This semester I decided to take a class called Positive Psychology. Not only is it taught by one of my favorite professors (shout out to Dr. Gregg), the name itself intrigued me immensely. I would consider myself a relatively positive person and despite my constant RBF (resting b*tch face), I'm generally happy all of the time. However, to my surprise, taking this positive psychology class has made me even happier. One of our required books is called The How of Happiness and it is full of questionnaires, activities, and information on your own happiness and how to control it. The book makes the claim, based on research, that 50% of our happiness is determined by our genetic makeup (thanks, mom and dad) while 10% of the credit is given to circumstance, leaving the last 40% up to us. That's a fairly large percentage of our overall happiness if you think about it. Talk about determining your own fate am I right?

One of the activities that this book suggests is savoring life's joys and I have chosen most recently to focus on this particular activity. As I mentioned before I consider myself to be a happy person. I enjoy the simple things such as a good sunset, the sweet smell of rain, or a steaming hot cup of coffee. However, as I started to focus on this activity I realized that while I may enjoy these things, I'm not REALLY enjoying them. I often find myself getting distracted by other matters. For instance, while drinking my cup of coffee I'm usually on my way to class, doing homework, or thinking about other things. I'm not actually enveloped in how amazing my coffee is at that moment in time. To fix this, I decided to become completely immersed in the things I was doing. The results were actually really awesome.

The first instance in which I did this, I was with my friends just enjoying their company. I paid more attention to our conversations and what was going on than I did to anything else. It actually ended up as one of the most fun nights we had had in quite some time. Later I tried the same while doing my make up-- an activity I very much enjoy. Instead of being distracted by my phone or thinking about other things I became 100% involved in the activity I was doing. I tried the same while enjoying my coffee and surprisingly enough it was even better than usual.

Of course, there are going to be times where you cannot completely consume yourself in what you are doing. However, I feel that it is essential to take that time when you can to submerge yourself in something you love so completely that you lose a sense of everything else. We, as imperfect beings, get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget to take the time to enjoy the things that truly matter to us. Enjoy those things every chance that you get. You are in charge of 40% of your overall happiness. What are you going to do about it?