There’s a great 1995 article by David Myers and Ed Diener: “Who Is Happy?”
“In study after study, four inner traits mark happy people: self-esteem, a sense of personal control, optimism, and extraversion.”
How are you doing on:
- personal control (do you generally feel in control of your life?)
- optimism (do you generally believe the future will be even better than today?)
- self-esteem (do you generally respect your actions? [or this question])
- extraversion (do you generally make a point to meet with friends?)
Each of these traits is actually acquirable and increasable, which is the most interesting part to me.
Another thank you, these are exactly the things I’m struggling with right now and your positive posts and pointers to great articles come just at the right time. Synergy, gotta love it!
Comment by grimo1re — Monday December 18, 2006 @ 3:15 pm
PS: Do talk more about the acquiring part!
Comment by grimo1re — Monday December 18, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
Grim, Oui oui oui, synergy rocks. Ok, will make sure to focus on the acquiring part in upcoming posts!
Comment by senia — Tuesday December 19, 2006 @ 11:49 am
[...] Senia helps you discover the 4 ways you can tell who is happy; self-esteem, a sense of personal control, optimism and extraversion. [...]
Pingback by Empowering Links: Week of 24th December - Life Coaches — Sunday December 24, 2006 @ 7:02 am
[...] important because confidence is just about a mix of self-esteem and personal control, and these are two of four inner traits of happy people according to Ed Diener and David [...]
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