Daily Reader and Surfin links

Well away we go. I am surfing through my Google reader backlog, which is in the hundreds today. I will also later post some interesting illusions. This will be a good idea to get some interest going early on.

The first site I visited today was from a Google alert, and I found Bruce's Blog, which contained this little gem.

So what do you have to do to find happiness?

Are we wired up to be cheerful, or are some of us destined to languish in abject misery? Dorothy Wade reports on the new science of feeling good... But ordinary people believe they are happier than average (an obvious impossibility) and that they'll be even happier in 10 years' time. If true, it would be good news because research shows that happier people are healthier, more successful, harder-working, caring and more socially engaged. Misery makes people self-obsessed and inactive.

The article from the Sunday Times newspaper in the UK asks some interesting questions, Albeit with a lack of supporting evidence. Dorothy has interviewed some eminent experts, and waded through epiphany's, nimbus clouds in the soul and 5-year old inspirations to follow the story of what it means to be happy, and the scientific theories behind modern research in explaining it, all the way from the Pleistocene period! This well written and entertaining article goes on to pull together the "pieces of the jigsaw" to develop a stunning conclusion.

It's difficult to resist the logic of the happiness doctors. Stay in your Eeyore-ish bubble of existentialist angst and have a life that's short, sickly, friendless and self-obsessed. Or find a way to get happy, and long life, good health, job satisfaction and social success will be yours. You'd better start writing that gratitude letter now.

But best of all is this little gem.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Men often complain about their wives' volatility. Now research confirms that women really are both happier and sadder. Positive and negative emotions are not polar opposites — you can have both in your life. Women experience more of all emotions except anger. First it was found that women experience twice as much depression as men. Next, researchers found that women report more positive emotion than men, more frequently and more intensely. It all points to men and women having a different emotional make-up. Cognitive psychologists say that men and women have different skills related to sending and receiving emotion. Women are expressive; men conceal or control their emotions. Women convey emotion through facial expression and communication; men express emotion through aggressive or distracting behavior. Does the difference lie in biology, social roles or just women's willingness to report emotion? That's up for debate.

Gotta love it. Anyway, I enjoyed having it all "summarized and structured". It makes you think a little...