happiness spreads like the common cold

It's true! At least that's what the PBS special I got sucked into the other night told me.

There's a town in Massachusetts called Framingham where several thousand residents volunteered to be monitored for life as part of a study on heart disease. Starting in the 1940's, doctors kept thorough records of all these people-- not just their weight, exercise regimens, and eating habits; but they also tracked major life events--births, marriage, deaths, job loss, etc. In the 1990's, sociologists and psychologists realized they could tap into this reservoir of recorded lives to figure out something more than just heart health---they could use it to track HAPPINESS.

And you know what they discovered?

Happiness is contagious. Seriously. As contagious as any virus.

They mapped out people's correlations to one another and happiness levels using models such as this one:

Each of the colors represents a perceived happiness level--the dark blue being those struggling with difficult life situations. Do you see how they cluster together? In fact--it would take 4 degrees of separation before you weren't effected by someones happiness (or unhappiness). So if your friend's friend's friend that you didn't even know was happy---chances are YOU were going to be happy too.

Not only was I fascinated by this concept, but I felt a sudden responsibility to it too. I mean, when I'm sick--I stay at home as much as I can. I practically bathe in hand sanitizer. Cough into my sleeve. Wipe down my shopping cart after I use it. The whole nine yards! I do this out of respect to others in not wanting them to get sick. So, then, do I have the same type of obligation to "flaunt" my happiness so that it can spread? To speak more openly about the great things going on in my life? To remain as positive as I can? To dance down the aisles at the grocery store a little more often? My mama always did tell me that my attitude made all the difference!

Just a little thought for you today then: While we can't have a constant path of sunshine and roses in life, I think we could all do a little better to count our blessings and put a smile on our gorgeous faces. It's the best virus we could ever give one another :).

Start here: What's making YOU happy today?