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November 11, 2005
The Proven Road To Happiness
If you want to increase your happiness -- including your financial well-being -- find concrete ways to express your gratitude.
Give Thanks to Get Happy
"Gratitude seems to be incompatible with some negative emotions. It's hard to feel envious or greedy or bitter when you're grateful," says Sonia Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside. She conducted an experiment in which students were instructed to write down five things for which they were grateful. One group wrote once a week, another three times a week, and a control group did not write at all. Those who counted their blessings once a week showed a measurable rise in happiness.
Interestingly, students who wrote more frequently apparently got bored with the routine and showed no change in well-being. Researchers suggest that if you practice gratitude, choose a timetable that keeps it meaningful, and change the domain in which you contemplate your good fortune every week -- from, say, health to career to relationships to simple pleasures. That may help sustain the rise in happiness created by the exercise.
Posted by tradrmick at November 11, 2005 01:11 PM
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