Be Joyful: From Lew Rees, Prescott Valley, Arizona

Editor's Note: As you know, I am a firm believer in the power of positive attitude. While I totally

understand that no human being can remain positive every moment of their life. . .every moment

we are positive adds a moment more to living. Some believe this, and some never will. I, for

one will continue to be as positive as I can for as long as I can and, in turn, will probably live

longer and happier than those that choose the alternative.

A recent article in the Daily Courier solidified what I have known all my life. It was rewarding to

read that what I have believed has a true basis in fact. And, while I have my moments (as you

do) where negative gets the best of me, it will not take hold and guide my life. Positive will

endure, and I right along with it.

Please take time to read the entire article, absorb it, and then live it, and you'll live a lot longer

and happier.

Be joyful - and live longer: Study shows positive thinking helps people live longer

By T.M. Shultz

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Wipe that scowl off your face and lighten up - the payoff can be enormous. You could live years

longer and feel better at the same time.

A new area of scientific study is blossoming in a field that once concentrated mainly on negative

feelings.

It began around 1998 when Martin E.P. Seligman took over as president of the American

Psychological Association. After he took office, he challenged his colleagues to construct a

"positive psychology" that would help people not just overcome negative emotions, but reach a

higher plane of existence.

His ideas sprung in part from a remarkable investigation known as "the nun study." The study

showed that nuns who expressed the most positive emotions in their written journals lived up to

10 years longer than nuns who expressed the fewest positive emotions.

Since then other studies - although not without their flaws - have tended to show that people who

feel good, in general, do live longer.

"The capacity to experience positive human emotions remains a largely untapped human

strength," writes Barbara L. Fredrickson, professor of psychology at the University of North

Carolina. She's also the director of the university's Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology

Laboratory.

Scientists are trying to figure out why being happy matters. It's important because they've

discovered that being happy can lower your blood pressure and flood your body with oxygen. And

more oxygen can stop the destruction of cells and lead to better health.

"You've got to have fun," says Mary Alice Gindhart, a child and family therapist and a licensed

clinical social worker at the West Yavapai Guidance Clinic in Prescott.

Gindhart doesn't advocate a mindless, chirrupy sort of happiness, and neither do the scientists

studying positive emotions.

In fact, the people Gindhart sees on a regular basis are clearly suffering loss and grief. But she's

noticed that clients who are relaxed and laughing make progress faster.

"Life is just incredibly challenging," Gindhart says. "But people who have a sense of humor about

life will be happier."

Sixty-nine-year-old Betty Lanning, a retired hospital worker living in Prescott Valley, agrees.

Asked if she is happy, she doesn't hesitate.

3

"Yes," she says emphatically. "I'm not striving for anything. I have all that I need - and I am not a

rich woman," she adds, laughing. "I count my blessings every day, and I try very hard not to

complain." In describing her happy state, she uses words like peace, joy and contentment.

Scientists say people like Lanning are definitely on to something.

Fredrickson has been studying positive emotions like joy, contentment, gratitude and love for

years. She has found that people who make an effort to be happy and who find positive meaning

in all of life's events change for the better. They're more optimistic, resilient and socially

connected, as well as generally healthier.

So how does one cultivate a sense of happiness?

It's actually pretty easy.

Fredrickson encourages people to infuse ordinary events with meaning and to be compassionate

toward others.

Gindhart recommends starting out by watching funny television shows or reading humorous

books. She watches old reruns of "The Three Stooges."

She also advises spending less time with overly serious or negative people and seeking out and

surrounding oneself with funny people.

And, she urges, practice smiling.

"Smiles are contagious," she says. So is "positivity," as she calls it.

Many experts agree that by smiling even when you don't feel like it, you'll soon "feel like it." And

so will everyone around you.

Lanning says when she's not feeling particularly happy, she reads a good poem to lift her spirits.

Interestingly, 17th-century English poet John Milton wrote in his epic poem "Paradise Lost" that

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."

Instead of losing paradise, we can create it.

On the Net:

Read an explanation of the emerging science of positive psychology on the American Scientist

website at www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/21534.