The Science of Happy

Sleepless nights have given me time (ha!) to think about life's great questions. I read an article yesterday about success. The bottom line (main idea for my teacher friends) was that everyone's idea of success is different. With that, some people go their entire lives without having that feeling of success. Some celebrate their little successes and believe that leads to great success. Of course, there are lots of people in between. What is success? What makes it so attainable, unattainable depending on who you are? Do we let others have too much say so in our successes? Deep thoughts, friends, deep!

Then my book club leader who surely thinks I am not reading our book, sent us this video to accompany our read, Habitudes by Tim Elmore. It asks the question, "Does being successful make you happy or does being happy make you successful?" Give it the few minutes and watch what happens when two groups have a little happy and then complete a STEM project!

I'm a little torn on this one. I celebrate little successes and that makes me happy. I am also pretty happy so maybe that brings those little successes my way. Success is personal. It belongs to you, but am I successful? It depends on the day, but I am happy. I'm a happy wife, mommy, and teacher.

That's why I can't help but think of my first graders, too. I think happy kids perform better. I don't mean happy filled with candy, I mean kids who are enjoying their environment, feel safe and loved at school, etc. While like the video, my control group is small, I know it is true. As teachers, we have to bring the excitement, bring the engagement, and then success (at all different levels) is sure to come. 

This concludes deep thoughts with L! Ha! Maybe I'm missing my class a little too much! Maybe it's time for me to write that book I always think about and celebrate the success of finishing and not worry about the success of publishing. Maybe I need to get some sleep! 

What do you think (not about my sleep, but the idea of success and happiness!)