Hi again everyone!  Remember me?  I’m back!

I know I have taken a long break from blogging, but I have been busy living life and trying to get it together in 2018.  It’s this “get it together” part that I want to talk about today and share as the main theme of this blog post and as an ongoing theme for 2019.  Read on.

So a few months ago, I read a post from my old college friend, Scott David Moe.  He publishes a great round up newsletter called “Thoroughly Thursday”.  And yes, you guess it, it goes out every Thursday.  I highly recommend it.  In his post, he linked to an article about Yale University’s most popular class, “The Science of Well-Being”.  What?  A class on “well-being”?  Yes.  You read that right, a class about how to be happy.  But more than that, it’s a class that gives you the scientific reasons behind what makes us happy and why we are often wrong about the things that we think will make us happy, but ultimately do not.

I was intrigued.  I love stuff this kind of stuff.  It feeds my obsession for reading about what makes people happy.  Like why are the Danish happy even though it’s cold and dark there most of the year? Is it because of all that “hygge”?  In fact, why are all the Scandi-land countries deliriously happy?  And why is Canada always in the top 10 of happy countries?  Is it because they have a never ending supply of hockey players, maple syrup and snow?  Is that it?  Do you need to have a lot of cold and snow to be happy?   Or is it that they eat the most Kraft Mac and Cheese in the world?  True story.

I am curious about these things, not because I am unhappy.  By all measures, my life is pretty amazing. Logically, I could point to many wonderful things and see that I have a lot to be happy for.  But if I had to be honest, sometimes I get a little out of sorts, a little more stressed than I care to be, and generally a little scattered.  I just feel like I could be in a better mood more often.  And with all that good I had, why wasn’t I eurphoric 24/7.  Was I just ungrateful?  Or is the idea of “feeling content all the time” just a fantasy?

I soon found out that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.  In fact, most if not all of my friends felt the same way in varying degrees.  Here we were, a group of highly successful people with all the trappings of a great life and yet we all secretly harbored escape fantasies.  Plans A, B and C in case the life we were currently living went south or we just couldn’t “take it anymore”.  What is it about us or the life we lead that makes us feel this way?  It made no logical sense and we were all acutely aware that the things we complained about were a laundry list of FWPs, or “first world problems”.  We all had enough to eat, lived in a great city with a lot to do and great careers that funded those lifestyles.  So why weren’t we suffering from joy instead of aggravation? As my father likes to say, “it’s not like you are barefoot in the mountains tending to a flock of sheep in the rain.”  Point taken dad.

Maybe it was a matter of perspective.  The article went on to say that in a time where the United States had more wealth than any other country in the world, Americans suffered more depression, anxiety and malaise than at any other time in history.  Have you ever wondered why kids in third world countries are smiling and laughing while kicking around a half deflated soccer ball while  kids in the US had the latest web-based gaming system and were just miserable, dissatisfied and constantly complaining?  I needed to know more about how this was possible. I wanted to know why.

That is where the class “The Science of Well-Being” came in.  So in the fall I registered for the online class taught by Laurie Santos at Yale University and learned all about the scientific reasons behind what does and does not make us happy.  I told a friend of mine about the class and she wanted to know more too and that’s how our “Oprah-esque” endeavor to “live our best lives” was born.  We basically decided that we were going to spend the last week of 2018 planning all the things we should be folding into our lives on a daily basis to make a better, sweeter, more delightful life.

I know it sounds like the mother of all New Year’s Resolution and on some level, some parts of it might sound that way.  But much of this plan is an attempt to arm ourselves with the knowledge and understanding about what makes us happy and apply it to our day to day. 

What if I told you that science says $75,000 is all you need to feel happy?  And more money does not make you happier.  If you suddenly made double that amount, you might think you would have double the happiness, but in fact you would not.  You might temporarily feel a “happy boost”…but after that, if you were miserable at $75,000, you will ultimately end up miserable again at $150,000.  It’s an odd quirk of the brain called “hedonic adaptation”.   Basically, once your basic life needs are met, food and shelter, the brain gets used to the new income boost, it becomes the new normal and goes back to its baseline level of happiness.  Back to daydreaming about exit plans from work. Annoying right? So now that you know this, aren’t you curious about the things that science suggests will actually make you happy?  I know I was.

And so, I want to share this journey I am going on, with you.  You will be a first hand viewer on my attempt to cultivate more happiness, or live my best life.  I love saying that.  It sounds so cliche but it perfectly encapsulates the goal.  Follow along as I attempt to roll out a series of habits and changes that will hopefully add to my happiness level.  What types of topics will I be covering?  Here is a snippet:

1. Body – Physical changes we can make to be happie
   1. The true power of exercise
   2. Want to be more efficient? Go to sleep.
   3. Be like Bruce Lee, be like water
   4. Vitamin Happy
2. Mind – Mental changes we can make to be happier
   1. Gratitude, the killer of envy
   2. Be here, right now or how to live in the moment
   3. Real luxury = Time.
3. Soul – Spiritual changes you can make to be happier
   1. Meditation – the Jedi mind trick 
   2. Be kind to self and others
   3. Memory creation, invest in experiences not stuff
4. Your Happiness Toolbox – a list of things for a happiness boost
   1. Things you can watch
   2. Things you can do
   3. Things you can eat

And so, while my friend “T” is my official accountability buddy for the day to day part of this journey, I am also recruiting you guys, my internet audience.  I am going to take you along on my journey towards living my best life and I hope you join me too.  After all, they don’t say “the more, the merrier” for nothing.  And as you all know now, we need more “merry” in our lives.  Should I call it “living our merriest lives” instead?  No?  Maybe? Okay bye.

See you next week. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

-Kallie