What I Watched -- Happy

Want to learn a few things about happiness?  Happy can teach you.

Here's a sneak preview on how to get yourself a jolt of happiness:
-- Find a way to make your body release dopamine.  One surefire option: aerobic exercise, especially if done in a novel way (like participating in a gorilla run).
-- Do an activity that allows you to find your "flow."  Experiencing that energized focus that comes with being "in the zone" is great for your state of mind.
-- Count your blessings.
-- Perform acts of kindness.  It's contagious.

Some other fun facts:
-- Our baseline level of happiness is about 50% genetic and only 10% situational.  The other 40% is due to our behavior or other aspects which are under our control.
-- Happy people aren't always happy.  They have a normal response to adversity in the moment, but they come back to their baseline of happiness more quickly than unhappy people.
-- Hedonic adaptation is a major enemy of happiness, insofar as our expectations tend to rise as our condition improves, which leads to little or no recognition of "how far we've come," and hence, a general blindness towards those blessings we're supposed to be counting.

Bottom line: good lessons, that's for sure.