost themselves to the top of their happiness range or push themselves down to the bottom of their happiness range by their actions.
I can add some fuel to this fire of thought, in that I know from studying astrological charts, that yes, some people are more naturally ebullient or melancholic than others. At the same time, melancholics cannot be let off the hook for drowning us (and themselves) in sorrow. They too can be helped. It comes down to their decisions about how to live their lives, which will affect their happiness.
I fully believe (from what I've discovered since hopping on the Pollyanna train of thought) that happiness is attitudinal and NOT circumstantial. We all like to blame our circumstances, but at the end of the day we really, truly and substantially are 100% responsible for our own happiness - yes sir!! No buts or maybes - Your happiness needs YOU! and you alone.
Tomorrow D.V. I'll fill you in on some suggestions from my new role model and mentor, Gretchen. On the strength of what I have read so far...I joined a gym today - no kidding! The lady pumping iron beside me was 91 years young. I felt like a blushing teenager beside her. I liked it!
Choo Choo 'til tomorrow!
Patricia
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