Every year, my husband and I wonder what kind of birthday gift to give his dad, now 86 years old. We know very well what Mel would really enjoy: a weeklong visit with us and our children, with lots of time spent eating out in comfortable restaurants where he doesn't have to strain to follow the ...
Date Posted: February 21, 2014
Categories: Aging & Geriatric Issues, Happiness
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Psychologists Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin, along with Michael Norton of Harvard Business School, report that the benefits of helping others "are evident in givers old and young in countries around the world, and extend to not only subjective ...
Feb 14
Categories: Happiness
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Outgoing, conscientious, friendly people who are open to new experiences tend to be happier than those who are more shy, unadventurous, neurotic and unfriendly. It's easy to imagine why this might be so. Barely studied before now, however, is the ...
Feb 10
Categories: Happiness
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Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. So naturally we are obsessed with it.
I would love to be happier, as I'm sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ...
Feb 5
Categories: Happiness, Health / Illness / Medical Issues, Meditation, Workplace ...
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For some it's lying on a sun-drenched beach sipping sangria, for others it's wallowing in a cosy cocoon munching on chocolate and playing video games. Many people will admit that these or other immediate indulgences are what makes them happy. And ...
Dec 17
Categories: Happiness
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Economists have shed light on the vexed question of whether economic development can buy happiness – and it seems that life satisfaction actually dips among people living in the wealthiest countries.
Politicians are intensely interested in the ...
Dec 2
Categories: Happiness
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Two bodyguards trotted behind Enrique Peñalosa, their pistols jostling in holsters. There was nothing remarkable about that, given his profession – and his locale. Peñalosa was a politician on yet another campaign, and this was Bogotá, a city ...
Nov 26
Categories: Happiness
GOThis video looks at 'Buddhism and Happiness', as we ask are they a match made in heaven or something else?
Nov 25
Categories: Happiness
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You have probably heard and maybe even embrace the idea that money can’t buy happiness. I’ve said so myself numerous times.
But behavioral scientists and researchers Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton argue this is not exactly true. Money, if ...
Oct 9
Categories: Happiness
GOParents often say: ‘I just want my children to be happy.’ It is unusual to hear: ‘I just want my children’s lives to be meaningful,’ yet that’s what most of us seem to want for ourselves. We fear meaninglessness. We fret about the ...
Oct 7
Categories: Happiness
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Where do you go for a tasty bite and where the food is not so good? Where are you likely to meet an attractive partner and where you risk damage to your health? For every person - but also for animals - the information about pleasant and unpleasant ...
Oct 4
Categories: Happiness
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Has a movie or TV show ever left you feeling happy or uplifted about your own life? Entertainment media provides a wealth of emotionally evocative content, but relatively little attention has been paid to the subject of media creating positive ...
Sep 24
Categories: Happiness
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New research suggests the right kind of happiness can change the code that defines our very being: our genes.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the pattern of gene expression within the ...
Sep 17
Categories: Happiness
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Researchers at Princeton University are developing ways to use mobile phones to explore how one’s environment influences one’s sense of well-being.
In a study involving volunteers who agreed to provide information about their feelings and ...
Aug 24
Categories: Happiness
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Decades of research have shown that writing down your emotions has concrete health benefits - even helping wounds heal. But as more and more people publish their intimate feelings online, could they be doing themselves more harm than ...
Aug 21
Categories: Happiness
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People usually feel good when they make a charitable donation, but they feel even better if they make the donation directly to someone they know or in a way that builds social connection. Research to be published in the International Journal of ...
Aug 21
Categories: Happiness
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