50 ways to improve your life in 2007: Blog and smile

I learned on the Positive Psychology listserv (where I recently e-met a partner from a large Denver law firm) that the current edition of US News & World Report features 50 ways to improve your life in 2007. Given the research, it is no surprise that the first health tip is "Get happy." In the past, I have discussed the benefits of happiness to you and to the way you represent your clients here at idealawg. And researchers continue to find the strong link between happiness and health.

Nearly a dozen studies show that happier people live longer. They're also less likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, and pain from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Plus, Carnegie Mellon researchers last month found that people who express positive emotions come down with fewer colds and flus after being exposed to the viruses than those who express negative emotions like anger, sadness, or stress.

Other ways to improve your life include:

• Read ("our brain craves creativity")
• Blog ("blogging has value even in a vacuum")
• Be free of TV ("television is a great enabler")
• Go tech free once a week ("Take out the earplugs and plug into the world!")
• Save on fuel by losing weight ("based on the 10 pounds the average American gained in the 1990s, airlines require 350 million extra gallons of fuel")
• Choose shoes wisely ("minimize the damage while maximizing the look")

Bonuses for improving the coming year: Caroline Adams Miller has begun a Positive Psychology podcast series in which she interviews leaders in the field. Troy Blankenship debuted a blog on fitness, nutrition, quality of life, and goal setting. I think you will want to keep an ear and an eye on both.

Comments

[Jenny Meadows]

Great article, but I wonder if your readers, like me, keep stumbling on happiness. If so, they might like to read a terrific book by Daniel Gilbert, titled Stumbling on Happiness. It's funny, sobering and thought-provoking. Using studies conducted over generations, Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist, tells us why we all want happiness yet persistently take the wrong routes to find and sustain it.

Jenny Meadows
Austin Texas USA
http://www.mycopyeditor.com