New Year’s Reflections Part 4

We should remember that rich people are only poor people with lots of money. Old Billy Shakespear in Hamlet said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” A great insight is that! Happiness depends less on having things than on our attitude toward the things we have already. 

Happy people have higher self-esteem, while low self-esteem is connected with depression. People who are insecure re-establish their own self-worth by putting others down, while people who like & accept themselves feel good about themselves. Most of us have a good reputation with ourselves, unlike Groucho Marx who once quipped “ I’d never join any club that would accept a person like me.” 

Happy people believe they are free to choose their own destiny. They are therefore more in control of life and have more positive feelings of happiness. The lack of control, the experience of helplessness & repeated traumas causes unhappiness & depression. This is why people & happiness thrive better in stable democracies where there is more personal freedom. 

Happy people are outgoing & tend to be Hope-filled. As Norman Vincent Peale said, “the good news is the bad news can be turned into good news when you change your attitude.” 

All of these are areas that can be worked on. Life, like money, is a resource you can spend only once. We can put more flow into our lives by living more intentionally. That means saying yes to things that make life more meaningful & no to time-wasting demands. 

Six massive studies have shown two important dimensions to happiness. They are close personal relationships and religious faith. Those with close relationships in friends, family, or close-knit religious communities are not only happier but have been shown to live longer. There is a definite link between social support and health. 

People who have recently suffered a divorce, unemployment, bereavement, serious illness, or disability have retained greater joy if they also had a strong faith. They are the ones who are better able to find meaning amid the trauma. A religious faith buffers the negative effects of trauma.