My Opinion: Soul Pancake
Today was a very quiet day at work, with no new art requests and the only thing to look forward to being a meeting at 3. So what do I do on a quiet day at work? I watch YouTube videos and doodle in a notebook.
Today I watched a couple of series created by the channel SoulPancake on the Science of Happiness and the Science of Love which made me really think about my interactions with others. I got hooked on the science of happiness because I used to be such an optimistic person, viewing each day as a fresh start and looking at the future as something with a ton of potential. Something changed in me my freshman year at college and the world started to become more corrupt and depressing. My teenaged angst became a venom that turned into anxiety and depression, a fear of not being accepted and I built emotional walls to keep people out. I became more outgoing outwardly while retreating further into myself. I kept up the facade of optimism because it was what people were used to seeing, but I no longer believed the ideals I spewed. I became a happiness hypocrite.
The Science of Happiness reminded me of what it was like to be genuinely happy every day. It challenged me to make an effort and go out of my way to help others in ways I usually wouldn't consider doing. I was encouraged to forgive others, forgive myself, and to encourage those I love in their life goals and current efforts. I sent multiple people in my life messages telling them how much they mean to me and how I couldn't live life without them. I meant every word and just sending those messages and getting acceptance in response made me genuinely happy. I've been going through my day smiling because I started my day choosing to be happy.
That's another thing that hit me; there was one woman in the study who scored a perfect on the happiness test that the group administered to their participants. She was this sweet teacher, the typical sweet grandmother everybody envisions having. She said she starts her day by CHOOSING to be happy. She reflects on her blessings, and takes the time to view everything she has in the most positive aspect possible. She was the only person in all of the experiments who scored a perfect test. I aspire to one day be able to wake up every morning and choose to be happy.
This week has been a toughie, and this series helped lift me out of my funk, so thank you SoulPancake for your very interesting series. I hope you create more of them soon!
Today I watched a couple of series created by the channel SoulPancake on the Science of Happiness and the Science of Love which made me really think about my interactions with others. I got hooked on the science of happiness because I used to be such an optimistic person, viewing each day as a fresh start and looking at the future as something with a ton of potential. Something changed in me my freshman year at college and the world started to become more corrupt and depressing. My teenaged angst became a venom that turned into anxiety and depression, a fear of not being accepted and I built emotional walls to keep people out. I became more outgoing outwardly while retreating further into myself. I kept up the facade of optimism because it was what people were used to seeing, but I no longer believed the ideals I spewed. I became a happiness hypocrite.
The Science of Happiness reminded me of what it was like to be genuinely happy every day. It challenged me to make an effort and go out of my way to help others in ways I usually wouldn't consider doing. I was encouraged to forgive others, forgive myself, and to encourage those I love in their life goals and current efforts. I sent multiple people in my life messages telling them how much they mean to me and how I couldn't live life without them. I meant every word and just sending those messages and getting acceptance in response made me genuinely happy. I've been going through my day smiling because I started my day choosing to be happy.
That's another thing that hit me; there was one woman in the study who scored a perfect on the happiness test that the group administered to their participants. She was this sweet teacher, the typical sweet grandmother everybody envisions having. She said she starts her day by CHOOSING to be happy. She reflects on her blessings, and takes the time to view everything she has in the most positive aspect possible. She was the only person in all of the experiments who scored a perfect test. I aspire to one day be able to wake up every morning and choose to be happy.
This week has been a toughie, and this series helped lift me out of my funk, so thank you SoulPancake for your very interesting series. I hope you create more of them soon!