happy

December 11, 2008 in wondering | 5 comments

The comments have been interesting lately. Take a look.

Did you see the comments from DR, my oh-so-positive friend who inspired my attempts at a complaint-free Advent? He linked to some fascinating research published last week, which shows how one person’s happiness affects his or her family and friends. According to the article, “A happy friend who lives within a mile, for example, boosts your odds of being happy by 25 percent, researchers found.” And, “…even the happiness of a friend’s friend boosts your chance of being happy by 9.8 percent. Even more surprising, the happiness of a friend of a friend of a friend boosts your chance of being happy by 5.6 percent.”

Wow. Proof that happiness radiates and spreads. Like light. What a great gift to give others this holiday season. Happiness. And all you have to do is be happy yourself.

happy

  1. Barbara’s avatar

    Barbara on December 11, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Thanks for this post today…I needed it. I have been a cranky mama today and unable to pull myself into a better place. Thanks for the reminder that joy as well as crabbiness is contagious.

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  2. stefaneener’s avatar

    stefaneener on December 12, 2008 at 9:59 am

    We should probably all thank our happy friends! I love that it spreads, and I long for the coming of more light.

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  3. susan’s avatar

    susan on December 13, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    I like this line from the article I read: Indeed, according to Fowler, “if your friend’s friend’s friend becomes happy, that has a bigger impact on you being happy than putting an extra $5,000 in your pocket.” First thing is, maybe I should be surprising my friends’ friends with gifts this year and second thing is, I volunteer to test if that makes me as happier than 5K in my pocket. I swear I can be objective.

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  4. susan’s avatar

    susan on December 14, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Came upon this sobering news: Happiness is probably not contagious. It is shared experience that makes it seem so.
    http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/is-happiness-contagious/?scp=2&sq=happy%20pocket&st=cse

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  5. patricia’s avatar

    patricia on December 14, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Oh man, Susan. You’d think that the fact I majored in research psychology would have made me question the correlations.

    Still, it stands to reason that being happy makes the people around you happy. My attempts to refrain from complaining this month have definitely made me happier–and I can see that it makes a difference in the family dynamics.

    So I’ll say it again: Be happy! (Makes me start singing along with Ren and Stimpy, “The Happy Happy Joy Joy Song” http://www.bitstorm.org/happyjoy/ )

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