One thing that I will always remember about this Psychology class is the section about happiness. Typically, people who are happier will live longer, healthier lives. If you are happier, you are more likely to see the bigger picture and see the "bigger picture", noticing things that we may have overlooked otherwise. Optimists are better off, being happier in everyday life than those who are pessimists. Four myths about happiness that our book pointed out include : "The prime determinant of happiness is what happens to us"; "Money makes us happy"; "Happiness declines in old age"; "People on the West Coast are the happiest". These are all myths. Our book also mentions things that make us happy. These include: "marriage, friendships, college, religion, political affiliation, exercise, gratitude, giving, and flow". I think that all of these aspects of life are crucial to overall happiness in life. In my life alone, I find that I am happier when I am surrounded by good friends. I feel stronger and more confident when I am involved in my religion on a regular basis. College has also been a very positive aspect on my life; I love learning more about my major and what I would like to do for a career. I think that exercise is the most important aspect of my happiness. I am working on my certification in personal training right now, so being healthy and active is something that I strive for every single day. I think that eating healthy and staying active is something that can always boost your mood and help you feel better about yourself. Exercise is definitely crucial to my overall happiness. When I think of happiness, I think of Winnie the Pooh. One of my favorite quotes from Pooh is "Love is taking a few steps backward, maybe even more...to give way to the happiness of the person you love" (http://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/author/Winnie_The_Pooh/). This relates to one of the components of happiness: marriage.
i will also remember this topic 5 years from now, because it will always be relevant in my life and how i function. Like it says people who are happier tend to live longer and healthier lives which i aim to as i grow older.
This was a fun topic to learn about. It can be hard to always be optimistic but it is important and beneficial to take a step back and look at the big picture. Ones happiness can determine their quality of life. I like their tips on what makes us happy. I agree that exercise and health is one of my sources of happiness. It's something you have complete control over and can give you a great feeling of accomplishment.
This is an interesting post. The one thing that I am skeptical about is that college makes you happy. I was reading the Minnesota Daily today and was reading an article about the Boynton Health Center. It talked about how many students are depressed and how there are more and more students visiting Boynton for depression and other mood disorders. I for one believe that college has made me happy. I just was blown away by Boynton's stats.
I also think that this is an interesting and important topic that we went over. One of the things I found most interesting was that we all have a certain level of happiness and that even if we won the lottery, while our level of happiness might increase greatly for a while, it will eventually go back to the original state. In conclusion: money does not equal long-term happiness.
College in many ways can be a difficult time to remain happy. With all the stressors we have in our every day lives, it may be hard to find time for happiness. I think you are right that we need to take the time to find out what makes us happy and be committed to doing that every day, in order to remain in a healthy mental state. When we struggle with things in our college lives I think we need to look at it from a point of view that it could always be worse.
This is something that I will always remember as well. Happiness is vital to life. Without happiness, there is no love. Without love, there is no life. I enjoyed how you put examples from your own life into some of the things that do make us happy as humans. I liked reading real life examples. Good post!
I think this is really significant, since happiness is such a vital part of our lives. But the new age idea that you should be happy every moment of every day and if you're not, then you're not doing it right is complete bogus. Sometimes people are sad and that's perfectly okay.