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"Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness. Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back. We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with difference. We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others."
- Lois Lowry, The Giver, Ch. 12

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In this quote when saying ¨being with children¨ its saying that since children still have their innocence their happier people. This contradicts with the quote from Lois Lowry in the book The Giver, when she mentions how understanding more about the world makes a person happier. In the Picture it says how understanding less about the world keeps happiness lasting.

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I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve loved this assignment. Your submissions…they’ve blown my mind. I also can’t begin to tell you how difficult it wa…

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In this Ted Talk Killingsworth talks about how daydreaming contributes to ones happiness. He says how when ever people daydream most of the time it reduces how happy they are. He also pulls up evidence to show that most people daydream during most of their tasks. This shows that most the time people are just making themselves less happy throughout their day. Matt adds that if you try to stay in the moment it will make you happier. This can relate to the Great Gatsby because the main character Gatsby spends 5 years of his life daydreaming about his life with Daisy witch ultimately destroyed his happiness.

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Matt Killingsworth: Want to be happier? Stay in the moment

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When are humans most happy? To gather data on this question, Matt Killingsworth built an app, Track Your Happiness, that let people report their feelings in real time. Among the surprising results: We're often happiest when we're lost in the moment. And the flip side: The more our mind wanders, the less happy we can be.

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In this article Carolyn Gregoire says how after your happy you go back to a set-point. She adds that that set-point can be changed to your will. Carolyn mentions many ways you can choose to be happier. Look forward to your goals, smile, let yourself be happy, and many more. This article shows that so many factors can come into play to someones happiness. Their are many things you can control when it comes to happiness.

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One theory in psychology research suggests that we all have a happiness "set-point" that largely determines our overall well-being. We oscillate around this set point, becoming happier when something positive happens or the opposite, afterwards returning to equilibrium.

But this set-point, to a certain extent, can be reset. Although our general mood levels and well-being are partially determined by factors like genetics and upbringing, roughly 40 percent of our happiness is within our control, according to some experts, and a large body of research in the field of positive psychology has shown that happiness is a choice that anyone can make. As psychologist William James put it, "The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude."
Here are eight ways you can take control of your own happiness. Simply try.
A little effort can go a long way in increasing happiness. Two small experimental studies, published this year in the Journal of Positive Psychology, found that simply trying to be happier could actually elevate mood and well-being. In one study, two groups of students listened to "happy" music -- one group was instructed to make a concerted effort to feel happier, while the other group was instructed not to actively try to lift their mood. The group that tried to feel happy experienced the most elevated moods after listening to the music.
Make happiness your number-one goal.
People who are happy choose to make happiness among their top goals in life, according to psychologist Tom G. Stevens, Ph.D., author of You Can Choose to Be Happy.

"Choose to take advantage of opportunities to learn how to be happy," Stevens told WebMD. "For example, reprogram your beliefs and values. Learn good self-management skills, good interpersonal skills, and good career-related skills. Choose to be in environments and around people that increase your probability of happiness. The persons who become the happiest and grow the most are those who also make truth and their own personal growth primary values."
Linger on those little, positive moments.
According to Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness, our brains are wired to scout for all that's bad -- as he puts it, the brain is like velcro for negative experiences and teflon for positive ones. This "negativity bias" causes the brain to react intensely to bad news, compared to how it responds to good news. But we can counter the brain's negativity bias -- which triggers us to form stronger bad memories than good ones -- by appreciating and lingering on those tiny, positive moments.

"People don't recognize the hidden power of everyday experiences," Hanson told The Huffington Post. "We're surrounded by opportunities -- 10 seconds here or 20 seconds there -- to just register useful experiences and learn from them. People don't do that when they could."
Choose mindfulness.
The secret to happiness could be as simple (and difficult) as becoming more mindful. Meditation -- a practice that anyone can do, anywhere, so long as they're willing to sit and try to silence the mind -- is thought to be a happiness-booster.

University of Wisconsin psychology professor Richard Davidson found in his research that a meditation practice might help to shift brain activity from the right frontal area of the brain (associated with depression, anxiety and worry) to the left, which has been found to correlate with feelings of happiness, excitement, joy and alertness.
Smile your way to happiness.
The secret to boosting your mood could be as simple as making yourself smile. A 2011 Michigan State University study found that workers who smiled as a result of cultivating positive thoughts exhibited improved mood and less withdrawal. Fake smiling, on the other hand, resulted in worse moods and withdrawal from work.
Practice gratitude.
Cultivating thankfulness and gratitude is a scientifically-backed way to increase happiness, and it's firmly within your control to choose to be more grateful.

Grateful people tend to appreciate simple pleasures, defined as "those pleasures in life that are available to most people," according to a report in the journal of Social Behavior and Personality.
Pursue happiness, find happiness -- and success.
Conventional thinking has it that pursuing success will lead to happiness, but research has shown that it may be just the opposite. Pursuing happiness leads not only to happiness itself, but also to success, according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage.

In his 12 years researching happiness at Harvard, Achor found that cultivating a positive mindset could boost well-being and improve workers' performance on many levels, from productivity to creativity and engagement.

"People who cultivate a positive mind-set perform better in the face of challenge," he wrote in Harvard Business Review in 2012. "I call this the 'happiness advantage' -- every business outcome shows improvement when the brain is positive."
Let yourself be happy.
Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse who spent years working with elderly people on their deathbeds, noticed a common theme that came up repeatedly among her patients at the end of their lives: They regretted not "letting" themselves be happy.

Ware, the author of The Top Five Regrets Of The Dying, wrote in a Huffington Post blog:

Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again ... Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Practice compassion.
Want to increase your brain's capacity for happiness? Try meditating on compassion. Brain-scanning studies on French monk Matthieu Ricard found that when he was practicing loving-kindness meditation, his brain produced gamma waves "never reported before in the neuroscience literature." Ricard has the largest capacity for happiness ever recorded, thanks to neuroplasticity.

"Meditation is not just blissing out under a mango tree but it completely changes your brain and therefore changes what you are," Ricard told the New York Daily News.

BEFORE YOU GO

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8 Scientifically-Backed Ways That You Can Choose To Be Happy

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One theory in psychology research suggests that we all have a happiness "set-point" that largely determines our overall well-being. We oscillate around this set point, becoming happier when something positive happens or the opposite, afterwards returning to equilibrium. But this set-point, to a certain extent, can be reset.

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This article shows how the entire world is slowly getting happier. Although some countries are moving up others and going down too. It can make someone wonder why are some countries so sad when they have lots of things other countries don't have. U.S. is moving down in rankings but why? We have freedoms, education, medicine, what piece are we missing?

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Looking for the happiest place on Earth? No, it's not in Anaheim, California. The world's reserves of joy and well-being seem to be concentrated in Northern Europe, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network's 2013 World Happiness Report.

Take a look at the infographic below for the world's happiest countries, and how global happiness has changed over the past five years.

The findings above were calculated by looking at the state of well-being in 156 nations across the globe, using analysis from experts in economics, psychology, survey analysis, and national statistics to make a case for why well-being should be considered a measure of national development. Happiness isn't only beneficial for individual mental and physical health and corporate bottom lines -- it may also contribute to the progress and development of entire nations, according to the authors of the report.

Last year's United Nations report was the first large-scale survey on the state of global happiness. This year's findings were released two weeks prior to the United Nations General Assembly, calling on leaders and policymakers to consider happiness and well-being a measure of social and economic development. The report will provide guidance for policymakers on including well-being in national decision-making.

"There is now a rising worldwide demand that policy be more closely aligned with what really matters to people as they themselves characterize their well-being," Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to the UN Secretary General and co-editor of the report, said in a press release. "More and more world leaders are talking about the importance of well-being as a guide for their nations and the world. The World Happiness Report 2013 offers rich evidence that the systematic measurement and analysis of happiness can teach us a lot about ways to improve the world's well-being and sustainable development."

Many countries showed improvements in well-being over the course of the five-year study period, Professor John Helliwell of the University of British Columbia, co-editor of the report, told the Globe & Mail.

"Life is getting better in unsung ways in many places -- enough so that the world is slowly becoming a happier place," he said.

Still, the world's happiest countries are largely concentrated in Northern Europe. These Nordic nations ranked highest on the survey's six happiness metrics of real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption and generosity. It's not the first time the Danes have claimed the title of world's happiest nation -- an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report last year found that Denmark had the highest life satisfaction ratings, with 88 percent of citizens responding with positive emotions when asked, "How are you feeling today?"

Canada, coming in below Sweden, earned its spot largely due to life expectancy, high median incomes and strong community ties, according to the survey.

But the U.S. lagged behind, coming in at 17th, just below Mexico. The placement echoes other recent findings on national well-being: The United States slipped from 10th place to 12th in the Legatum Prosperity Index's list of the world's happiest countries, with declining rankings in the realms of governance, personal freedom, and entrepreneurship and opportunity.
Infographic by Jan Diehm for The Huffington Post.

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The Happiest Countries In The World (INFOGRAPHIC)

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Looking for the happiest place on Earth? No, it's not in Anaheim, California. The world's reserves of joy and well-being seem to be concentrated in Northern Europe, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network's 2013 World Happiness Report.

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Not only did this article talk about pet owners happiness but pets happiness too. Pets happiness revolves around their owners, their loyal and loving. Their an amazing friend, they don't judge you by how you look, and they wont care how much money you have all they want is a returned love back from you. Pet owners are happier people and live longer then people who aren't. This fact contributes to the interview on parents saying that who you surround yourself with influences their happiness.

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Anyone who lives with a cat or a dog will tell you how much love there is to be found in this man/woman-beast relationship. Taking nothing away from birds, reptiles or friendly rodents, the loving touch of a furry family member at the end of a long, tough day is hard to beat. With their unconditional love Fluffy and Fido bring happiness to their human "litter-mates."

About the names: The rather simple names of Fluffy and Fido came from the fact that cats generally were fluffy and dogs were the most faithful of creatures. Today their descendents may very well have names such as Carly or James, always with the owner's last name of course. They are family after all.

But pets don't really care all that much about names. Whatever we happen to name our pets doesn't matter. They simply want kindness, care and loving attention from us. When we give this in abundance we are assured of their love which is loyal and pure. They don't care what we look like or what we do for a living; they certainly don't care how much money we make. All they care about is that we're here.

According to statistics, people who have one or more pets in their homes lead happier lives, are considerably healthier, live longer and weigh less than those who don't. Pet owners heal better after surgery and have reduced factors for cardiovascular disease. Those are pretty good reasons to be a pet owner right there but that's not why we need and have pets in our lives. The American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians explains the bond that we have with our pets as "a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship. The touching of our pets and the closeness of the relationship with them is spiritual."

Animals influence our lives for the better. Who among us doesn't remember a special pet from childhood? They're remembered because their love was special. Whatever they gave to us made a lasting impression. We remember the loyalty and love.

We remember, too, the sadness of a beloved pet's passing or the incredibly heartbreaking decision to euthanize a suffering dog or cat, no matter that we knew it was the right thing to do. Their love as well as their memories last.

Pets help to heal us. Therapists who work with nursing home patients are very aware of this fact when they use pet therapy as part of an interactive program. Many nursing homes have house cats whose very presence seems to bring peace to the patients. They are furry-pawed members of the staff and seem to instinctively know when they're needed.

Therapy dogs have been known to reach people suffering from Alzheimer's. A beautiful collie named Jesse was a sweet-natured gentle miracle worker of sorts for a woman suffering from this disease. She rarely spoke and never recognized anyone in her family. One day, when Jesse was brought over to the woman, he put his head in her lap. She looked at him, stroked his head and simply said, "Lassie." His presence had sparked a sweet, tiny memory for her.

The relationship between humans and pets goes back a long time and no doubt started out as a practical one. Cats kept homes rodent free and dogs guarded and protected "their humans" in exchange for food, water, and shelter. We took care of them and they took care of us too. It was a "hand-and-paw-shake-on-it" good deal for all concerned.

Animals are still looking out for us. Stories of dogs who risk their lives to protect their owners, and even complete strangers, from physical attacks, cats who have been known to alert sleeping families to fire and other dangers in the home, pods of dolphins saving a surfer being attacked by a shark -- the media is full of these true human interest stories.

There is an inexplicable tug of our hearts towards the creatures with whom we share our lives, a primal need to interact with them and to love them. What they give to us is something that is precious and rare. They love us without reservation, they trust us implicitly, they accept us as we are, warts and all. What a perfect definition of unconditional love!
To read more from Kristen Houghton, peruse her articles at Kristen Houghton.com and visit her Keys to Happiness blog.
And Then I'll Be Happy! Look Inside the Book
Kristen's email
Copyright 2010 Kristen Houghton

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Anyone who lives with a cat or a dog will tell you how much love there is to be found in this man/woman-beast relationship. Taking nothing away from birds, reptiles or friendly rodents, the loving touch of a furry family member at the end of a long, tough day is hard to beat.

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Looking at the options that google gives you to pick from you can see the things people focus on to find happiness in. Google suggests that the main things you can find happiness is in education, relationships, and money.

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This quote is interesting because it says in order to stay happy you have make it a ¨habit¨. So, in this someone would would have to find the goodness in everything around them to keep them happy. In order to make it a habit it would have to occur automatically which can be very difficult.

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This interview shows how after having kids they change their importance all on family. Before having kids they both mentioned something about something they had a lot of free time for. Even though what defines their happiness changed in both instances before and after they had kids, they mentioned things about their relationship with others that affected their happiness. Who you surround yourself is a huge factor in you happiness.

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Marina Jacobson - Unit 4 KWL - Student Template*