Oops!

I have to take it back.

Yesterday I wrote about an article in Prevention about a study done on happiness. The credit goes to Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania. My apologies.

The article entitled "What really makes us happy" is in the February 2006 issue.

If you are interested in reading this article, it may be archived at their website www.prevention.com. The author also suggests learning what your character strengths are that create happiness at the following website: www.authentichappiness.org.

Besides displaying gratitude - "an affirmation of the goodness in one's life and the recognition that the sources of this goodness lie at least partly outside the self" - the article suggest other ways to attain happiness.

Try these this week:

Write and personally deliver a gratitude letter to someone who has been kind to you but to whom you have never adequately thanked.

Record three things that have gone well each day.

Write about your early memories every night.

Do something new or different each day that satisfy your curiousity like visit a museum, read a book on an unfamiliar subject, or research your family tree.

Create a place in your home that you can call your "awe wall". Cover it with poems, children's pictures or drawings, a beautiful picture from a magazine, favored quotations, notes from friends, and certificates of appreciation or accomplishment.

I recall a radio interview that I heard some years ago. The announcer was interviewing a prominent psychologist about depression. He asked the psychologist what he does when he feels down. I'll never forget what he said. The fastest way to feel better about the world around you and about your circumstances is to focus on others. Go out and serve the world around you. Focusing on other's needs puts ours in the necessary perspective - out of sight.