Week 6

*For explanation of The Happiness Experiment" go HERE .*

Review of last week:
Remember where you came from.
Limit yourself to thinking about one subject as you lie down to sleep.

Secret #11
Friendship beats money.

"If you want to know if people are happy don't ask how much money is in the bank. Don't ask how large their take home salary is. Ask them about their friends."

I'm beginning to see how important friendships are in happiness. In my opinion, a person can have absolutely no money but have many good friends and they will be infinitely more happy then any millionaire without a single friend. Money can't make you happy unless you have friends and family to share it with.

"Contrary to the belief that happiness is hard to explain or that it depends on having great wealth, researchers have identified the core factors in a happy life. The primary components are number of friends, closeness of friends, closeness of family and relationships with coworkers and neighbors. Together these factors explain about 70% of personal happiness."

Secret #12
Have realistic expectations.

"People who are happy don't get everything they want, but they want most of what they get. In other words, they rig the game in their favor by choosing to value things that are within their grasp.
People who find themselves dissatisfied in life often set unreachable goals for thenselves, setting themsleves up to fail. Yet people who set high goals for themselves and reach them are no happier than people who set and reach more modest goals.
Whether you are assessing your position at work or your relationship with your family, don't begin with fantasy pictures of the world's richest person or the world's ideal family. Stay within reality and strive to make things better, not perfect."

This book involves really looking into one's goals and analyzing what it is that you are trying to do. Until this year I've always made somewhat general goals. Eat healthy. Exercise. Read more. Goals that are good, but not really measurable. But making goals like Read 500 books this year is incredibly unrealistic for me. So if I were to make a goal like that I would be setting myself up for failure and ultimately unhappiness. So this year I've really been looking over my goals, over and over again, asking myself what I'm doing to accomplish them and if they are really something that is attainable for me. I must say that this has been the most that I've looked at my goals. Usually around February they are already forgotten about. It has really helped me to focus on those things I want to improve and change. And it really is making me happier. I am already saying that this year is going to be great and I feel so much happier than I did at this time last year. It's incredible.

" The congruance of people's goals with their resources strongly correlates with happiness. In other words, the more realistic and attainable people's goals are, the more likely they are to feel good about themselves. People who conclude their goals are out of reach are less than one-tenth as likely to consider themselves  satisfied with life."

Review:
Friendship beats money.
Have realistic expectations.

Please continue to comment and tell me what you are thinking about all this. Are you happier?