How Happy Are You?
I just recently purchased the book "Happy" by Dr. Ian Smith. You may be familiar with Dr. Ian Smith from the Celebrity Fit Club. In the book "Happy", Dr. Ian Smith asked the question "Where are the happiest people in the world?" Well my first response was California, Hawaii or Florida.
Maybe I am a little bit biased but for me, wherever there is the combination of sunshine and ocean there is also happiness. Well as I continued to read the book, I became aware that America is not even close to being the place where you would find the happiest people in the world.
The happiest people in the world are in Denmark. Yes, Denmark! The reason that the people who live in Denmark are considered to be the happiest is because they place more emphasis on doing things that brings them joy such as spending time with their families and other meaningful activities.
On the hand, the reason why people in the States do not fare high on the list of happiest people are because they place emphasis on chasing money and material possessions which means working long hours of work. If you are at work most of the time then you do not have any time to pursue the things that will make you happy.
Take The Happy Test
Dr. Ian Smith, also stated that much of your happiness is genetic. Yes, genetic!He said that their is a set point for your happiness and this point varies in people. Your set point is sorta like a weight set point. You can alter your happiness set point some, but not dramatically. How do you feel about this statement...
Your ability to experience happiness is also based on your environment and how well you are able to respond to your environment.
Take the Happiness Test and Measure Your Happiness
The "Satisfaction with Life Scale" is a test created by Psychologist Ed Drier. This test is a list of 5 questions that will help you to get an idea of you level of happiness
7-Strongly Agree
6-Agree
5- Slightly Agree
4-Neither agree nor disagree
3-Slightly disagree
2-Disagree
1-Strongly disagree
___In most ways my life is close to my ideal.
___The conditions of my life are excellent.
___ I am satisfied with my life.
___So far I have gotten the important things that I want in my life
___If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing
Add up your scores and compare the total the the table below
- 35-31 Extremely satisfied
- 26-30 Satisfied
- 21-25 Slightly satisfied
- 20 Neutral
- 15-19 Slightly dissatisfied
- 10-14 Dissatisfied
- 5-9 Extremely dissatisfied
Dr. Ian Smith "3 Step Happiness Plan"
Step #1: List five things that are meaningful in your life but are not money or material possessions
1._______________________________
2._______________________________
3._______________________________
4._______________________________
5._______________________________
Step #2: Take the five items that you listed above and estimate the amount of time you spend each week doing them experiencing them, or thinking about them.
1._____________________ hrs. per week___
2._____________________ hrs. per week___
3._____________________ hrs. per week____
4. _____________________hrs. per week____
5._____________________ hrs. per week____
Step #3: Increase your happiness time
Increase your happiness time by simply reorganizing your time so that you have more time to do the things that are meaningful to you.
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Be The Best Person You Can Be
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