A Trite Phrase?
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy New Year! Happy Kwanzaa! All of these phrases and more often find themselves wrapped in a single exclamation — Happy Holidays! Perhaps we do this in order to make sure we cover them all without inadvertently offending someone with an errant greeting given during the wrong Holiday. Perhaps we do so out of habit or expediency. Perhaps we toss out this greeting truly wishing to communicate peace and good will to our neighbors on this life journey! Regardless of the potential multiple motivations behind "Happy Holidays," I dare say we rarely pause long enough to reflect on the Potential Power of the phrase!
I know that is routinely the case in my experience! All too often, "Happy Holidays" becomes just another trite phrase drawn from the vast storehouse of trite phrases buried in my brain that serve to address social and cultural protocol during seasons of celebration. It's a safe greeting! I can say it with practiced sincerity and joviality without so much as a question from the person I greet! Amazing!
Alas, just one more grouping of words that has lost its true meaning — or so I thought!
Happiness is Like a Virus!
Yep! That's what I said — a VIRUS! Well, to be fair . . . I'm not the one that said it! I read an article recently that was based on the findings of a long-term study of various health related issues – of which happiness and its social effects were a part. To quote Rob Stein of The Washington Post, "Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors siblings and spouses like the flu, even rippling through clusters of people who may no even know each other."
Needless to say THAT caught my attention! A VIRUS, for heaven's sake – happiness spreading like a VIRUS! How very intriguing! If you are interested in reading more of the study itself, it was published on line recently in BMJ, a British medical publication.
The viral nature of happiness was summed up when Mr. Stein wrote, "One person's happiness can affect another's for up to a year . . . and while unhappiness can also spread from person to person, the 'infectiousness' of that emotion appears weaker." There we have it in one succinct statement. Infecting people with the happiness germ can make a huge difference! Maybe that "trite" phrase isn't so trite after all!
Some of the Findings
In order to share the meat of the article, allow me to share a brief summarization of the study's findings:
- Our emotional state depends not only on our own choices, actions and experiences — it also depends on the choices, actions and experiences of other people as well — even people wo whom we are not directly connected!
- Laughter and smiles long known to momentarily lift the spirits of those exposed to them can actually spread across groups of people extending its affect for longer periods of time.
- When one in a network becomes happy, the chances that a friend, spouse or next door neighbor will become happy increases between 8 and 34 percent.
- The power happiness related to social networks could have tremendous impact on public policy — thus the findings that indicate a happy work environment may be more important than a raise!
- Happy people tend to be more creative, productive and healthy.
- This viral behavior of happiness-sharing remained strong and vital through three degrees of separation before falling off gradually.
What does all this Mean to Us?
This Holiday Season may just be the most tenuous and uncertain in a very long time! More and more of us face reduced wages, cut backs, decreased buying power, job losses, credit crunches — you name it and we face it! How in the world can the Holidays be happy in the face of such challenges?
Well, if the study has any merit — any validity at all (and I tend to believe that it does) — then we have the power to spread the positive emotions associated with happiness to people all over the world! Truly! I know that might sound a bit unrealistic, but think about it. If the viral nature of happiness creates the conditions for it to spread from one group to another, then a smile shared with a stranger in a busy airport terminal could actually make its way around the world in a matter of a few days!
On a more local and personal level, what can we do withing our family, our social network that will spread the virus of happiness?
- Bake a cake and deliver it to a homebound friend?
- Offer to drive a friend to the doctor or grocery store?
- Smile more at people we don't know and wish them a heart-felt, "Happy Holidays?"
- Take time to sit with our children or grandchildren and read a book or play a game that they like?
- Take a quiet moment write down all the blessings we are so fortunate to have and then read them to our spouse, friend or family?
- Make a donation of time or money or services to a local charity?
- Pack and deliver food packages to those for whom a Holiday meal might not be a reality without the intervention?
There are so very many ways to tap into happiness and then share it with others. Don't you think it's time we started focusing on the things we DO have and less on the things we DON'T have? Isn't that truly the foundation of happiness — recognizing and realizing the value of who we are are and what we possess? Once we do that, I venture to say that spreading happiness in small ways will become second nature through this Holiday Season. And remember . . . if the study is correct, a happy gesture given today may just ripple through the world for a whole year!
Happy Holidays INDEED!
Until next time . . . Peace!
Mark
Copyright 2008 Mark E. Hundley
