Are we as happy as we hope we’ll be?

Are we as happy as we hope we’ll be?

Happy to share with you another interesting and happiness related article from Daniel Tomasulo of Psych Central.

It begins thus…

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

~Buddha

Facebook and other social networking platforms have allowed for reconnections with people who would have been lost to us had we lived in another time.  High school friends I haven’t seen for decades are immediately accessible with a few clicks on my laptop.

No other generation in the history of evolution has been able to reach back with such ease into previous sociometric circles to sample how friends have fared throughout their lives.  Other generations have not had the technology to do this, and a new awareness about how early indications during adolescence may affect future life circumstances has become part of our culture.  We can readily see how our teenage buds have managed their lives, and they can see us.

This reaching back in time and considering the behaviors of our peer group opens the question to prediction: Do early indications of thought and behavior inform us of how someone will turn out?

…and it concludes with

The results showed that positive or problematic trajectories were predictable as evidenced by higher or lower SOC scores and hopeful futures respectively.  Higher scores placed subjects in the more favorable trajectories, while lower scores manifested in more depressive symptoms and risk behaviors.  In other words, according to the researchers,  “…a hopeful future constitutes both emotional and cognitive activation needed to make meaningful the use of intentional self-regulatory abilities…”

Once you add hope to the list of variables in predicting which path we are going down in our lives we can determine who is on the road to thriving, and who isn’t.  The researchers summarized their findings by adding; “…we propose that having a hopeful future will become a key variable in future scholarship about the positive development of diverse young people.”

My high school reunion is later this year and we can all take a gander at how we turned out, but this new piece of research tells me that science appears to be catching up to what Helen Keller may have said best:

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

If you'd like to read the full article JUST CLICK HERE

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