Happiness is Contagious

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." Mahatma Gandhi

Harvard University did a study of over five thousand people over twenty years.  The research showed that when people became happy, this happiness spread out to people two to three degrees removed from the happy person.  So, happiness is contagious.  We can catch it from one another.  And, how do we get happy?  Gandhi offers us the advice above:  when what we think, say and do are in harmony.  In psychological terms this is called being congruent.  Haven't you experienced a day when something someone said to you made your day?  Or conversely, something someone said to you rubbed you so the wrong way that it turned your day badly?  We each have the power to help ourselves and others have a good day.  It starts with ourselves.  We can choose to bring into harmony our thoughts, words and actions.  We can choose to be at peace and to be happy.  It starts with ourselves and becoming congruent, then it extends to how we treat those people with whom we most interact, and then it ripples beyond that to everyone with whom we come in contact.  For our own sake, and the sake of others, let us choose to be happy.