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The Recipe For Success: Get Happy And You Will Get Ahead In Life
The Guardian (UK) ^ | 12-19-2005 | Kate Pavilious

Posted on 12/19/2005 3:34:36 PM PST by blam

The recipe for success: get happy and you will get ahead in life

· Feeling good 'is cause, not effect, of achievement' · Same principle applies to nations, academics claim

Kate Ravilious
Monday December 19, 2005
The Guardian (UK)

Happiness, rather than working hard, is the key to success, according to research published today. Cheerful people are more likely to try new things and challenge themselves, which reinforces positive emotion and leads to success in work, good relationships and strong health, say psychologists.

The findings suggest that happiness is not a "feel good" luxury, but is essential to people's well being. What is more, happiness can also extend across an entire nation, with people in "happy" nations being more likely to have pro-democratic attitudes and a keenness to help others.

The link between happiness and success was investigated by a team from the University of California Riverside, led by Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky.

First, they analysed questionnaires that ask people about multiple aspects of their lives. "For example, they show that happy people tend to earn higher incomes," said Prof Lyubomirsky. Having established the link, they wanted to discover the cause.

"Almost always it has been assumed that things that correlate with happiness are the causes of happiness, but it could be just the opposite - that those things tend to be caused by happiness," said Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois, another author on the paper.

Other studies revealed that having a sunny outlook on life appeared to precede good fortune.

"There was strong evidence that happiness leads people to be more sociable and more generous, more productive at work, to make more money, and to have stronger immune systems," said Prof Lyubomirsky.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ahead; happiness; happy; life; redipe; success

1 posted on 12/19/2005 3:34:37 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

Happiness, rather than working hard, is the key to success,


Here is that self esteem crap again.........there is a minor truth to this but it is minor, not the whole truth.


2 posted on 12/19/2005 3:37:14 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Seeking the truth here folks.)
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To: blam

BTTT


3 posted on 12/19/2005 3:38:50 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Tagline Repair Service. Let us fix those broken Taglines. Inquire within(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: PeterPrinciple

Hard work and a positive disposition will lead to success.


4 posted on 12/19/2005 3:41:57 PM PST by babydoll22 (If you stop growing as a person you live in your own private hell.)
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To: blam

Shhh...don't tell Democrats...


5 posted on 12/19/2005 3:45:34 PM PST by polymuser (Losing, like flooding, brings rats to the surface.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

Actually I think this is true to some extent. Finding joy and happiness in your life, regardless of struggle or difficulty, does seem to help people move forward through those difficulties.

Focusing on one's blessings when times are tough, so to speak. My parents taught me to always look on the bright side of things, and I do think it has helped me tremendously through the unavoidable struggles in life.

I'm not a big fan of wallowing in self pity. As my father used to say, "put a smile on your face and keep moving."


6 posted on 12/19/2005 3:48:19 PM PST by dha (The safest place to be is within the will of God.)
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To: blam
I'M HAPPY
7 posted on 12/19/2005 3:50:26 PM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
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To: blam

Well, I do take five Effexor daily to at least provide a facade of happiness. Helps me the take on the day and WORK HARD.


8 posted on 12/19/2005 3:51:20 PM PST by Clemenza (Smartest words ever written by a Communist: "Show me the way to the next Whiskey Bar")
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To: babydoll22; The Drowning Witch
Hard work and a positive disposition will lead to success.

Bullseye! They go hand-in-hand.

My boss just fired a guy in his early 50's, who was always a 'Woe-is-me' character. Everything sucked in his life, according to him. In reality, it did, but only because he sabotaged it with his unhappiness and defeatist attitude. He'll continue to get nowhere in his life, and he'll always blame circumstance for his plight.

Oh........ he was also a democrat.

9 posted on 12/19/2005 3:52:58 PM PST by Jackknife ( "I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him 'father'." —Will Rogers)
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To: dha
"I'm not a big fan of wallowing in self pity. As my father used to say, "put a smile on your face and keep moving."

Yup. That sounds reeaal familiar to me.

10 posted on 12/19/2005 3:56:51 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

PMA (Positive mental Attitude)works to an extent. If you are discouraged, you may not even try to do something, which then cuts off your chance for success. This, like most studies, has an element of truth, but it's not the whole truth. Hard work and others ingredients are also necessary. BTW, I think that it is easier to have a PMA if you believe in a God who personally cares for you and wants the best for you.


11 posted on 12/19/2005 4:26:04 PM PST by DeweyCA
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To: babydoll22

Hard work and a positive disposition will lead to success.

That is not what the article says......it uses the word rather. I stand by my comment that this is more self image crap.


"Happiness, rather than working hard, is the key to success,....."


12 posted on 12/19/2005 4:35:04 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Seeking the truth here folks.)
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To: babydoll22

Screw hard work, I prefer to work smart.

Hard work kills!


13 posted on 12/19/2005 4:41:05 PM PST by razorback-bert
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To: blam
All very good, to be sure. But, failure is a very big impediment to happiness, so it sounds like the chicken vs the egg. Correllation vs. causation, too, maybe.

Perhaps, they find people with all-in-all easy lives, who say "I've always been a happy person." Then they find some people with rough lives, who say, "I've never really been happy, even when I was a kid." What they fail to consider is that the happy person was raised rich and always had a parachute, while the sad person came from the ghetto or trailer park, and never even made it to the break-even point in life.

Nevertheless, a cultivated awareness of the Good and affinity to it are my own primary "stress management tools," and they seem to have been very beneficial for me lately, so I'll agree that positive thinking is generally good for you.

14 posted on 12/19/2005 4:42:35 PM PST by Yeti ("He might be drunk!")
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To: blam

"A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness."


15 posted on 12/19/2005 4:58:53 PM PST by Baraonda (Demographic is destiny. Don't hire 3rd world illegal aliens nor support businesses that hire them.)
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To: Yeti

"All very good, to be sure. But, failure is a very big impediment to happiness, so it sounds like the chicken vs the egg. Correllation vs. causation, too, maybe."

Exactly on the chicken-or-the-egg analogy.

For example, do we laugh because we're happy, or we're happy because we laugh? I tend to think the latter. Likewise, hard work and success tends to make us happy.


16 posted on 12/19/2005 5:09:58 PM PST by Baraonda (Demographic is destiny. Don't hire 3rd world illegal aliens nor support businesses that hire them.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

Smile. It makes them wonder what you're up to.


17 posted on 12/19/2005 5:43:00 PM PST by HangThemHigh (Entropy's not what it used to be.)
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To: PeterPrinciple

I am in agreement with you. I do not believe that happiness alone is a key to success. I also do not believe that hard work by itself will necessarily make you successful.

I do believe that hard work and a positive disposition will provide you success.

That's why it is important to like what you do for a living.


18 posted on 12/20/2005 5:13:13 AM PST by babydoll22 (If you stop growing as a person you live in your own private hell.)
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