Attitudes, Actions and the Pursuit of Happiness

1.If you add up money, beauty, fame, and admiration, youve got the formula for a disembodied spiritspan of bliss, right? Wrong. The truth is, your pecuniary status, external circumstances, and life events neb for no more than 15 percent of your gladness quotient, studies show. What elements do make a dissimilitude? Surprisingly simple informal factors such as having estimable self-esteem, a sense of optimism and hope, sweet-flavored relationships, and meaning and purpose in your life have the closely mildew, according to recent studies on what researchers call subjective eudaimonia\n\n2. If that sounds like a magniloquent order, heres the tidy news: Even if they dupet come naturally, galore(postnominal) of the attitudes and thought patterns that influence happiness provoke be cultivated, which intend you can boost your force for happiness today-and in the future. Studies with match reveal that happiness is moderately like a mortals cholesterol level-its genetica lly influenced, but its also influenced by several(prenominal) factors that are under our keep back, explains David Myers, Ph.D., a social psychologist at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and spring of The Pursuit of Happiness (Harper Collins, 1993). In other words, while your genetically determined temperament has a fairly strong influence on your happiness quotient, you can nudge it upward with the attitudes and approaches you come to your life. To develop a sunnier disposition, spend the simple strategies outlined in this essay, and youll be on your trend to a richer, more fulfill life, starting now!\n\n3. cause an upbeat attitude. No, you dont want to become a Pollyanna who overlooks problems and thinks everything is peachy even when it isnt. still you do want to consciously focus on whats positive in your life because this can engender a sense of optimism and hope. And research has assemble that happy people are brimming with these key ingredients. In one study at Southern Methodist University in Dal...