11 Oct How well do you know route to happiness?
Try this interesting happiness quiz from the Seattle PI.com
How well do you know route to happiness?
By DR. JOYCE BROTHERS
The quest for happiness is a common one, but the need for it increases during troubled times. How much do you know about how to find it and which road to take? Here’s a chance to find out.
1. The true route to happiness is almost the same for everyone, young or old, male or female.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
2. Happiness is built in; it’s either there or it isn’t, and there’s no way to learn it.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
3. Youth — especially the years between puberty and the end of adolescence — is the happiest time in life.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
4. Those who are able to empathize with others, be aware of their feelings and have some understanding of them are happier than those who are more emotionally isolated.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
5. It’s the big events in life, such as winning the lottery or meeting the person of your dreams and having him or her fall madly in love with you, that determine your overall happiness for the rest of your life.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
6. Unfortunately, good deeds alone don’t make us happier.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
7. Happiness makes us healthier.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
8. The reason people are unfaithful and/or become addicted to sex is because the more they have the happier they are.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
ANSWERS:
1. FALSE. What brings happiness to one person can bring boredom, even depression, to another, no matter what the age.
2. FALSE: Having more optimistic attitudes, learning to view setbacks differently, so they ultimately turn into something positive rather than negative, can lead to growth and greater happiness. There are many other ways.
3. FALSE. This is a myth. As we get older, we often imagine this to be the case, but there’s usually a great deal of stress during adolescence, which often is behind the high suicide rate for teens.
4. TRUE. One of the reasons this is true is that those who can empathize are apt to have more close friends: a built-in support system that helps them avoid being cut off and isolated.
5. FALSE. It turns out that overall it’s the way we react to the small, everyday things of life, and the number of these relatively small things that give us pleasure, that determines our state of happiness.
6. FALSE. Apparently, doing for others, cooperating, acts of kindness and basically getting along rather than fighting has its positive side, and one is that it actually does make us feel good. Like some recreational drugs, it can create a euphoria and relieve tension and depression.
7. TRUE. Tension, anger and stress are all bad for our physical and our mental health. Cynics, those who mistrust everyone and everything, are five times as likely to die under age 50 as are those who lead calmer lives.
8. FALSE. This often isn’t the case. Those who’re addicted to sex seek it to escape from unhappiness; however, any high from sex doesn’t last. Most admit that they don’t enjoy the actual sex that much, and they’re left with anxiety, guilt and more frustration.
If you answered six of these eight questions correctly, you’re better informed than most on this particular subject.