Happiness Comes Cheap - Even for Millionaires

A bar of chocolate, a long soak in the bath, a snooze in the middle of the afternoon, a leisurely stroll in the park. These are the things that make us the most happy, according to new research from The University of Nottingham.

In a study commissioned by the National Lottery, Dr Richard Tunney of the University's School of Psychology found that it's the simple things in life that impact most positively on our sense of well being.

The study compared the 'happiness levels' of lottery jackpot winners with a control group, using a 'Satisfaction with Life Scale' developed by the University of Illinois. Respondents were asked how satisfied they were in relation to different elements of their life, their different mood states explored, how often they treated themselves and what form this took.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the flashy cars and diamond jewellery that upped the jackpot winners' happiness quotient. It was the listening to music, reading a book, or enjoying a bottle of wine with a takeaway that really made the difference.

Dr Tunney said: “Modern-day pressures take their toll on everyday happiness. As a result we try to make ourselves feel better and happier through personal rewards and treats. We've all heard the saying 'a little bit of what you fancy does you good', and treating yourself is the ideal way to keep spirits lifted when you're down in the dumps.

“As lottery jackpot winners are on the whole happier than non-winners — 95 per cent claim they are positive about their life compared to 71 per cent of people in the control group — we researched the treats they rewarded themselves with to see what could influence their mood state.”

The survey contrasted cost-free activities, such as walking and snoozing, with expensive ones like overseas holidays. It asked how frequently they might purchase 'staying in treats' — like a bottle of wine — and how often they bought themselves items like shoes, mobile phones and DVDs.

The research found that happy people — whether lottery jackpot winners or not — liked long baths, going swimming, playing games and enjoying their hobby. Those who described themselves as less happy didn't choose the cost-free indulgences. They rewarded themselves with CDs, cheap DVDs and inexpensive meals out instead.

“While buying sports cars, giving up work and going on exotic holidays is out of reach for most of us, there are small lessons we can learn from society's happiest people to help improve our quality of life,” Dr Tunney added.

“It appears that spending time relaxing is the secret to a happy life. Cost-free pleasures are the ones that make the difference — even when you can afford anything that you want.”

You Can Feel Good About Yourself

How are you doing today? I hope your answer is that you are doing well and that you feel good. I wanted to write today about some ways you can positively affect how you feel inside. You really do have control over your inner space so why not be happy and optimistic about your day and your life. Take these following ideas and experiwment with them and see if the don’t brighten your day.

Accept Yourself – I write about self-acceptance regularly because many people do not accept who they are. This is simply a learned bias against yourself. Please make a commitment to stop judging yourself so harshly and replace those critical ways with love. Love yourself as you are now in this moment. Whatever resistance you have to loving yourself is old beliefs or programming you can change starting today. Accepting who you are in this moment is the starting point. Sure we all need to grow but growth goes best when you can love yourself as you are and then seek to be more of who you want to be.

Listen Inward – there is much going on inside of you. You have 10’s of thousands of thoughts and many emotions all flowing through you in a day. It is tough to keep up with all of this. Learn to pay attention to how you feel. Hear the voice of intuition or inner guidance that wants to show you the way. Also listen to the call of purpose and what your truth and guiding values are. Taking time each day to listen inward will provide you much feedback about how to shape your day and life into a masterpiece. You create your experience of the world from inside of you. Become good at letting your emotions, your intuitions, you truths guide you. Be careful of your reactions, your limiting beliefs, your inner critic because they are not taking you higher. Spend time each day getting to know your inner landscape and become an interior designer of harmony, balance and joy.

Feel Deserving and Grateful – not matter what thoughts say “no”, you do deserve the best in all parts of your life. Any thoughts of not deserving are learned limitations and need to be changed. You are an amazing human being in the midst of discovering all that you are and can be. Be grateful for your heart that loves and want to love more. Be grateful for your health of body, mind, and spirit. Be grateful for each breath you are given to explore even more of life and all the treasures of wonder, beauty and joy you can find. Be full of your greatness and live into a life that is meant to be celebrated, enjoyed, and played with.

If you play with, explore and practice these ideas you will find an inner harmony that feels great and you will create a life that you will be grateful to live in. That life is available now.

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection. Buddha

For me, giving thanks is a sign of appreciation and gratitude that also brings about a deep sense of peace. Wally Amos

Freedom is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves. Rollo May

Happiness Helps People Stay Healthy

People who are happier in their daily lives have healthier levels of key body chemicals than those who muster few positive feelings, a new study suggests. This means happier people may have healthier hearts and cardiovascular systems, possibly cutting their risk of diseases like diabetes.

Previous studies have shown that depression is associated with health problems compared to average emotional states. But few studies have looked at the effects of positive moods on health. Now, researchers at University College London, UK, have linked everyday happiness with healthier levels of important body chemicals, such as the stress hormone cortisol.

“This study showed that whether people are happy or less happy in their everyday lives appears to have important effects on the markers of biological function known to be associated with disease,” says clinical psychologist Jane Wardle, one of the research team. “Perhaps laughter is the best medicine,” she adds.

“This is the best data to date that associates positive emotional feelings with good effects on your health,” says Carol Shively, at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, US. “We usually concentrate on things that are either bad or wrong, rather than good or right.”
Civil subjects

The team studied 216 middle-aged men and women living in London, UK, who are part of the ongoing “Whitehall II” study of thousands of civil servants, led by Michael Marmot.

This subset was asked to rate how happy they had been feeling in the last five minutes at about 33 points during their working or leisure days. At these points, their heart rates and blood pressures were also measured by an automated system.

Saliva samples were also taken from the volunteers at eight points during a working day and a leisure day to test levels of the stress hormone cortisol. On one occasion, the subjects were invited into the lab and given a “mildly stressful” task to perform while their biological responses were measured. The team controlled for factors such as socioeconomic position, age and gender to try to tease out the effects of happiness alone on health.

“The happier you were, the lower your cortisol levels during the day,” says Wardle. “For men, but not for women, the happier you were the lower your average heart rate was.”

Cortisol is a stress hormone of which high levels are linked to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. And lower heart rates are associated with good cardiovascular health.
Sticky blood

In addition, individuals who said they were happy nearly every time they were asked had lower levels of a blood protein called fibrinogen following the stressful task. This molecule makes blood “sticky” and is vital in the clotting process, but high concentrations can signal future coronary heart disease problems.

Shively notes that scientists have theorised that emotions enable individuals to respond appropriately to the environment. “Here’s a great example of how happiness might be modulating responses to the environment. Happiness might be every bit as important as other emotions which get a lot more press, like anger or depression.”

Wardle adds that the way the brain functions during happy states “perhaps makes the little hassles and irritations of everyday life loom less large, so you don’t get such strong reactions to them”.