Happiness Blog

In the few moments it take a couple of deep, relaxing breaths you can anchor, focus and then send your spirits soaring with delight.

See yourself on a beautiful beach, hear the sound of waves breaking, smell the salt air.

Relax, wiggle your toes, feel sand beneath your feet, balance your body effortlessly upright.

Take a couple of deep, Breaking Wave Breaths™ to the sound of the breaking waves.

See yourself smiling and laughing in your mind’s eye. Feel those feelings, take them on for yourself.

Feel light, relaxed, flexible, fluid, free to soar through the air.
Fill your heart and mind with happiness and delight and send
your spirit soaring with the sea gulls.

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.

“The highest and greatest of the human freedoms is to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

~ Viktor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”

The concept of Spiritual Freedom grew from Viktor Frankl’s incredible accounts of how some men triumphed emotionally and spiritually over the most horrific circumstances, Auschwitz.

“Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical distress.”

Each inmate ultimately chose whether to succumb to prison camp mentality and become a mere product of their environment and experience or to try to triumph spiritually and be something more, better and different.

“Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp.”

Frankl’s comments underscore a basic tenant of the Happiness Habit -

“If we don’t consciously decide what sort of person we want to be and become, our environment and our experience determine our identity and our destiny for us.”

Beyond the barbed wires in life, there is always a wide expanse of opportunity for spiritual freedom and emotional independence that frees us from being dominated and controlled by our circumstances.

A key to happiness and spiritual success is to always try to look past the barbed wire!

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.

The Clergy are the happiest and most satisfied with their jobs according to the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Physical therapists and firefighters ranked second and third in overall job satisfaction. Interestingly, these jobs are generally lower paying professions.

Doctors and lawyers who are significantly more affluent report much lower levels of job satisfaction. The least satisfied professions were roofers and waiters, people who work primarily for money because their jobs are seen as having fewer intrinsic rewards.

These survey results reaffirm Happiness Habit’s First Law of Happy Thought: Our Focus Determines Our Feelings

When we devote our time and energy to doing things we find meaningful and rewarding, we feel good. Devoting our lives to altruism and helping others is often the best, most reliable route to true happiness.

Clergy face many difficult stresses daily, dealing with death, demanding church members and dysfunctional subcultures. Their lives are certainly not easy or stress free. The noble calling of their profession, their dedication to goodness and helping others triumphs dramatically over all these disadvantages.

Roofers and waiters who report low job satisfaction can reposition their perspectives to emphasize the value and beauty in what they do.

Everyone can take pride in executing even simple, repetitive jobs extraordinarily well. Linking job satisfaction to the benefits your work provides, keeping a home dry or creating a beautiful dining experience can send your spirits soaring. You no longer work just for money but for the good you do for others.

Doctors and lawyers who adopt similar perspectives achieve far greater satisfaction from their work. When they just focus on their stresses and their problems, they are miserable. Redirecting their attention to the good they provide patients, clients and society changes the complexion of their work dramatically.

Professions characterized by chronically combative, competitive cultures value winning, power and superiority above all else. Even people who are highly successful in these cultures are rarely as happy or long lived as those who choose to devote their talents to altruism and helping others.

Goodness truly does bring its own wonderful rewards!

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.

The Happiness Institute in Australia reminded us how very culturally dependent measures of happiness can be.

Today they cite a study in the United Kingdom that reports hairdressers are the happiest profession.

We don’t know where hair dressing ranks in University of Chicago’s study, nor do we know where the clergy rank in happiness and job satisfaction in Great Britain.

It’s important to appreciate how very subjective and culturally dependent happiness and job satisfaction studies can be.

Are similar questions being asked in the same way to similar groups of people? Do the questions and answers mean the same things?

The United States and Great Britain are very similar in many ways, we would expect surveys of happiness and job satisfaction to be alike too.

Just as we were surprised to see tomatoes regularly served for breakfast on our first trip to Great Britain, we should expect surprises in happiness and job satisfaction rankings between countries and cultures as well.

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.

Here’s a typical abstract of recent happiness studies from Scientific American:

We tend to adapt, quickly returning to our usual level of happiness. The classic example of such “hedonic adaptation” comes from a 1970s study of lottery winners, who a year after their windfall ended up no happier than non winners. Hedonic adaptation helps to explain why even changes in major life circumstances - such as income, marriage, physical health and where we live - do so little to boost our overall happiness.

Not only that, but studies of twins and adoptees have shown that a determined from birth. This “genetic set point” alone makes the happiness glass look half empty, because any upward swing in happiness seems doomed to fall back to near your baseline.

How Depressing! Academic research proves even unexpected abundant wealth does not bring lasting happiness and our happiness is a prisoner function of our genes!

What are we meant to do if we want to be happier and live happy, spiritually successful lives? Take drugs? See a psychotherapist? The psychologists at these major research institutions leave us hanging without solutions, suggestions or resolutions.

They don’t want you to know there are simple, enduring, universal truths that lead to happiness and a happy life!

Another synopsis from the “father of Flow” Mihály Csíkszentmihályi one of the world’s leading researchers in positive psychology suggests we: 1) Be attuned to what gives us satisfaction; 2) Study ourselves; and 3) Take control. It’s hardly a complete recipe for happiness!

Most happiness research is conducted by psychology departments at major universities who have huge investments in treating problems and disease. The emergence of simple, teachable Happiness Truths would undermine these psychologists professed preeminence, prestige, power and economic well-being. Expect academic research to biased towards Daniel Gilbert’s “Stumbling on Happiness” thesis that most people don’t know what makes them happy.

Pharmaceutical firms are major advertisers. Over eleven million prescriptions for psycho active mood elevators are written annually in the United States alone. Is the media willing to cover options that could jeopardize this revenue?

There are universal, enduring, eternal truths that lead to happy, spiritually successful lives. We call these happiness habits…

“Be Guided By Goodness • Fuel Your Life With Fun • Passion Is Empty Without Compassion • Profit From Your Mistakes • Beating Yourself Up Reinforces Errors You Want To Avoid • Drive Discipline With Desire • Make Decisions Not Judgments • Schedule Your Time Not Your Tasks • Be Driven By Desire NOT Duress • See Obstacles NOT Problems • Focus On How You Want To Feel • Touch Each Person You Meet With A Positive Spirit • Love Propels Happiness ”

Don’t expect them to be covered by television, magazine or major media enterprises that rely on advertising for their revenue.

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.

It’s official, recent scientific research shows bacteria commonly found in dirt, bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae, can lift levels of serotonin in the brain, brightening our moods and contributing to our happiness.

At last, scientific proof of what gardeners have known since the beginning of time, digging in the dirt is enjoyable, satisfying and good for our happiness!

Copyright 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us for reprints. See HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights. Michele Moore is author of How To Live A Happy Life - 101 Ways To Be Happier.