Yesterday

 Yesterday I went out for breakfast with my mother. The neighbors threw some powder on her hand to involve her in the Phagwah "activities" on the street. She was lucky it wasn't a bucket of water thrown on her because there was a lot of that. It was a happy time on our street (for those who participated in Phagwah).

My mother met an old friend while we were dining. There were both so very happy to see each other and had a good 'gyaff.' My mother wanted to go for a drive after that.

As I write this, I am noticing that I am using 'happy' a lot.  This could be because of yesterday's post. By the way, yesterday's post made me think of my work on the Lessons Project - 7ps, calendar, and so on. That project focused more on achievement and success.

Happiness Day

 I learned from a Facebook post that it is International Happiness Day! My thoughts on things that bring about happiness:

Happiness makes me think of things that

Bring a smile to my face or bring laughter or are associated with comfort.

Sometimes you feel getting everything you want will bring happiness

But I am old enough to know it is complicated.

Happiness

I posted another article in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/happiness-fahmeena-odetta-moore

The text:

I've heard my father say time and time again that happiness comes from helping others.  "If I make somebody else happy, I am happy" he would say.
Wise men have been saying the same thing for centuries. For example:
Nobel Peace Prize receipient Muhammad Yunus stated that, "Making money is a happiness; making other people happy is a superhappiness."
Saint Francis of Assisi stated, "For it is in giving that we receive," and
Martin Luther King Jr. stated, ""...the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others."
(see The Secret to Happiness Is Helping Others by Jenny Santi, https://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4070299/secret-to-happiness/ for a few more).

It turns out that research also supports this assertion. The articles 'Happiness Comes From Making Others Feel Good Rather Than Ourselves, According To A New Study' (Time Magazine Online, https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2021/04/26/happiness-comes-from-making-others-feel-good-rather-than-ourselves-according-to-a-new-study/?sh=25fab73c2fd9)
and 'If You Want to Be Happy, Try to Make Someone Else Happy' (Greater Good Magazine, Berkeley, University of California, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/if_you_want_to_be_happy_try_to_make_someone_else_happy) discuss research that show that people derive more happiness from helping others. Researchers Liudmila Titova and Kennon Sheldon compared the strategy of pursuing happiness for oneself with the strategy of pursuing happiness for others. They found that the second brings more personal happiness than the first. Another study led by researcher Milla Titova found that making others happy made participants happier than socializing or making themselves happy. Not only financial generosity can increase one's happiness (spending money on others increases one’s happiness more than spending money on oneself), but also donating time to help someone in need or striving to put the happiness of others above our own.

In my research on achievement and success (which should lead to happiness), I discovered that these seven traits and talents lead to success: perception, preparation/planning, problem-solving, persuasion, patience, perseverance, and panache. Perseverance may be the most important. In life, people have setbacks, they struggle, they fail. They need to persevere to break free from struggles and recover from setbacks and failures. Patience is usually required.
Persuasion is needed to sell ideas, to convince others of something, for making others see things as you do, or for garnering support. Persuasion is known as a great superpower.
Perception deals with seeing things clearly, and also viewpoints, ideas, thinking, and vision.
Preparation/Planning is needed to formulate a strategy, to think through issues.
Problem-solving is needed to deal with all the problems that may crop up. Creative solutions to problems is a plus.
Panache has to do with confidence, style, charisma, and character.

(End note: The 7Ps for success remind me of the 7Cs of driving - a topic my father always likes to discuss.)

Interesting Article On Online Reviews, Happiness and Travel

I found an interesting article that used online reviews to measure consumers' happiness with travel destinations. The article is:

Utilizing text-mining to explore consumer happiness within tourism destinations
By: Benjamin Garner, Corliss Thornton, Anita Luo Pawluk, Roberto Mora Cortez, Wesley Johnston, Cesar Ayala
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296321005853

The researchers used travel reviews from Yelp.com. They extracted words from the reviews to measure how happy the consumer was (their emotions) with their travel. 

This article was not one of the articles reviewed/analyzed for my literature review paper on online reviews. I wish it was around then. It is interesting that the focus seems to be on marketing though. My literature review paper had a different slant. And, the value or contribution of my paper was decision-making.

Did you see my concept map prepared from the first set of articles selected for my literature review paper? It is available here: http://fmooreconceptmap1.blogspot.com/.

Some more travel photos: