INSPIRATION LINE Make Up Your Mind

Joyful Lifestyles: Weekly Insights
REALIZING FULFILLMENT

This week we're going to specifically address JOYFUL LIFESTYLES themselves and how YOU can have one for your very own. My good friend and associate, Dave Boufford at www.PositiveNews.net , shared a wonderful article with me called "Psychologists Now Know What Makes People Happy." This USA Today feature, written by Marilyn Elias, states that, "The happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don't care about keeping up with the Joneses next door, lose themselves in daily activities and, most important, forgive easily."

The happiest people spend the least time alone. They pursue personal growth and intimacy; they judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do or have."Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren't as happy as those who care less about getting and spending. There's also evidence that altruistic acts boost happiness in the giver. That doesn't surprise Betsy Taylor, president of the Center for a New American Dream, a Takoma Park, Md., nonprofit that favors simple living and opposes commercialism. "The altruism part is worth keeping in mind," Taylor says. "Our mantra is 'more fun, less stuff.' Do for others, we say."

Good feelings aren't "all in the head," though. Actions matter, just not in the way often believed. Life satisfaction occurs most often when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time and stop worrying. "Flow" is the term Claremont Graduate University psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined to describe this phenomenon. People in flow may be sewing up a storm, doing brain surgery, playing a musical instrument or working a hard puzzle with their child. The impact is the same: A life of many activities in flow is likely to be a life of great satisfaction, Csikszentmihalyi says. And you don't have to be a hotshot to get there. Flow stretches someone but pleasurably so, not beyond his capacity. "People feel best when doing what they do best," he says. Everyone has "signature strengths," adds University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman, (author of the book, Authentic Happiness) and the happiest use them. Doing so can lead to choices that astound others but yield lasting satisfaction..

Gratitude has a lot to do with life satisfaction, psychologists say. Talking and writing about what they're grateful for amplifies adults' happiness, new studies show. Other researchers have found that learning to savor even small pleasures has the same effect. And forgiveness is the trait most strongly linked to happiness, says University of Michigan psychologist Christopher Peterson. "It's the queen of all virtues, and probably the hardest to come by," he adds.

AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS:
Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment
By Martin E. P. Seligman
Click for Book Details & Reviews

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From the Inside Out MAKE UP YOUR MIND

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MAKE UP YOUR MIND