Happy that I'm happy, and the science of being happy.

Two nights ago Dylan (my man friend) and I watched a documentary titled, Happy. I must say, I recommend it whole heartedly. 

 the cover of "happy" film-directed, written, and co-produced by Roko Balic (cool name!)


My sister watched it over Thanksgiving break, and recommended it to me. It was about what makes people happy. surprisingly its 50% genetics 40% situational and only 10% amounts to how much stuff you have, how successful you are, and the like. Dylan really liked it because there were scientific studies, phycologists, and diagrams of neurons. I really liked it because it made life seem a lot simpler.

I think I'm pretty good at being happy, about 75% of the time. I know that I'm not happy because of the 10% of stuff I have, because being a college student I'm broke as a joke. There are a lot of things that I want that I don't have(not to say that I don't consider myself wonderfully blessed and have more than all that I need), and because I haven't gone out into the world and done something with myself, there really isn't any success to speak of.

There is something that one of the psychologists in the movie called flow, which is when you are truly happy. He said you can find flow doing physical activities, playing music, or even at work. I think I'm just really good at finding the flow. It's almost instantaneous, and I know I'm lucky. I find the flow at school, because I love my major, and I think I'm good at it, I find flow in rolling pretzels at work, in fact, I'm in a "flow" right now.

The same psychologist explained that happiness is like a muscle, and the more you experience being happy, the happier that you can become. Which simply made me realize that I need to slow down and realize that I am happy, I have more than everything I need, and I really enjoy most things.

I think its interesting that happiness is like a muscle, but I also think it's infectious. They were showing so many people that had nothing, or had experiences some really hard trials in their life, and they were so happy! They were smiling, and laughing, explaining their meaningful relationships, and it made me happy. I'm pretty happy right now, just thinking about it.

 Happiness is a choice, I firmly believe that. You can go through hard times, and terrible things can happen to you, but you can choose to be happy and have a good life; or you can choose not to. I know people very well that have physical disabilities, problems, clinical depression, and they can still find ways to be happy. I think that those people are really my heroes, even if they haven't done anything "successful."  They have found ways to be happy in tough situations.

I am also not saying that if you are sad right now, or have gone through sad times in your life that you are not a good person. People need time to get over problems, deal with things that have happened in their life, they need to have time to understand that bad things do happen, and it is never fair. I'm also going to say that it does take time. But if you are having sad feeling all the time there is hope for you, there are people that you can talk to about it, and they make you feel better. Many times I feel overwhelmed or sad about things that have happened in my life, or to loved ones in my life and it doesn't seem fair at all. Many times when this happens to me, I pray, and I personally can find peace. Peace that passes all understanding. That makes me happy!

Anyways, I hope that all of you can find ways to be happy today.

What gives you "flow" or makes you happy?

Starting a blog!

I have been wanting to do something like this for a very long time.

It all started with pinterest, as most internet habits seem to. I found a study tips pin, and clicked to read the actual site (which I love doing, because I simply CANNOT pin something without reading it first.) The pin sent me to a blog called College Prep, where this brilliantly organized post college grad inspired me to have better study habits and get more things done.

I love reading other people blogs, it's like sitting down and having a coffee chat with someone you have never even met and feeling like you have known the your entire life. I like what people can come up with, ways to save money, loose weight, appreciate art, organize and craft. It inspires me to come up with better ideas and keeps my brain thinking; and by extension, life more exciting.

Suddenly, it hit me! If i like reading other peoples blogs so much, maybe I should start my own.

There are a number of reasons why I should do this:
1. Blogging will cause self-discovery: You cannot realize who you are without realize your emotion and really reflecting on your life and what is happening in your life. Writing a blog will cause me to stop and smell the roses, really appreciate things for a while.

photo courtesy of Kelton Berrett 

2. Blog posts will inspire creativity: I'm an architecture major, and I love school, my classes, projects, and everything. But, there are so many other things I love to do that are just around the topic of architecture. I love photography and this summer my boyfriend bought me a canon rebel t2 and I've been hooked ever since. I love photoshop, illustrator, basically all of adobe creative suite. More reasons to use these things the better.

 A butterfly on my watercolor palette, in Rome, Italy. (pretty inspiring moment)

3. I'm an artist. Well, more of a student of art, I'm sketching 75% of the time. I like to draw what I see and what I don't see. Things that are real and things that are not. A blog would give me a reason to sketch and show what I sketch, and probably throughout time see my improvements. This summer I took a sketching class in Rome, Italy. You take photograph things, and look at them again, but with sketching you can remember and study, and write and remember the experience in a much more detailed way.

A diagram I made of Barcelona's Urban Fabric

4. I am a morning person: my roommate, sister, boyfriend, best friends, ARE NOT. Every morning I wake up before the sun and wander around my apartment with nothing to do. It's sad really, but I started taking this time in the morning to read blogs, organize my life, spend time with my heavenly father, and I must say, It really has been good for me.

5. I'm a terrible writer, but I feel the need to express myself through written word. I'm an architecture major and I think writing well is one of the most important skills a person can have. People read what you write, and understand you. We live in a world of facebook updates, instagrams, and tweets;  I wanted to say more eloquently feelings that take up more space than 140 words. I also just want to become better at writing, more confident that I can express myself and use spelling, grammar, and punctuation correctly. 

6. I'm an architecture major, but I'm interested in so many other things, illustrations, graphic design, photography. Maybe I can meet other people in the business through this blog.

A site analysis diagram I made this last semester

In short, I'm making this blog because I feel the need to express myself. Writing things down helps me to reflect on things, feel fulfilled, think more clearly and be creative.

I'm also hoping that I can make some friends along the way. (: