According to researchers at The Happiness Project in the U.K., only 50% of our brain’s processing system is inherited. So whether or not you lean more toward gloom or glee has something to do with Mom and Dad and all those nutty ancestors, but it also has something to do with YOU! You can’t control your genes, but here’s what you can control:
You can actually choose to be happy or, at least, happier. Easier said than done, right? Well, positive psychologist Dr. Jonathan Haidt has devised a handy-dandy formula for how to be happy: Calculators out!
H = S + C + V
H = level of happiness
S = set point for happiness
C = current conditions
V = voluntary activities
In other words, your happiness level is a potent mix of how naturally happy you are combined with whatever’s going on in your life right now that affects your happiness, plus those voluntary activities you choose to fill your life with. (There’s that word choose again!)
Happiness Assignment: If your happiness level isn’t registering high enough because current conditions are dragging you down, forget about what you can’t control and focus on doing some really fun and fulfilling V’s.
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