Happiness

According to the cast of the original "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown", happiness is many things including: pizza with sausage, telling the time, having a sister and walking hand in hand - just to name a few. Happiness is a lot of things to a lot of people, and now researchers at Harvard have proven one more thing...it's contagious.

Now I'm really not sure how groundbreaking an idea this is - personal experience tells us that when we are around happy people, we are happier. Now Naomi Krasge of Bloomberg News has reported on a Harvard study that proves it. Happy Despite it All? brings up some interesting points.

According to the research, happiness can actually ripple through social networks, up to three degrees of separation - that means you know somebody who knows somebody, who knows somebody.

Other items of note:
"A person is 25% more likely to be happy after a shift toward happiness in a friend who lives within 1 mile" and "Happy next-door neighbors made it 34% more probable that a person would feel good"

The study assessed 4700 people over 20 years.

Kinda cool stuff.

There are 2 morals to the story for me:
1. Focus on being happy. It is not only a benefit to YOU but to your friends, neighbors and loved-ones -and THEIR family, friends and loved ones.
2. Find happy people. Hang out with them. A lot. It will help your attitude and disposition and lead you toward happiness - which leads us back to point #1.

Check out the article, have a great weekend, and in the words of Bobby McFerrin "don't worry, be happy"