BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for work.

I stayed home and slept in... Or, I tried to.  The cats wanted breakfast.  So, they got breakfast after several attempts to wake me up for a couple hours as I fended them off.

I finally gave in and got up.  I made coffee.  I worked on lots of office work type of stuff through the day.  Later on in the day I went out and shoveled the driveway/walkway and cleaned my car off.

While I was shoveling I listened to a podcast on how to be happy.  The one guy they interviewed discussed this book, I think it was called Happy Money, but I'm not 100 percent sure.  I didn't catch it all because the scraping of the snow shovel made it hard to hear.  I'll listen to it again later.

It was interesting though, he discussed various things that make people happy... Not like ENTIRE life changes, just little things you can do with your life.  For example, one of the questions was... Which religion makes people the happiest...

Turns out, they all do equally.  It's not about WHICH religion has happier people... It's if you believe or not.  The study found that if you, for example, were brought up Catholic and you go to Catholic church... But you just don't actually strongly believe in the faith, you'll be unhappy.

That's kind of one of those "Duh" type of studies.

Basically they said that goes for anything, a job, or a house, or a relationship.  If you believe in it, or love it, or are passionate about it... You'll be happy.

So, if you work a job you hate, or are with someone you don't really much like, or you live in a bad living arrangement or hate your roomie...

You won't be happy.

Basically the key to being happy is, live with people you like, or live alone if you like that.  Live in a town you like.  If you don't like the city, don't live in the city, if you don't like small towns, down live in small towns.

If you don't like your job, find a job that is something you feel strongly about.  If you work a job, but you don't agree with the company values or mission, you probably shouldn't be working there.

If you feel strongly about one faith, but you're practicing another, you're probably going to be unhappy.

It's all pretty common sense.  Basically he said, don't listen to other people when it comes to being happy.

Follow your own preferences.

This can be tricky though when it comes to family dynamics...

So, his one example of sometimes it's tough to choose your own happiness over someone elses... he talked about an example where this mid 20s kid had been dating same sex for 10 years now, but kept it from his dad... He was completely unhappy but he wanted his dad to be happy... Finally... he came out to his dad, which was bad for a while, but eventually his dad finally was okay with it.

So, I guess sometimes choosing your own happiness isn't easy because sometimes there are other people that you have to consider.

One of the things he discussed as well was, the concept of does money really buy happiness...

Turns out, yes.  But, the answer is... When you spend it on other people.

So, if you're walking down the street and you find 5 bucks.... If you went to Starbucks and bought a cup of coffee, it would increase your happiness level.  You'd have the coffee, and caffeine would boost your mood.

But, and I don't know exactly how they did this study... But he said, if you instead used that 5 bucks of found money to buy someone else a cup of coffee... the effect on your mood lasts longer and is much stronger.

I guess people felt happy for days, or even weeks after, versus the coffee they bought for themselves where they only felt happy for a few hours, or maybe just a day or so after the fact.

Again, I have no idea how they measured that.  But, I guess it kind of makes sense...

So, money buys happiness when you spend it on other people.

Who knew?

And then living your life the way you like also leads to a happier life, but it can lead to being unhappy if there are other factors like having to make a family member unhappy with your decision...

Clear as mud right?

Well anyways, now I'm doing more "office-y" things.  I'm also working on more music related stuff.  Was doing some cover art things for new songs.  And I tweaked a new song.  I played guitar, practiced music, and wrote a little bit of music.  I REALLY need to finish a new song, it's been forever since I've finished one.  So, I'm trying to make that more of a priority lately over anything else.

Because for me?  Working on music is what makes me happy.

Also sleeping in does too.  But, the cats like their breakfast, which is what makes them happy... So, there's a conflict right there.  Choose between cats happiness or mine?  I mean, the obvious choice is usually cats.

This morning I compromised.... I slept in some, and then I fed them.  I didn't sleep in as much as I wanted to... But they got fed still kind of sort of early-ish... So I think it turned out alright.

So, if you want to feel good, just try to do things that you like to do... carve out a small part of your day to dedicate to doing whatever it is that makes you feel good.  And then spend a few bucks on someone else.  Oh, and it doesn't have to be a lot of money.  It could literally be just a couple bucks on someone, you don't have to go buy someone a car, or give your entire life savings to charity... Just buy someone a small gift every once in a while.  Like, buy a few of your coworkers some morning donuts, or pay for a friend's movie ticket.  Just a little gesture like that goes a long way.