Smile: It will make you happier =)

I learned in my psychology class, that smiling actually makes you happier! It was tested in several different ways, many times. One study had people hold a pen in their mouth with their teeth, this activated their 'smile muscles' . The other group held the pen in their mouth with their lips without the pen touching their lips. By doing this it inhibited their smiling muscles. Then a third group just held the pen in their hands. All three groups then were asked to rate the funniness of some farside cartoons. The group that had their smiling muscles activated found the cartoons significantly funnier than the other two groups. They did more research and made the conclusion that if you smile it will improve your mood and make you happier!
Smile =)

Questions 6-8

6. What causes people to procrastinate?
7. Are humans the only animals that don't procrastinate? (Or, for lack of a better example, do birds ever think (if birds can think...?), "Screw it, I'm not building a nest now! I'm going to go fly around for a bit!"?)
8. Why do so few people wear wind pants anymore? You know, those ones that swish when you walk? I feel that they would be very practical given my current location and the weather often associated with it.

Being Nice to a Point?

So, we all know it's good to be nice. Parents always tell children to be nice and kind to other people. However what if being nice to some one else takes away from your own happiness. For example someone asks you for a ride to a place that you're already going, the way you were raised might make you feel obligated to be nice and give them a ride. What if you don't really care for that person (you don't hate them but they're not your favorite person) and riding with them would make that trip rather unhappy, now lets say it's sort of a big event, for example prom and someone asks to ride with you and your date. It's kind of a long drive, you don't really care to have that person there, but you all are going to the same place. Should you still "be nice" and give that person a ride even though it might make you unhappy at kind of an important event at the time? I used to think, yeah you definitely should give that person a ride because how unhappy is it honestly going to make you, and part of being a good person is making a little self-sacrifice for others. Isn't that what many of us strive to be, Good people?However, someone told me a while ago, why should you do something for someone else if it takes away from your own happiness? I honestly don't know, while it is always good to help people, you don't want to make yourself unhappy. We can apply this to almost any situation when we are asked to do something or feel obligated to do something for someone else. For many situations it really may not be a big deal or bother you to do something nice for someone else. And who knows they may really have needed that extra act of kindness. I guess you have to look at the pros and cons of each situation and determine for yourself, how the level of unhappiness of an action affects the amount of kindness that would come from that action and how it affects yourself. Then again maybe you should just be kind for the sake of being a good person? Think about it.

It's that time again...

Has anyone ever noticed how much this post-spring break time sucks?
Today is the Monday after spring break and it is less than awesome for most people I have heard from. Not only does waking up early and going to class suck, but it's not exactly very springy today. The weather up here would be lovely if not for the wind, which makes it freezing and hazardous to walk outside. If you were hoping to come back from break rocking a cute new hairstyle, sucks for you. My hair is going into a ponytail before I step outside again.
Anyway, don't you just hate this awkward time of transition? As we transition back to school, the weather is slowly transitioning to spring and summer temperatures. I love summer weather, so this gets me very excited and ready to break out the shorts, dresses, skirts, flip-flops... but then a day like today comes along and it's windy and cold and you have to put your winter coat back on, despite the fact that it is actually April. Which is honestly very depressing, especially when you just bought a super cute new spring coat.
Am I just being whiny, or does transition weather get you down too?
- Darcy