16 Feb The hidden hub of happiness
Another great happiness article from the Huffington Post…
by Joe Robinson
Unlike aardvarks or ferrets, behavioral cues don’t come with our biology. The Arctic tern knows exactly when to head south. We, however, are flying blind most of the time, since the instinct we follow is of the herd kind. Without built-in guidelines, researchers say we try to conform to what we think the majority is doing. While it may work at the ballot box, majority rule is a loser when it comes to determining your happiness, which depends on what you’re doing — nobody else.
Much as we’re badgered to be like others, buy like others or succeed like others to be happy, the nature of satisfaction is that it only comes from actions you take that make you feel gratified. Happiness and its long-form version, fulfillment, are a byproduct of what researchers call “intentional activity” — proactive choices we make to interact with our world in ways that satisfy core needs for self-determination, competence and connection with others.
“Intentional activity has the best potential to elevate people into the upper end of their happiness range,” researchers Sonja Lyubomirsky, Kennon Sheldon and David Schkade report in an article on the crucial role that activities play in building and sustaining positive mood.
In real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. When it comes to happiness, it’s initiation, initiation, initiation. You have to initiate to participate in the intentional activities and experiences that increase your happiness. Happy is as happy does…
…to read the full and original happiness from the Huffington Post site JUST CLICK HERE