Dear Friends,
Last week we asked you this month to pay attention to what makes you think the world is a beautiful and good place, to what makes you happy to get out of your cosy bed and head into the day. We asked you to send us a photograph and let us all share in each others’ passion for life. We told you about the work of Jer Clifton at the University of Pennsylvania who has found that a belief in the beauty and goodness of the world bodes well for our happiness.
Here is a photo we received from Bob Turner:
“This section of pristine beach is one of my favorite places to visit and take photographs. There is not a doubt in my mind that this helps me have “A high sense of well being”. To me the world is a beautiful and good place. This makes me extremely HAPPY!“
-Bob Turner
Just after we sent out the newsletter, Jer sent us his latest findings: it turns out that telling our children that the world is a beautiful and good place has huge benefits for their happiness. The reverse – telling our children what a terrible place the world is – even if motivated by a parent’s desire to protect their child, really does that child a disservice. Jer writes “more negative primals (beliefs) were almost never associated with better outcomes. Instead, they predicted less success, less job and life satisfaction, worse health, dramatically less flourishing, more negative emotion, more depression, and increased suicide attempts”.
Jer concludes “After all, children too cannot escape the world. The only choice that they or any of us have is the power of deciding our attitude towards being here”.
So rose-tinted glasses really do work and it benefits all of us to wear them.
Smiles,
The SeeingHappy Team
