Entries Tagged as 'happiness'

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Friends make us happy

On the flip side, not making time for friends can really detract from happiness. Research shows that during our teenage years, we spend nearly one-third of our time with friends. For the rest of our lives, the average time spent with friends is less than 10%. That’s a pretty big jump, and can make us [...]

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Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Get over here and touch me now

I realize I might be unusual. I realize I might be odd to offer it up in this way. I deeply acknowledge, furthermore, that there are a thousand notable exceptions. But barring the relative handful of those who don’t understand personal space, who perhaps “overtouch,” whose intentions are a bit slimy or hostile, I would [...]

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Sunday, April 10th, 2011

Older Parents Are Happier

But the most striking findings revolved around parenthood and age. Whether it is a function of exhaustion, bickering over diapers or something inherently unpleasant about raising little children, the data doesn’t say, but parents under 30 are decidedly less happy than their child-free peers. Then, once parents hit 40, the relationship reverses and people with [...]

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Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

How the city hurts your brain

Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced [...]

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Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Buddhism – Religion and Self-control

“Thinking about the oneness of humanity and the unity of nature doesn’t seem to be related to self-control,” Dr McCullough said. “The self-control effect seems to come from being engaged in religious institutions and behaviours.” Does this mean that non-believers like me should start going to church? Even if you don’t believe in a supernatural [...]

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Filed under discipline, happiness, religion, selfhelp

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Why I think my friends should have babies

Patri recently posted a series of trollish posts, in which he expressed his desire to see people he liked have babies. I too share Patri’s desire to see more friends reproduce. It makes me sad that the particular combination of genes and nurture that make up some of my favorite people will disappear when they [...]

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Filed under babies, happiness, kids, parenting, selfhelp

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever

The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever …if you are only happy once you reach a goal, what about all the time you spend getting to the goal? That’s much more of your life than actually being at the goal. If you’re only happy when you’re at the destination, you’ll be unhappy [...]

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Filed under happiness, selfhelp, zen