Some Thoughts on Happiness

I thought that I would post a list here so that I could refer to it as needed. Like many people in today I sometimes struggle with my state of happiness.

I watched the movie "Happy" this week and discovered a number of interesting facts about happiness. First, our overall happiness is derived by three components: (i) 50% is our genetic set point or range, the disposition we are born with; (ii) surprisingly only 10% of our happiness is based on our circumstances, social status or health; (iii) the remaining 40% of our happiness is based on actions that we choose to do or things that a person can do on a regular basis with intention. Second, the movie also discussed two types of goals, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic goals are focused on something external to ourselves: money, image or social status. Intrinsic goals are internal psychological needs that we can satisfy, such as: personal growth, relationships and desire to help. Extrinsic and intrinsic goals (or values) are in opposition to each other, but studies have found that people that focus on intrinsic goals are happier.

Over the years I have jotted down actions that put me on a better path, some of which I have listed below. This is just my list, but I would be interested in knowing what is on your list of actions that you take to settle the mind, lift your spirits and put you in a better mood. I was happy to see how consistent my list was with the ideas that were explored in the movie.

• Exercise your body daily and eat natural foods


• Be conscious of relationships and make sure to be exposed to healthy, positive and quality people


• Be in constant appreciation of all one has in life - inform this with exposure to those less fortunate than yourself


• Perform acts that support, contribute and advance another person's life


• Live a life that strives to move towards moral ideals


• Make an effort to ensure life-long learning, increasing knowledge, developing new skills beyond one's comfort zone and pushing to understand complex subject matter


• Have strong control and constant awareness as to the amount and type of media that one is exposed to and consumes


• Be prepared, show up on time and apply yourself

Six years of sporadic life events

I started this blog on May 22, 2007 so as of today it is officially six years old. I haven't posted very much the last three or so years but having this blog always available to me if I chose is still kind of cool.

A lot has happened in those seven years. I initially started this blog because I was headed to Hawaii for the first time in mid-2007 as part of an award that I had one from my then employer Wells Fargo. I also felt I needed to start keeping track of my travel after attending the 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland the previous summer, a bi-annual international golf tournament that one of my friends suggested that we go to.

I thought it would be a great place to share my experiences there and post some photos of those two adventures. Looking back now I'm very happy that I started it. And reviewing my post today, I was happy to relive some memories of those events and be reminded of some events that I had forgotten. This blog's greatest value to me isn't as a place for me to become famous or to make money but as an online journal of my life.

Ironically, when I started this blog Facebook had recently opened to the general public and not many people were using it (or understanding it frankly). Twitter was started in March of 2006 but wouldn't come into wide spread use until a few years later.

So why do I mention Facebook and Twitter? Because this blog was initially started as a place for me to share my life with my friends, family and co-workers and initially it worked. The first year or so, I would forget what I had posted and it was strange to have people come up to me and mention something that they had read in one of the post, back then it was a bit startling and unsettling, but now everyone "blogs" through social media. I don't think it is uncommon at all for people to expect that you might know about their dinner, trip or family life from social media.

Moving forward my goal, as always is to post a little more often. Ironically, I'm not the best at sharing on social media, but for some reason this ability for a longer form post, with more context appeals to me. I realize that this spot on the internet isn't for site statistics, traffic, Google Ads sense or fame, but it is really a place for me to document, reflect on life and keep events in perspective.

In many ways it has been a difficult seven years (housing bust, loss of my employment), but reflecting back on some post this evening I realized it has also been a productive, interesting and fortunate six years.