One Apple A Day #749 - the happiness network
This research discovered that "people's happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon."
The way I read it is that I have a responsibility to be healthy and happy. Not just to me, but towards all the people I care about.
"A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%."
So, just by being happy, I increase the probability to be happy for all my friends who live within a mile from me.
What a super-power.
The same research found out that if next-door neighbours are happy, my probability of finding happiness increase by 34%. So, to make them happy, seems an excellent strategy to find happiness. But again, what happens if, in search of happiness, I make them unhappy?
Life is a complex system in which we are all interconnected. If in my effort to be happy, I make others unhappy, then I may make things even worst for my friends. And if they're not happy, I decrease my chances of being it.
What a mess.
I need simplicity.
Like two simple rules.
Do something meaningful, so happiness will ensue.
Don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to yourself.