A new research study published online in the Journal of Happiness Studies has proven what we here at Fandha have known for a long time – that happiness is a skill one develops with practice and, like learning to play a musical instrument, we can get better at it over time with practice. This study suggests that people can experience greater happiness on a daily basis after working hard and mastering a skill. Although the actual “work” involved in developing this skill usually produces stress in the moment, the payoff is greater happiness and quality of life down the road and for a longer term.
“People often give up their goals because they are stressful, but we found that there is benefit at the end of the day from learning to do something well. And what’s striking is that you don’t have to reach your goal to see the benefits to your happiness and well-being,” said Ryan Howell, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.
“No pain, no gain is the rule when it comes to gaining happiness from increasing our competence at something.”
There is a saying whose origin is unknown that has often been attributed as a Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Every day we read more bad news about people loosing their jobs, loosing their homes or both. With never-ending wars, corporate crimes and political greed and corruption, it seems like every day there is a new reason to give up hope.
We are the people who feel the sting of these troubling times and many people are finding it ever more difficult to keep their heads above water.
I know how fortunate I am to have a job and make a point to never lose gratitude. So, I cannot say that I know completely how it is to be looking for work in the midst of this economic crisis but I am well aware of how that could change at any moment. Plenty of my friends have been caught in the wave of layoffs in my industry.
I do have some experience looking for work when I was younger. During the Dot Com boom I looked for a job for two years. I remember well how the frustration, anxiety and depression I felt. This was before my “spiritual awakening,” so to speak, and I was still caught up in my “victimhood”. In spite of that, I was well aware of how my survival depended on not giving up, so I kept moving forward in spite of myself.
It’s funny how sometimes, when it is absolutely essential, we can pull ourselves out of our distorted mindset and take action.
Happy Independence Day to everyone – especially those actively working to create value and happiness.
The recipe for success is to first gather the tools and then actively pick them up and build the life you want.
With that in mind, please accept this FREE report titled:
“Your Daily 13 Step Life Changing Guide
Your Daily Guide For Understanding How To Achieve Greatness
In Everything You Do!”
Feel free to print it out, email it to friends and refer to it whenever you need to remind yourself of your commitment to happiness.
Consider this my Independence Day gift to you as well as a thank you for making Fandha.com a stop on your trip along the internet superhighway…
Click Here to Instantly Download the FREE Report.
Enjoy!
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When I turned 30 about 10 years ago, a friend who was already 40 said to me, “30 is a great age! Life begins at 30!”
I was very encouraged to hear this because, frankly, I had been waiting for my life to begin. My birthday came and went and I waited… then it was the Spring… and then it was the Summer and then it was my birthday again and I was still waiting… well… you get the point.
Waiting for life to begin is like waiting for “Waiting for Godot,” the Samuel Beckett, “tragicomedy” in which two characters wait for someone named Godot, who never arrives. In the play, during their two days of waiting, the pair of men divert themselves with various distractions such as eating, sleeping, arguing, singing, playing games, exercising, exchanging hats and contemplating suicide — anything “to hold the terrible silence at bay,” they say.
Voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a British Royal National Theater poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists, “Waiting For Godot” won such prestigious accolades because it spoke to a spiritual conundrum that many people face and pointed out the human tendency to occupy ourselves with distractions in order to avoid the real work that needs to be done when we take full responsibility for our lives.
