Happiness helps people stay healthy

Happiness helps people stay healthy

Thesis:

According to studies, people who have positive thinking and are usually happy are less likely than others to develop diseases.

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.

Works Cited:

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100221_happy.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7282-happiness-helps-people-stay-healthy.html

I am grateful for.....

I am grateful for:

          I believe that gratitude is a virtue by which a person recognizes everything that has received. Essentially, gratitude is an interior disposition, a grateful heart, some people try to express in words and in deeds for which they received.

          I am very grateful with my parents. They gave me a good education, taught me many values such as respect and honesty. I owe my life and what I am to my parents. I have many beautiful memories of my childhood with them. My mother took care of me all night when I was sick. She was always there when I needed something; she was like a friend to me. I remember that my father worked very hard for my mother and me.  They were and are excellent parents.

          I am also grateful with God for all the beautiful things I have received in my life. For example, I am grateful for my health, because without it there I couldn’t enjoy the wonders of the world. Right now, I am grateful for my baby and my husband. They are now the happiness of my life. I really feel happy and grateful for all the blessings that God has given me.

cultivate happier relationships.

Cultivate happier relationships.

Some people think that a good relationship is when they find the right person, but really all depends on how you cultivate and know your partner. It is important to maintain a good relationship participated in activities that are significant or enjoyable to ourselves as well as to our partner. Spending time together, build a base that can weather predictable storms and express gratitude and sacrifices are important factors to cultivate happier relationships.

Spending time with your romantic partner and participating in activities that are important to ourselves as well as to our partner are essential factors to cultivate happier relationship. According to the article happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains “spending meaningful time with friends, family or romantic partner is necessary for happiness (111). Personally, I feel happy when I spend time and share precious moments with my husband. After my parents he is the most important and valuable person in my life. In the article Happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains “the most important and challenging component of a happy relationship is not finding the one right person but rather cultivating the one chose relationship” (120).  To illustrate, some people think that a good relationship is when they find the right person, but really all depends on how you cultivate and know your partner. Couples should be motivated by something that makes them happy. In my case, my husband and I try to do different activities that are meaningful and enjoyable for us. For example, we both like to go to the movies and surprises. I feel happy when my husband prepares a surprise to make me feel good. In addition, routine makes a relationship ends or helps to decreases happiness. That’s why people have to find ways to avoid this problem doing meaningful and pleasurable things for the relationship.

Other way to cultivate happier relationships is building a solid foundation that can withstand predictable storms in the relationship. Knowing our partner deeply is one of the best techniques to achieve a solid foundation in the couple. According to the article happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains “As we get to know one another and spend time together engaged in activities that we care about most, we build a foundation that can weather inevitable storms” (121). In other words, to create a firm relationship we should know more about our partner. Tal Ben- Shahar also introduces the way “We cultivate intimacy by knowing and being known” (121). Knowing our partner makes us feel more confident and secure about how to act in a specific situation in the relationship. For example, sometimes economic problems affect relationships, but when you have a solid foundation with your partner is easier to solve and find solutions that will bring an atmosphere of prosperity. On the other hand, most time people who don’t have a firm relationship tend to despair and make mistakes when they have any problem. Consequently they don’t find ways to solve or find solution to create a better environment in the relationship.

 Express gratitude and make sacrifices help to build a stronger and beautiful relationship. For instance, when you first met your partner, came to be a mutual affection because of certain things you had in common. Maybe it was because you met in a way that seems to indicate that had the same interest and goals as you. However, after time passes you have to make some sacrifices and show gratitude to cultivate happier relationship. In the article Happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains "it is important to note that standing by one’s partner in a time of need is not sacrificed; when we love someone, we often feel that helping that person is helping ourselves" (117). I totally agree that when we love someone we have to think not only in our welfare but also on the welfare of our partner. In my own experience, I had to sacrifice a lot of things like my friends, my own interest and stop thinking selfishly since I got married. My husband and I knew from that first moment that everything would change. Any decision to make would affect us both. As Nathaniel Branden notes, “This is the great complement of love: that our self-interest expands to encompass our partner” (117). On the other hand, gratitude is very important in romantic relationship. When we express appreciation to our partner, we are cultivating happier relationships. You make feel your partner comfortable and happy when you appreciate everything that you partner does to increases happiness in the relationship. .

In conclusion, to cultivate happier relationships we must find ways to motivate our romantic relationship and try to maintain an atmosphere of prosperity. We have many ways to find happiness in the relationship such as spending time together, build a base that can weather predictable storms and express gratitude and sacrifices. In addition, sometimes the dynamism and richness of social participation will depend on what we are able to provide and know others deeply.       

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Spending More Time with Loved Ones

Satisfying social relationships is important in contributing to a good emotional state. “Spending meaningful time with friends, family, or romantic partners is necessary for happiness” (111).  Personally, I fell happy when I spend time with my family and share important things like eating together. They are the most important and valuable in my life. I am also proud of the family that God has given me. My loved ones give me the strength to keep going when I feel defeated. This means that without their care and support would be more difficult to cope with daily problems. For these and many other reasons I love to share with my loved ones and I would like to have more time to see them.

Sacrifice vs. Sharing

In the article Happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains that it is important to note that standing by one’s partner in a time of need is not sacrificed; when we love someone, we often feel that helping that person is helping ourselves (117). I totally agree that when we love someone we have to think not only in our welfare but also on the welfare of our partner. In my own experience, I had to sacrifice a lot of things like my friends, my own interest and stop thinking selfishly when I got married. My husband and I knew from that first moment that everything would change. Any decision to make would affect us both.

Cultivating vs Finding

In the article Happiness in relationship, Tal Ben-Shahar explains that the most important and challenging component of a happy relationship is not finding the one right person but rather cultivating the one chose relationship (120). Personally, any relationship should be encouraged every day. “We cultivate intimacy by knowing and being known”(121). In my case, my husband and I try to do different activities like going to the movies, sharing time in what we really like to avoid falling into the routine. It is important for us know one another, spend time together and do activities that make us happy.

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Work and happiness

        

Most times we see how people complain about their jobs. We identified job as an activity or obligation that requires a physical or mental effort or as a trade or profession that will give us a salary to live comfortably. Consequently, we never feel pleasure and happiness at work. What would be best to get up every day and go to work happy and content? I think that study what I like can help me to feel happy at work.

If we study what we really like, we will be happy not only at school but also in our job. In other words if we don’t enjoy what we are studying we probably won’t be happy at work. I can’t imagine myself in a job where I am going to expend almost all my life unhappy. For that reason I am trying to identify what major can be perfect for me in accordance to what I really like to do. For example, helping people, solving problems and reading about mental process and behavior make me happy. In fact, I think that I will enjoy being a psychologist and helping people.  

In conclusion, study what we really like are the base to be happy at work. In my case, I found that work as a psychologist can be perfect. I like to share with people, solve problems, and know about human behavior and mental process. I really feel comfortable and happy when I am doing this sort of things and more when I am helping somebody.

Happiness in education 2

Happiness in education

We spend almost half our lives studying and going to school. But, sometimes this looks like a boring routine. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine or obligation, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I have been asking myself, how I can increase my happiness level when it comes to my education and I finally got many ideas. Which are getting positive and optimistic thinking, studying what I really like, defeat some challenges such as fears and stress.

Positive and optimistic thinking are really important not only to increase happiness in education but also to be successful in everything we do. When I get negative thinking, like I can’t finish this homework or I can’t pass the test, I notice that actually I can’t do it. Consequently, these negative feelings make me fell bad and decrease my motivation. For those reasons I think that being positive is one of the best ways to increase happiness in education. For example, I remember that weeks before taking the ACT test I was very scared and sad because I did not fell very confident with my knowledge. I come to the United States 2 years ago and English has been difficult for me to learn. Even I had all these obstacles I started to think positively and I passed the test. It means that my positives thoughts like I can do it motivate me to study hard and present the test.

            Studying what I really like is another way that can help me to increase my happiness in education. In other words when you study something that you like or makes you happy it is wonderful because that means you are enjoying what you are doing. In Ken Robinson’s speech he introduced how people move us away from the things we like with the argument that we will never find a job doing it. For instance, don’t study art or music because you will not be successful. Many talented, brilliant and creative people drop out what they like to study something that will keep them unhappy. In my own experience, people tell me “study something that makes you rich” or “don’t study that because you will not find a job”. I don't care about what will make me rich. I am looking for a major that really interest me because I don’t imagined myself in a class that I am not going to enjoying. For those reasons I fell that studying what I really like will help me to be happy and maintain a good emotional state.

I want also defeat some challenges such as fears to increases my happiness in education. One of my fears is that I am not confident with the English language. It becomes a feeling of insecurity and fear. For example, often I don’t feel good or safe in some classes like psychology, because it has a lot of vocabulary that I can’t recognize. Consequently, it brings me unhappiness and frustration when I get out of class. Sometimes, I think in the possibility to come back to my country and studying there, but in the end I realize that I have more opportunities here. In fact, I’m looking for a way to not feel this fear and make solutions such as reading what the teacher will explain in class before the psychology’s class start, this means that I have the opportunity to find and understand unfamiliar words and feel more confident in class. In addition, I want this fear to become a motivation for me to studying hard and never surrender. If I can overcome this fear my happiness in education would increase.

Other challenge to defeat is my stress when it comes from my education. I have so much information to carry in my mind and this makes my stress intolerable. Sometimes I feel that education becomes a routine, for example, every week I get up at 6:00 am to start my class schedule, I finish at 2:00 pm with my classes, then I do all my homework, and finally I go to bed when I finish with them . In the end of the day I am stressed and tired. Other thing that increases my stress is when I predict about something. As Daniel Gilbert says “we falter when we imagine how we will feel about something in the future”.  When I think that I am no able to do something as a test or homework I get a lot of stress and consequently this affects my emotional states. To increase my happiness level when it comes to my education I have to find a way to reduce my stress in education. For those reasons I’m thinking about the possibility of doing something different to distract my mind like relaxing at home and then continue studying, I can also distribute my time better to not have many things to do at the same time. And finally, I have to stop predicting what will happen with my education if I want to maintain a good emotional state.

In conclusion, education is one of the most important things in life. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I found that keep a positive thinking, studying what I really like and defeat some challenges such as fears and stress can help me to increase my happiness level when it comes to my education.

Happiness in education

Happiness in education

          We spend almost half our lives studying and going to school. But, sometimes this looks like a boring routine. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine or obligation, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I have been asking myself this week, how I can increase my happiness level when it comes to my education and I finally got two ideas. Which are getting positive and optimistic thinking and studying what I really like.

          Positive and optimistic thinking are really important not only to increase happiness in education but also to be successful in everything we do. When I get negative thinking, like I can’t finish this homework or I can’t pass the test, I notice that actually I can’t do it. Consequently, these negative feelings make me fell bad and decrease my motivation. For those reasons I think that being positive is one of the best ways to increase happiness in education. For example, I remember that weeks before taking the ACT test I was very scared and sad because I did not fell very confident with my knowledge. I come to the United States 2 years ago and English has been difficult for me to learn. Even I had all these obstacles I started to think positively and I passed the test. It means that my positives thoughts like I can do it motivate me to study hard and present the test.

          Studying what I really like is another way that can help me to increase my happiness in education. In other words when you study something that you like or makes you happy it is wonderful because that means you are enjoying what you are doing. In Ken Robinson’s speech he introduced how people move us away from the things we like with the argument that we will never find a job doing it. For instance, don’t study art or music because you will not be successful. Consequently, many talented, brilliant and creative people drop out what they like to study something that will keep them unhappy. In my own experience, people tell me “study something that makes you rich” or “don’t study that because you will not find a job”. I don't care about what will make me rich. I am looking for a major that really interest me because I don’t imagined myself in a class that I am not going to enjoying. For those reasons I fell that studying what I really like will help me to be happy and maintain a good emotional state.

          In conclusion, education is one of the most important things for many people. We have to do something to motivate ourselves and help to see education not as a routine, but as something pleasurable that will bring benefits. I found that keep a positive thinking and studying what I really like can help me to increase my happiness level when it comes to my education.