Choosing happiness in the new year Social connections are key to happiness. Connect with existing friends regularly or go to events where you can meet new people to expand your social network. • True, social media allows us to "talk", but how deep are our connections? Make time to nurture and foster relationships face to face and have deep, meaningful interactions. • Stop multitasking in the presence of people that are important to you. It sends the message they are not important enough to get your full and best energy, and you're not connecting. 4. CHOOSE HAPPINESS. Many people did not realize until the end of their lives that happiness is a choice. They were stuck in negative patterns and... Strap in for 2012 With a Happiness Seatbelt from Dr. Aymee Without your Happiness Seatbelt on, it's a WILD RIDE! Seriously, recent Harvard research shows that 47% of the time most people are thinking of something other than what they are doing in the moment. If you add in any tendencies toward negative ... Happiness is … a warm gun for Christmas US gun dealers requested a half-million background checks in the week before Christmas, the FBI said. All told, 1.5 million checks were done in December, the most ever in a single month. Is it simply that firearms are festive? ... Statisticians Reveal What Makes America Happy The pursuit of happiness is a right enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. So an increasingly important question for economists, psychologists and decision-makers is the role that happiness plays in society and how to increase it. ... New iPhone App Puts Happiness In The Palm Of Your Hand Now, smartphones can also act as centers for balance and well-being by combining iPhone technology and research of positive psychology in one simple happiness fostering iPhone app. Cloud Nine tracks 12 different elements related to well-being, including measurements of achievement, gratitude, kindness, exercise, sleep, mood and meditation. Plus, the app automatically and privately charts complex correlations between these traits and offers touch button tools such as a gratitude log and techniques to dispute pessimism and manage exercise - all in a user friendly package that takes little time to use. The Elements Of A Happy Life - Now In The Palm Of Your Hand: Based on the... Fairfax teachers say money equals happiness That was significantly different from teachers' responses to a similar survey last year, when nearly 70 percent said the relationship between happiness and pay was "weak" despite a two-year freeze on raises and cost-of-living adjustments. ... Finding the key to happiness By SUSAN BROILI Both child prodigies, concert pianist/teacher Pei-Fen Liu and her student, Michael Wallach, know firsthand the benefits of a concerted effort. Wallach, who returned to serious piano study after a 50-year hiatus, also draws on his ...

The 10 health and happiness findings of 2011 (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A lengthy job search promotes worry, stress and anger, but a bad job is worse for happiness than no job at all. WorldShares lets you earn donations for your favorite nonprofit. Earn up to 20 points now. ...

Saying the Right Thing Assay: I get a tremendous intellectual and emotional satisfaction when I hear someone give exactly the right answer to a difficult question. I was trying to remember some of my favorite examples of this kind of response, because just thinking about ...

Will 2012 be a happy new year? My previous blog was set against the coalition's apparent retreat from major themes such as 'big society' and the happiness agenda, in the face of sometimes overwhelmingly miserable economic news and forecasts. Since then, the Office for National ...