Six Possible Secrets to Happiness, According to Science

Originally posted on io9.com on Jan 25, 2012
by Robert T. Gonzalez

Science has all the answers, right? Wrong. But it has a pretty good sense of things, a lot of the time*. So what does science have to say about the pursuit of happiness? A lot. Like, build-an-entire-industry-around-it, even-the-pseudo-scientific-stuff a lot.

So let's look at some of the more recent things science has had to say about happiness and how you can score some for yourself — including one tip that might actually work (and you won't even have to pay us to hear it).

1. Surround yourself with happy people
Or, at the very least, surround yourself with people who surround themselves with happy people. .... Also worth noting: the researchers found sadness to be nowhere near as "infectious" as happiness.

2. Master a skill
This one is kind of a tradeoff: a study published in a 2009 issue of the 100% real Journal of Happiness Studies found that people who dedicate themselves to mastering a skill or ability tend to experience more stress in the moment, but reported greater happiness and satisfaction on an hourly, daily, and longterm basis as a result of their investment....

3. Self-government is key
The same study that found mastering a skill could bolster overall, longterm happiness found that the minute-to-minute stresses of mastering a skill could be lessened by self-direction and a sense of fellowship. "Our results suggest that you can decrease the momentary stress associated with improving your skill or ability by ensuring you are also meeting the need for autonomy and connectedness," explains Howell. "For example, performing the activity alongside other people or making sure it is something you have chosen to do and is true to who you are."

4. Smile for once
Darwin laid it out for us all the way back in 1872: "The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it," he wrote....

5. Get therapy
First of all, a side note: if you think you might benefit from psychotherapy, but are too worried about what your friends and family will think, get over yourself and do it. Why? Because it works (especially if you find the form of therapy that's right for you)....

6. STOP IT. Stop trying to be happy.
If you take away one thing from this post, let this be it: to be happy, there's a decent chance you'll have to stop trying to be happy. Sorry to get all zen-master on you, but that's the way it is.

Nevermind the fact that measuring happiness is a lot like trying to weigh an idea in pounds and ounces. Yes, there are ways to gauge happiness, whether chemically or with a questionnaire, but when you get right down to it, "happiness" means different things to different people, and is one of the single most nebulous ideals in existence — and one of the biggest downsides to this truth is that setting a goal of happiness can actually backfire.

Some of the most important research on happiness to emerge in recent years stands in direct opposition to the cult of positivity typified by bullshit positive-thinking self-help books that place a lopsided emphasis on setting grand personal goals of happiness. In a review co-authored in 2011 by Yale psychologist June Gruber, researchers found that the pursuit of happiness can actually lead to negative outcomes — not because surrounding yourself with positive people, mastering a skill, smiling, getting therapy or practicing self-governance aren't conducive to happiness, in and of themselves, but because "when you're doing it with the motivation or expectation that these things ought to make you happy, that can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness," says Gruber.

So be the zen master. Stop trying to focus on becoming happier and just be. Surround yourself with people not to become happy, but to enjoy their company. Master a skill not to increase your happy feels, but to savor the process of becoming.

I especially like #6. If we are in the moment more, whether good or bad, we will be happier I believe.

Working out with "Insanity"

Hello everyone. As I said in my year-end health report of 2012, I'm planning on running the Rock the Parkway Half Marathon in April. I am following a modified training schedule that combines several I found throughout the internet. The big difference between what I did for the marathon and this one is that I am trying to pace my workouts. This means that I do runs at different speeds for different reasons, like SPEED, TEMPO, EASY, STRENGTH. More on that in another post.

But, besides doing these run-specific workouts, I really wanted to work this winter on my core. In the past I've done some other bodyweight workouts from online, for example Bodyrock.tv and Fitnessblender.com, and made up others by myself. I've seen the infomercials for P90X but it uses equipment and it just didn't seem to be something that I wanted. Somehow I recently came across another Beachbody.com (the makers of P90X) workout series called "Insanity".

I know a lot of this is all hype and packaging but considering what I've done in the past with bodyweight exercise, at its core, it wasn't much different. A friend lent me his DVDS (funny, I found two people at work who had the DVDs but had never tried them) and I started the series.

One of the first things they ask you to do is to take a fit test which you repeat every 2 weeks to judge your progress. And they also suggest "before" pictures. With all the running I've been doing and with the weight I lost last year, I thought I was in pretty good shape until I took the photos. What an example of how our perceptions are very different from reality! To save your eyesight, I haven't posted the pics (and probably never will) but I would recommend folks doing this if you are starting any type of health program, especially if loosing weight.

I'm only on day 4, so it's too early to say much, but I will say that I'm enjoying them. But they are tough, real tough.

Doing a search on the internet will turn up either two camps - those that love it and those that don't. Rarely did I find anything in the middle. When I reach the 60 days, I'll let ya' know where I stand.

The DVD series is expensive (beware people selling bootleg copies) but if you ask around your family and friends like I did, you'll probably find someone who has them just gathering dust somewhere.

Here's a longer video with more about Insanity.

Simplicity in Action

Originally posted on BeMoreWithLess.com

BeMoreWithLess.com Editor’s Note: This is a post in the series, Simplicity in Action. If you’d like to submit your story of how simplicity has worked in your life, please read more here. You can write about anything from decluttering a junk drawer to simplifying your diet. Let your small and big changes inspire others.

Jim

In 1998, I backpacked the entire 2160-mile Appalachian Trail. It took me almost 6 months of carrying my whole life on my back. That was an eye-opening experience, that all my daily needs could be reduced to almost nothing. You had a very direct connection with your “stuff” because you had to physically carry it. It made you appreciate somethings worth, or non-worth. The two skills you learned quickly were:

If you didn’t use it every day, maybe you really didn’t need it.
Items that could do two or three or more jobs were preferable.

While hiking the trail, my whole apartment was put in storage above my parents garage. When I came home, I realized that so much of that “stuff” wasn’t really needed and was able to donate almost half to charity. But after each subsequent bit of long-distance travel (6 months biking across the US, a month walking across Spain and living in a Buddhist monastery, and more travels), the amount of “stuff” in storage became smaller and smaller.

I have just returned from 4 years as a volunteer English teacher at a Buddhist center in Mongolia. The amount I left in storage was now down to a very small box that only carries my souvenirs from all those previous trips, one-of-a-kind items. Anything else usually gets given to friends or to charity.

I guess what I have learned from all this is that instead of spending so much money (and time working to make that money) on things, I would much rather spend both the time and money on other things like travel and helping others. And because of this, I have seen with my own eyes that much of planet lives, and thrives, on a very frugal and simple lifestyle. Our great-grandparents probably knew that lifestyle but most Americans have long forgotten it.

And to be honest, I think I am a much happier person for all that has happened to me on my “simple” path. [smile]

If you’d like to read more about Jim’s travels like hiking the Appalachian Trail or his last 4 years in Mongolia, he has a blog called WanderingTheWorld.com.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less and connect with me on Twitter.

Looking back at 2012

Well all, sorry I haven't posted much since I returned home to the US of A. I guess you can say that's it's all been just as I remembered and just didn't have anything new to add to this blog. That's a good thing. [smile]

These days I'm not much for resolutions and such (I'm just trying to live the moment) but I thought I would look back to at least one area where I made a difference last year and hope to continue far into the future. And that is my health.

Weight

I know it was my own fault but gaining weight in Mongolia was relatively easy - the winters are long and its easy to stay inside doing not much, and food is high in calories to compensate for the colder climate. Add working pretty much 24/7 for four years and you might understand how I could get to a larger-than-normal size. I'm not sure how big, I didn't have a scale, but I'm guessing it was about 230 pounds. And this for a guy who was named "King PeeWee" when he was eleven for being the smallest kid at summer camp.

I started in 2011 and continue to this day taking more of an interest in my weight. I was able to loose over 50 lbs and now hovering around the 170s. Hoping to take that down even more as the spring weather gets here.

I know everyone has there ideas on how to loose weight but for me it was simply just cutting calories. I had a doctor once tell me that losing weight was 10% exercise and 90% cutting calories. I guess I'd have to agree.

I cut portions in half, everything. Ate from a smaller plate and bowl. And I even had a spoon that was be as small as a baby's. Instead of a fork, I used chopsticks to slow myself down from shoveling it in and overeating. I cut out high calorie things like bread. And it came off relatively quickly, almost 3 pounds a week. Now all I have to do is keep watching it and keep it from coming back.

One new idea I've found recently is to look at food as fuel - you wouldn't put bad gas into your car, so why put bad food into your body. Well, you get the idea.

Running

One thing that did help was running. I've run in the past, but mostly for training for soccer. Mostly for exercise I preferred cycling. I never thought running was fun. But, in Mongolia, without a bike, it was one thing I could do because all I needed was a pair of running shoes. I started out slow, doing a C35K - couch to 5 kilometer - program where you start out by walking a lot and running just a little bit. Slowly I got to the point where I could run the whole five kilometers.

I had a few relapses where I would gain the weight back and stop running. But I already knew in my mind what worked and just needed to get back on that horse. When I got back to the USA this past July I did get back on that horse. And decided to try a marathon.

Yes, I know crazy. Most people start doing 5k and 10k races, then after a few years, try a half-marathon. And once in a lifetime, they bite the bullet and give a full marathon a shot. I don't know why, but I just decided to skip all those steps and jump in the deep end so to speak.

In November, I ran in the North Face Challenge Kansas City Marathon in a time of 4:42. It was a lot of running taking many months to prepare. I'm happy I did it and completed it. Not sure if I'd do it again, but I'm glad to cross it off my list of "to do's".

Total about 760 miles

Dailymile.com

And I couldn't have done it without all the support and encouragement I got from friends on Dailymile.com. Here is a social website where 100% of the comments are beneficial. I've never met these "friends" in person, but online they were always quick to congratulate me on the high notes and pick me up on the lows. I owe much of my success on their support and I will forever grateful.

Bodyweight Exercise

Another part of training that I discovered was bodyweight exercise: exercise that requires no equipment other than your own body. Being in a foreign country with little access to exercise equipment let alone a gym made doing physical exercise difficult. But all the running advice I found said that to be a strong and injury-free runner, you needed a strong core. The wonderful thing about bodyweight exercise is that not only is your "equipment" always with you, the exercises themselves tend to be dynamic, not only making you stronger but also improving your balance and coordination. Every day there is more and more on the internet about bodyweight exercise, so I won't list all that I've tried but recently I've found FitnessBlender.com to be a good one for videos you can do at home.

Future

So, that's my look at the past, now let's look at the near future. Because of winter and the healthy need to run a little bit less, I've increased my bodyweight exercise which is great. I hope to continue getting stronger, with increased balance, coordination and agility.

But I guess you could say now that I'm a RUNNER. I can go out for five miles and feel alright with it, enjoying it instead of dreading it. [smile] And while I'm not sure I want to put in all the time required to train for a marathon again, a half-marathon wouldn't be half as bad. So, I signed up to run the "Rock the Parkway Half Marathon" in April.

So, here's hoping that your 2013 is a healthy one too. And who knows, maybe I'll see ya' out there on the road running a few miles. Just look for the thin guy. [smile]