The Happy Guy

Just a quick blog note today to let you know that I am quoted in the new Words to Help You Be Happy in All the Ways That Matter Most book, by Blue Mountain Arts.

This is a quotations book, and I am joined by a number of people you have probably heard of, such as Mary Lou Retton, Victor Hug and Suzanne Somers, as well as fresh, new voices that you have never heard of before (as I imagine I am to most readers of this book).  You can find my quote on page 50 (actually, it is most of page 50).

As you can see, Amazon.com does not yet even have a cover image of the book, so you can be one of the first to pick up a copy.  (The copies do already exist – I am staring at one right now on my desk.)

This handy little book makes a great gift.  I am grateful for having been included.

“Short people got…no reason.  Short people got…no reason.  Short people got…no reason to live.”

Remember that old Randy Newman song?  Good thing I don’t always pay attention to the lyrics.  And I think this diminutive giant will also ignore the finding of a new Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index study.

The folks at Gallup have come up with data showing that below average height men are angrier, more irritable and more stressed than average.  On the other hand, they found that taller guys feel more happiness and enjoyment in their lives.

Well they didn’t survey me!

Here is a little something the folks at Gallup have to say about height and money:

“Alternatively, each additional inch of height has the same effect on reported life satisfaction as a four percent increase in family income.”

Since we know that money can’t buy happiness for most people, although it does alleviate frustrations and stress for those who are well-below the poverty line, does this mean that a really short person who gains an inch (high heels, anyone?) gets happier, but a taller person would not benefit from growing?

Probably.  But Gallup doesn’t say.  (Why don’t they ask the really interesting questions?)

What Gallup does say is that taller people make more money than short people  (NEWSFLASH: High ROI from high heels!), so could that explain why they are happier?

“People with more education have higher income and higher status jobs, and they earn more money. Money, in turn, is a powerful predictor of life satisfaction.”

Gee, Gallup.  Now my education and income aren’t good enough for you either?

Ladies, the news is a little less grim for you, perhaps because you are not expected to be as tall as I am, so at least you have an excuse.  But taller women still get all the good stuff, education, status, income, just with slightly less of a complex if you aren’t named America’s richest man this year.

Read into the report what you want, but I’m not paying attention.  I can make my own happiness.  And you can too!

Lloyd Garver of the Norwich Bulletin is obviously not a big fan of happiness books, but at least he refers to mine as… “Some of these popular happy books include, ‘Climb your Stairway to Heaven: The 9 Habits of Maximum Happiness’“.

The problem with Mr. Garver is probably not so much his grumpiness, but his poor sense of direction.  See what else he says, “The reason you can’t find the kind of book you’re looking for is that all the self-help books about how to be happy fill up the shelves. Ironically, this makes some of us quite unhappy.”

Fortunately for us and for the sake of clarity, he does specify what kind of book you’re looking for.  A real book.  Hey, those are his words, not mine.

If books about happiness and self-help are not what he is looking for, why is he looking in the self-help section?  I have to assume he is simply lost, because obviously he won’t find any real books there.  Either that, or he is a very grumpy man with a great sense of theatrics (not to mention irony).  And nothing makes a grumpy person grumpier than a happy person saying to him, “Smile!”  (Yes, grumpy people really, really hate happy photographers!)

If the bookstores would kindly provide visitors with maps when they enter the store, people who don’t want to be happy can avoid accidentally finding themselves surrounded by all those threatening smiley faces.  And they can get on with the business of finding “real books”, which apparently bookstores don’t seem to stock anymore.

That oughta solve the problem.

Hmm…I wonder what he would think of a happiness blog.  Would you call this a “real” blog?

Yes, it’s official.  People with strong literacy skills are happier than those who struggle with reading.  But I didn’t have to tell you that, right?

A study by the National Literacy Trust shows that men and women alike are less likely to marry, less likely to own a home, more likely to live still with their parents and less likely to feel satisfied with life if they can’t read.

Of course, you always have to be careful, because statistics can say pretty much whatever you want.  Lower literacy means a lower paying job in most cases, which might in turn explain the findings.  Or lower levels of happiness in certain people might lead then to read less and learn less.  Cause and effect are not always easy to establish.

That being said, literacy facilitates so much that a focus on increasing a person’s literacy should help them in many facets of their lives, most likely also in their happiness (being able to read is very empowering), and having access to more information when one needs it reduces happiness-zapping frustration.

And if literacy in one language is empowering, what about literacy in several?  Yes, learn some more languages, and you’ll be surprised at the doors it opens up for you.

For those interested in reading the report in its entirety:
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/literacy_changes_lives.html

Today’s Los Angeles Times has a feature on happiness, my favorite topic.  The feature helps debunk a lot of myths, mostly that things and circumstances make us happy, sad, angry or whatever.  Here is the paragraph that most people should read:

Lyubomirsky and her colleagues analyzed studies on identical twins and other research and came to the conclusion that happiness is 50% genetic, 40% intentional and 10% circumstantial. “Half of your predisposition toward happiness you can’t change,” she says. “It’s in your genes. Your circumstances — where you live, your health, your work, your marriage — can be tough to change. But most people are surprised that circumstances don’t account for as much of their happiness as they think.”

Just for the record, there really is not an accurate way to measure happiness, because it is such a subjective issue.  However, a 50-50 divide between genetics and environment is generally considered a good rough estimate by most happiness researchers.  Depending on the effort you make or do not make, I am sure that number is very elastic, but let’s play with that number for now.  🙂

The L.A. Times feature continues on other pages, too.  For instance, there is an excellent list of handy tips for “cultivating happiness” .

Happy reading.

It’s all the rage these days: “narge”. What is narge? Well, it just happens to be how both many daughters pronounced “orange” for the first couple years of talking. (OK, one of them is still in those first couple years).

What is so hard about the word “orange”. Even when broken down repeatedly into three sounds – O RAN J – they still can’t pronounce it.

Don’t make assumptions about what anybody can or cannot do. What seems simple to one person might be beyond hope for others.

I do search engine optimization for a living. What do you mean you can’t do it? It’s easy. I’ll bet there are things you do daily that would send me into knots trying to figure out, too. It’s a good thing, too. After all, where would we be if all of us were experts at gardening and none of us were experts at plumbing?

 This inspiration was first published in A Daily Dose of Happiness two years ago.

Over at the Accumulating Peripherals blog, there is a discussion on the pros and cons of happiness research.  Matt offers explains his beef with happiness research and I have commented also on the discussion.

Much of the happiness research out there is based on self reporting.  In other words, it asks you if you feel happy.  OK, so the questions are more complex, but it basically asks for your opinion.  On the one hand, that is poor science, because our perceptions of things are rarely accurate.  A good example is how a couple high-profile crimes can get a city or even a whole country talking about how the crime rate is on the rise and it’s about time we stop the growing menace — even while statistics show that year after year the crime rate has slowly been declining.

On the other hand, happiness is a subjective thing.  It is something we feel, and it could be argued that the only valid measurement of happiness is our perception of it. How could one actually measure happiness empirically.  People try, of course, but what means happiness to one person is not completely the same thing that means happiness to the next person.  So can an objective measure be more accurate than a subjective measure?  Probably not.

Please feel free to go over to Matt’s blog and comment.  And then please come back here and comment, too.