Happy for No Reason…

I am reading Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff. A third of the way through the book and I am liking it a lot. The gist of the book is achieving an internal serene happiness that is not dependent on external circumstances.

Studies suggest that we all have an internal happiness setpoint much like setting the temperature on a thermostat. The setpoint is a 50/50 result of nature and nurture. Using methods and exercises from positive psychology, people can increase their happiness setpoint from, say, "cool" to "warm" in a relatively short time such as a few months to a year. We don't get to go catatonic depression to ectastatic. Going from kinda whiny and sad to more than moderately optimistic is readily do-able.

My experience in changing my happiness setpoint has been fantastic progress on my own. Years of therapy got me from chronic depression to stoic. Five months of gratitude blogging got me to moderately optimistic and even brief flashes of feeling that I am lucky.

I am lucky and grateful for having the wherewithal to achieve a much higher happiness setpoint in my life thanks to the 12-steps, my HP, help from many people and a lot of work on my part.