Spend Time With Happy People
Studies consistently show that our own happiness is linked with the happiness of others. One of the ways we know this is from the Framingham Heart Study, a massive study started in 1948 that has tracked three generations of participants. The study was designed to identify risk factors for heart disease, resulting in reams of data on health, food, fitness habits, stress, family issues and happiness.
To measure happiness, the Framingham study asked people how often they experienced certain feelings during the previous week.
I felt hopeful about the future.
I was happy.
I enjoyed life.
I felt that I was just as good as other people.
Yale scientists decided to mine the data to study happiness and social networks. The structure of the study allowed them to track changes in happiness over time. And because the scientists who designed the study wanted to keep track of people, they asked participants to identify their relatives, close friends, place of residence and place of work. The result was a complete picture of the participants’ social networks.
After parsing the data, the Yale researchers reached a number of conclusions about happiness:
People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected.
Social networks have clusters of happy and unhappy people.
A person's happiness extends to three degrees of separation — meaning that it can influence (and be influenced by) their friends, their friends’ friends, and the friends of people who are friends of their friends.
People who are surrounded by many happy people are more likely to become happy in the future.
Each additional happy friend increases your chance of happiness by about 9 percent.
Geography matters. Our happiness increases when we live close to happy friends and family members.
It is true. I feel happy when I encounter happy people. Moreso that I am empath person. During this covid I do not feel well. So many people have tension. I am feeling it.