Increase Your Happiness by 50%

Undoubtedly,  you have heard that Louisiana is one of the saddest states in the USA. How did they come up with this determination? Twitter. Truth be told, all they did is gauge how often people Tweeted certain words and it looks like Louisiana came in low on the list because of “an abundant use of profanity”.

Words like “wine” and “food” determined that Napa, CA is the happiest city in the country.

Sorry to hear it, but Beaumont, TX was dead last of 373 cities because of a lot of swearing and, as the article points out, “a shortage of ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’”.

The same article points out that Hawaii is the happiest state.

Keep in mind, none of it was read in context.

Of course you can find studies that show that Louisiana is one of the happiest places on earth, so even if the Twitter study is correct, how do we become 50% happier?

Jerry Del Calliano came up with a list of 4 things that can help us be happier:

Find at least one thing to be grateful for every hour.

Don’t postpone or talk yourself out of anything joyful that happens for any reason large or, more importantly, small.

At least once a day, make it about someone else not about us.

Be mindful of trying to live in the moment. Experts say even trying and failing to live in the now makes us happier.

“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it” – Jacques Prévert