Sex, gardening, exercise, and being married.
What do these things have in common?
Turns out these are the activities that make us truly, deeply happy.
I was reading a NYT article about the wealthiest among us (the .01 percent). Buried halfway down was a mention of the Mappiness project’s research (founded by British economists Susana Mourato + George MacKerron).
They asked tens of thousands of people (via smartphone) three questions: Who are they with? What are they doing? How happy are they?
Gathering from a sample of more than three million data points, they learned that having sex, gardening, exercising, and spending time with a spouse or partner (but not other people like colleagues, friends, or even children) ranked highest on the happiness scales.
This is interesting to me because these are simple, everyday activities, not big flashy “things,” or extravagant experiences.
We often think MORE is the answer.
We often think BETTER is the answer.
Turns out, 3 million data points says we might be wrong.
Gentle reader – what if simplifying your life down to a few activities was actually the answer to a happy life?
What then?
Warmly,
Angie