In Pursuit of Happiness....Never ends well

When most of us think about what makes us happy, we tend to focus on the “things” in life that we crave or long to possess. These things may be concrete consumables or they may be intangible resources, such as “time,” “inner peace,” or “true love.”

It is easier for some of us to create a list of what we want the world to give us than it is to think in terms of what we can give back to the world.

We live in a world of instant feedback and conspicuous consumption. It may be experienced firsthand through the “Buy Now” button on Amazon’s website or Netflix bingeing or through an obsession with reading or creating online reviews of products, films, and life, in general. It seems a little odd that we trust strangers’ opinions when we already know how much we might disagree with our own BFFs about favorite products.

It is amazing how many “things” everyone seems to have in their lives – and how many more things we might desire because we believe that they can make us feel even better about ourselves in relation to how we think others feel about us.

Happiness is a state of being, not a pile of stuff.

The secret to happiness is actually a set of four factors that can easily be mastered by any of us, anywhere. The four practices that can change your life for good are friendliness, cheerfulness, compassion, and gratitude.

Friendliness

Some people can be described as “the type of person who’s never met a stranger.” These are people who meet the world with a pleasant temperament and an openness to new people and new experiences – regardless of who may be placed in their path on any given day.

Friendliness is about offering warmth and good humor to those around you.

It is about being willing to make the first move socially while recognizing that others may be a little slower to warm up. It’s about knowing that the reward for friendliness is not always immediately apparent.

Human beings are social creatures and being kind is a lot more likely to help you build your “tribe” than showing indifference or disinterest to the people that you might someday need for support or assistance.

Cheerfulness

There are plenty of old songs that encourage you to “put on a happy face” or “smile when your heart is breaking,” and, much more recently, Pharrell’s iconic  “Happy,” where I first heard the awesome simile about happiness feeling “like a room without a roof.”

Many of us may feel a little confused about why we are always encouraging people to “lie” to themselves and pretend to feel something they don’t. It is because researchers have found that being able to offer the world a sunny disposition, regardless of your inner mood state, actually encourages you to feel better physically!

Smiles are contagious, too, and if you can find the energy to offer your own smile to the people around you, even if you feel like your inner world is falling apart, you are going to feel magically better when our smile is returned.

In fact, being on the receiving end of someone else’s genuine smile has been proven to be emotionally and psychologically healing. Did you know that simply imagining that you are being smiled at by someone you love is just as powerfully healing as having that person present?

If you need one more reason to be cheerful, how about this...

Research has shown that when patients grimace or frown during medical treatments or procedures, they actually feel MORE PAIN than those who do not. Gritting your teeth and bearing it is not the best option. Letting yourself smile in the midst of struggle is what brings a change in perception and increases your ability to cope.

Be empathetic to those who are seeking assistance from you and offer them extra support by way of an encouraging smile. When you use your warm presence to help them get through difficult times, the pay-off can be huge! For both of you.

Compassion

Offering compassion to others is another charitable act that positively influences the giver. When we accept others’ shortcomings or cut others slack for their own wrongs or missteps, we are actually valuing humanity over someone else’s personal flaws.

Most of us are truly doing the best we can at any given moment. Sure, some days our “best” is far from “enough,” and there are days when we know that we are guilty of giving less where we probably should have tried harder to give more. No one is at 100 percent of their game every day. However, if you accept the shortfall of another, the windfall for you is a happier life. 

For those of you who believe that you always give 100 percent, I challenge you to prove this to yourself by giving others a little compassion when they don’t measure up to your own high standards. That’s what someone who truly gives 100 percent would do, no doubt.

Bring a sense of gratitude to your life

Whatever you have in life and wherever you are, you can always find some reason to be grateful. For instance, today you may be feeling a little anxious, but you showed up – that’s something we all are grateful for.

Acknowledging your own good fortune – no matter how seemingly slight or minimal at the moment – can actually enhance your overall wellbeing.

Researchers have found that being truly grateful for what you have in life can yield some pretty important physical benefits:

• You sleep better and enjoy better relationships! Those are pretty important benefits for graduate students, for sure. And for adults, in general, I expect.

• Not only that, but researchers have also found that a person’s level of gratitude is inversely proportional to their level of depressed feelings or sadness.

• So, the more grateful you are in life, the better the chances are that you will actually enjoy what you have!

Why Bother Being Happy?

• Happy people enjoy less stressful lives.

• Happy people actually live longer, too.

• Happy people are protected against some forms of chronic illnesses.
• Meet the world with a positive attitude
• Smile at and befriend others
• Cut us all a little slack, and
• Be consciously grateful for all that you do have rather than worrying about why you do not.

If you’re hanging around waiting for the world to make you happy, it simply isn’t going to happen.

Plus, you are a lot more fun to be around if you’re feeling good about life! And your family and friends can certainly appreciate that!

You don’t have to win the lottery, earn a 4.0 GPA, find true love, beat Bowser to save Peach, or live a perfect life to find happiness.

You just need to do 4 things:

1. Meet the world with a positive attitude
2. Smile at and befriend others
3. Cut us all a little slack, and
4. Be consciously grateful for all that you do have rather than worrying about why you do not.

I can pretty much guarantee that instilling these 4 practices into your daily life can leave you feeling happy – maybe even like a room without a roof!

Ranveer Singh & Deepika Padukone headed for a split? Read the truth here

A few days ago, many stories claimed that all is not well between the celebrity couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. But here is a good news for all those who were upset about their split. 

The two recently attended the IIFA awards together and were posing happily together for the shutterbugs. Later, Ranveer Singh posted a cute message for his lady love, which put all the break-up rumours to rest. He wrote, "Leela to my Ram... Mastani to my Bajirao... Best Actress to my Best Actor @deepikapadukone #IIFA2016 Koi Shaq?"

Not so long ago, a leading website had reported, "He (Ranveer) is hurt by the fact that she (Deepika) keeps denying their relationship. There is a communication gap between them as of now which hopefully will be resolved. Also long distance has naturally taken a toll on them. She has been busy shooting for XXX: Return of the Xander Cage in Canada while he's been in Paris with Vaani Kapoor filming Befikre."

When a leading daily, asked Deepika Padukone about the same she said, "There's nothing to respond to. As I said, I have never responded to such rumours and I don't plan to anytime soon. I have never commented on anything before, so I won't say anything now. He has been and will always be an important part of my life. That will never change."

Well, Ranveer Singh's recent tweet has cleared all our doubts and the couple is very much in love! Koi Shaq?

Is this tree the future of electricity?

From a distance this may look like an ordinary tree, but get closer and you will discover it is actually a power generator.

French company NewWind has created the "Arbre a Vent" or "Wind Tree," a 3-meter-tall generator designed for urban environments which makes the most of smaller air currents.

Operating in near complete silence, the wind tree consists of 72 micro turbine "aeroleaves" that rotate in the wind, generating an estimated 3.1. kW of power.

While this isn't much compared to industrial-sized turbines, which typically generate in the region of 1 - 3MW, having multiple smaller turbines has its uses.

"Urban wind is not very strong, but it is very turbulent," says "Arbre à Vent" engineer Julia Revuz. "These turbines need less wind to get started and produce around 3kW of energy, which could heat a small home, fuel lights or charge an electric car."

New wind was founded by Jérôme Michaud-Larivière three years ago when he had the idea for the Wind Tree while taking a walk. He saw the leaves on a tree moving in the wind and started thinking about the possibility of turning that kinetic energy into electricity.

The current prototype of the tree is steel and the energy made from it goes into the electricity grid and is used locally.

"We haven't yet optimized the structure," says Revuz. "We are hoping to make the leaves out of eco-friendly materials and for the tree to have as a low a carbon footprint as possible."

A 12-meter tall prototype of the tree will be on display from March 12 for two months at Place de la Concorde, a major public square in Paris.

This prototype, which weighs around 5 tons and costs roughly $35,000, is to be used as an educational tool and will aim to show the public the technology behind the structure. The wind tree will be mass produced for sale from March 2015 and newwind says it has raised €1.15 million ($1.34 million) to begin pre-production.

"The reaction has been very positive so far," explains Revuz. "People don't know how it works but they like it, they find it magical.

"There is a very negative view of wind energy, people think it's ugly and it ruins their landscapes. Then they see the wind tree and they think differently."

Newwind has had interest from local government in France and Europe, as well as real estate agents and businesses that want to have the tree on their land. There are even talks about another demonstration tree in London next year.

The Wind Tree may not be affordable and practical for everyone, but there are other applications that could be more accessible.

"Our technology is in the mini wind turbines (the aeroleaves)," says Revuz. "So we are developing other applications for them.

"Architects have been in touch and are interested in using them in their work, perhaps on the roofs of buildings. Mini turbines are cheaper to produce and buy than the wind tree."

Other ideas for the aeroleaves include rooftop foliage installed on buildings, foliage on roadsides and the smart balcony -- where the mini turbines are attached to balcony railings.

The Terminator could actually be a reality one day

How creepy could it feel, seeing the terminator on roads and also fighting criminals and gunning them down, just like the movie. Hmmm thanks to advanced engineering, technology and artificial intelligence, drones could be capable of operating and firing weaponry autonomously in the not-too-distant future Advancing technology may offer the benefits of rapid response time, lower costs, and reduced physical and emotional risks to human soldiers. But these so-called ‘killer robots’ are also raising concerns around the world. ‘Fully autonomous weapons represent the step beyond remote-controlled armed drones,’ Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report released today in conjunction with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic wrote ‘Unlike any existing weapons, these robots would identify and fire on targets without meaningful human intervention,’ they wrote.

According to HRW, the governments of the United States, Israel, China, Russia, South Korea and the United Kingdom are believed to be investigating the potential of autonomous drones, with the U.S. and U.K. already sending devices on test flights, CBS New reported. The HRW report argues that such autonomous weapons would undermine basic human rights and the principle of human dignity. 

‘As inanimate machines, fully autonomous weapons could truly comprehend neither the value of individual life nor the significance of its loss. Allowing them to make determinations to take life away would thus conflict with the principle of dignity,’ the report said . Another fear is that the autonomous drones would not be able to distinguish between combatants and civilians in the report, HRW calls for countries to pass laws against ‘killer drones’ and support an internationally binding agreement to ‘prohibit the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.’

So long Arnie, I think we can only get to see you in the big screen in your metallic avatar.