Final

            We would all like to be happy and healthy but sometimes obstacles occur in life, which are out of our control such as one who is born unhealthy or with disorders can’t really enjoy the happiness that a healthy “normal” born will in the future. Unhappiness can cause depression which affects you but also your loved ones. Happiness and health are two important aspects in our lives. Happiness is an essential factor to our health system physically and physiologically. We use laughter for happy times, which creates a feeling of elevation that helps people see the bright side. It can even be the difference between life and death. Laughter can prevent many people from suffering diseases, depression and reduce levels of stress. A friend once told me “The key on being happy is to shake off the little things in life and life will be more enjoyable.”

            Laughing can help people dissolve depression. Laughter creates feelings of elation in us. Somehow, when we laugh at our problems, it helps us see that they aren't as bad as we think. Anything can be overcome, and having a good attitude about it helps immensely. According to the article Laughter Yoga Alleviates Depression, Laughter therapy has helped thousands of people to overcome depression as it uses laughter as a physical exercise. It actually gives a positive state of mind and it gives hopeful attitude and happiness. Lastly, having positive outlook and laugh has been proven to enhance the immune system and lessens depression in most people. Laughter helps the immune system fight off diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Laughter might seem

                                                                                                                        Hilario, 2

just a normal gesture that we do almost each and every day, but laughter can help prevent hot blood pressure. History has shown that people who are in risk of high blood pressure are those who are intense; stress almost all the time, and those who don’t appreciate humor as much. History also shows that high blood pressure and diabetes rise with age. Most Diabetic and High blood pressure patients are victim to the disease due to the fact that the life stages they are in. The intense stressful life style doesn’t allow them to laugh as they used to because of the circumstances they found themselves in. The good of laughing is that it helps the body system to cope with certain diseases that may develop in the future. People should laugh more, even if it means laughing alone because “laughing is the best medicine”. Laughing with a group is more effective because you will find more fun laughing with someone.

            People can avoid many diseases by laughing. According to a recent study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland, laughter can lower risks of a heart attack. Researchers led by Karina Davidson at Columbia University Medical Center analyzed 10 years of data about 1,739 healthy adults who participated in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey, found that those who had positive emotions, enthusiastic and content view of life had a lower risk of heart disease than those with less positive emotions. Also, asthma patients can benefit a lot by laughing.  “When people laugh, they exhale more than they inhale” stated the article The Laughing Guru (Khatchadourian 80). Researchers have found that when we laugh we stretch our muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up and we breathe faster sending more oxygen to our tissues making it beneficial to our health especially to asthma patients.

                                                                                                                        Hilario, 3

            Laughter also can reduce levels of stress. We often feel exhausted and frustrated for many things that happen in our daily lives and feel overwhelmed and stress. By laughing we make our body into believing that everything is good thereby reducing stress can actually change our mood. According to the article Laughter Is the Best Medicine, Psychiatrist Robert Holden states, laughing produces happy chemicals in the body called endorphins; it works in the brain to give an overall feeling of well being. (Huget). For example, from my personal experience I can say that laughing does help people reduce stress. There are days that I feel frustrated with the amount of homework I have to get done for my classes and stress myself to the point that I get very mad at everything but when I find something to laugh about I noticed my mood changes rapidly. It can save lives and prevent people from serious diseases such as cardiovascular problems, asthma, dissolve stress and depression. Overall, people who laugh more often than those who do not laugh as much have a higher risk of developing heart related diseases, mental stress and depression breakdowns.

            For myself I divided four different areas I think can help my happiness with health. Which are Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep, Social or Family Time, Play/Laugh/Create and, Spiritual development. During the three months of September, October and November I experienced some challenges and some successes. In the area of exercise it was always sports. I always played sports growing up and I never stopped playing them till this day. I have found this category to be one of the most consistent areas to keep going. It is not very hard to eat something healthy with every meal. But, I have found that being a student and a worker I have no time but to only eat fast food and junk food.

                                                                                                                        Hilario, 4

Sleeping was the hardest for me to keep up with because I only get six hours of sleep daily sometimes even less.  I am one of those people who don’t get any sleep the night before. It is hard for me to function the next day.  It doesn’t seem hard but when you are in school, work, sometimes playing a sport and having a romantic relationship it is hard to even get six hours of sleep every night.  But I may say laughter can always help me continue my day no matter how down I am or stressed. “Laughter is the best medicine” Happiness and health are so important so people inevitably start doing research about happiness and health. They find out that happiness and health are a positive correlation, happier means healthier. Happiness brings people the motivation to work out, and the healthy body gives the support to the mind. Therefore, they can’t be separated. I learn that in order to live happily and healthy, we need to exercise regularly and eat healthy, and have positive attitude toward the world.

            Happiness is an essential factor to our health system physically and physiologically. Laughter creates feelings of elation in us. We as people understand that there’s a time to play and there’s a time to be serious but life is short and I think our lives should be spent with happiness in witch our health will be great. Healthy lifestyle tactics are practicing meditation, and yoga witch can allow a person to settle down. This lets one focus on the outlook of life in a happier and constructive manner. Exercise lets a person maintain a psychical well being by mounting a person confidence. Health and happiness are related and can affect each other. Positive feelings can come from simple pleasures. Anything that one do could make that person happy. Happiness really can improve people’s health. It makes healthy people healthier, and it also makes patients get better.

                                                                                                                        Hilario, 5

Work cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Pathologies of Hope.” ENG101-The Pursuit of Happiness. Ed. E.McCormick. New York: Laguardia Community College.2010.72-76.Print.

“Health.” Dictionary.com. 27 November 2010.Web. < http://dictionary.reference.com/>

Khatchadourian, Raffi. “The Laughing Guru.” ENG101-The Pursuit of Happiness. Ed. E.McCormick. New York: Laguardia Community College.2010.77-88.Print.

Positive Thinking is the WAY TO GO!!!

Positive thinking can help us developed a strong healthy and character and let us achieve all the success we all desire. Thinking positive is a way of looking at the brighter side of life. When we think positive we make sense of the world. How we interpret our knowledge and experience, how we deal with hard situations and solve our problems as well as our reactions. We can use the motivation of positive thinking to help us achieve anything we want in life. Positive thinking is able to help people achieve certain goals they had set for themselves. Positive thinking boosts our confidence in letting our actions do well in everyday living. We need to have a positive thinking in most of our thoughts. I think if we can increase our positive thinking, we will be much better in our life. If we think negative, we cannot succeed in our life because nobody would want a negative person working or living with them. We should work hard to improve our positive thinking to be happier even if our day is going horrible.  There must be a moment where you can go look back to and laugh about it and continue with your day. Positive thinking gives you good health because if you are a negative person most likely you are depressed and being depressed is unhealthy. The more we think positive, the more we enjoy and love our life and health.

Happiness and Health draft

         We would all like to be happy and healthy but sometimes obstacles occur in life, which are out of our control such as one who is born unhealthy or with disorders can’t really enjoy the happiness that a healthy “normal” born will in the future. Unhappiness can cause depression which affects you but also your loved ones. Happiness and health are two important aspects in our lives. Happiness is an essential factor to our heath system physically and physiologically. We use laughter for happy times witch creates a feeling of elevation that helps people see the bright side. It can even be the difference between life and death. Laughter can prevent many people from suffering diseases, depression and reduce levels of stress.

            Laughing can help people dissolve depression. Laughter creates feelings of elation in us. Somehow, when we laugh at our problems, it helps us see that they aren't as bad as we think. Anything can be overcome, and having a good attitude about it helps immensely. According to the article Laughter Yoga Alleviates Depression, Laughter therapy has helped thousands of people to overcome depression as it uses laughter as a physical exercise. It actually gives a positive state of mind and it gives hopeful attitude and happiness. Lastly, having positive outlook and laugh has been proven to enhance the immune system and lessens depression in most people. Laughter helps the immune system fight off diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Laughter might seem just a normal gesture that we do almost each and every day, but laughter can help prevent hot blood pressure. History has shown that people who are in risk of high blood pressure are those who are intense; stress almost all the time, and those who don’t appreciate humor as much. History also shows that high blood pressure and diabetes rise with age. Most Diabetic and High blood pressure patients are victim to the disease due to the fact that the life stages they are in. The intense stressful life style doesn’t allow them to laugh as they used to because of the circumstances they found themselves in. The good of laughing is that it helps the body system to cope with certain diseases that may develop in the future. According to helpguide.org, “Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.” People should laugh more, even it means laughing alone because “laughing is the best medicine”, but laughing with a group is more effective because you will find more fun laughing with someone.

            People can avoid many diseases by laughing. According to a recent study by cardiologists at the University of Maryland, laughter can lower risks of a heart attack. Researchers led by Karina Davidson at Columbia University Medical Center analyzed 10 years of data about 1,739 healthy adults who participated in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey, found that those who had positive emotions, enthusiastic and content view of life had a lower risk of heart disease than those with less positive emotions. Also, asthma patients can benefit a lot by laughing.  “When people laugh, they exhale more than they inhale” stated the article The Laughing Guru (Khatchadourian 80). Researchers have found that when we laugh we stretch our muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up and we breathe faster sending more oxygen to our tissues making it beneficial to our health especially to asthma patients.

            Laughter also can reduce levels of stress. We often feel exhausted and frustrated for many things that happen in our daily lives and feel overwhelmed and stress. By laughing we make our body into believing that everything is good thereby reducing stress can actually change our mood. According to the article Laughter Is the Best Medicine, Psychiatrist Robert Holden states, laughing produces happy chemicals in the body called endorphins; it works in the brain to give an overall feeling of well being. (Huget). For example, from my personal experience I can say that laughing does help people reduce stress. There are days that I feel frustrated with the amount of homework I have to get done for my classes and stress myself to the point that I get very mad at everything but when I find something to laugh about I noticed my mood changes rapidly. It can save lives and prevent people from serious diseases such as cardiovascular problems, asthma, dissolve stress and depression. Overall, people who laugh more often than those who do not laugh as much have a higher risk of developing heart related diseases, mental stress and depression breakdowns.

            For myself I divided four different areas I think can help my happiness with health. Which are Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep, Social or Family Time, Play/Laugh/Create and, Spiritual development.   During the three months of September, October and November I experienced some challenges and some successes.  In the area of exercise it was always sports. I always played sports growing up and I never stopped playing them till this day. I have found this category to be one of the most consistent areas to keep going. It is not very hard to eat something healthy with every meal.   But, I have found that being a student and a worker I have no time but to only eat fast food and junk food. Sleeping was the hardest for me to keep up with because I only get 6 hours of sleep daily sometimes even less.  I am one of those people that if I do not get enough sleep the night before it is hard for me to function that next day.  It doesn’t seem hard but when you are in school, work, sometimes playing a sport and having a romantic relationship it is hard to even get six hours of sleep every night.  But I may say laughter can always help me continue my day no matter how down I am or stressed. “Laughter is the best medicine” Happiness and health are so important so people inevitably start doing research about happiness and health. They find out that happiness and health are a positive correlation, happier means healthier. Happiness brings people the motivation to work out, and the healthy body gives the support to the mind. Therefore, they can’t be separated. I learn that in order to live happily and healthy, we need to exercise regularly and eat healthy, and have positive attitude toward the world.

            Happiness is an essential factor to our health system physically and physiologically. Laughter creates feelings of elation in us. We as people understand that there’s a time to play and there’s a time to be serious but life is short and I think our lives should be spent with happiness in witch our health will be great.

Relationships&Happiness (Blog Five)

Cultivating vs Finding

        Personally cultivating a relationship is better then finding one. When you cultivate a relationship it shows you the good and the bad habits the other person has. How happy you are or how bad the relationship can get. You as an individual decide if this is something you can accept to even stay with him/her, to stay in their life on you daily bases. Cultivating can the two of you closer by sharing the same interest, foods, qualities and making the bond stronger. For example my friend Raja thought she had found the “ideal person” but a few months later she found out that the only thing that was keeping her around was the sex life. With time people build a bond that they are content to and make the effort to keep it like that, instead of finding what they thought was the right one and finding out later it isn't what seemed.

Gratitude

         A lot of people don't realize that someone can be here one day leave the next. Gratitude is something a lot of people take for granted but it can be so simple to do. Not everyone has the decency to say Thank You, but writing a letter can be a way to thank that person. You are willing to make an extra step for them to realize that you are thankful. What if one day you ask yourself  “Did I ever thank that person for everything they did for me?” you would want your answer to be yes because you never know if that person will be there tomorrow. 

Spending More Time with Loved Ones
       Your family, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend or anyone who gives you an opportunity to learn about them on a deeper detailed level. It helps you learn to care about someone and having it reciprocated. The person I spend most of my time was with my best friend Flory. We meet at two years old. We were inseparable. Flory was the total opposite of me, if I said I wanted to go to Wendy’s she wanted to go to Olive Garden, we learned to compromise with each other and come out with something like Mcdonalds. Spending time with Flory wasn't always easy because she had different taste in everything but this is what made our bond stronger, she learned something from my side as well as I did. The more I spend time with her the more we became closer. We have 17 years knowing each other. Our lives will continue growing and learning more about each other’s bad habits. 

You better Know I'm Great-ful!

- I am great-ful for My Family(cousins,aunts, uncles, grandparents, godparents)

- My mother who has raised me, the woman who I care so dearly for. She has giving me  everything I have today and more.

- I am great-ful for my father, he  has giving me a house to live in and food to eat, he has supported me in every step i have taken in my life.
- I am grateful for my brother because he is the only sibling I have and he has wise advice for me when i need him. 

- I am great-ful for my best-friend who I've known since I was 2 years old. She is more like a sister to me. She knows all my bad habits and my deepest secrets.
- I am great-ful for my teachers who I passed to get where i am now (college)
- I am great-ful for my close friends because they always care about me and help me in my troubles.
- I am great-ful for Hospitals, most importantly my doctor who cured me from my cancer and never gave up when others thought they did what they could.
- I am great-ful for my health

- I am great-ful for my boy-friend who protects me from danger because he's in the military.
- I am great-ful for everyday I wake up


I'm Great-ful for those who I love unconditionally and those who have that real love towards me too :-) 

Do they really LOVE YOU?(Romantic Relationship)

           Growing up my mother always told me "we define our own happiness." Every individual experiences various events in their lives, which molds them into a certain being. From those experiences, we begin to form a concept of what happiness means to us individually. We tend to do so through creating several relationships as we grow up. These relationships may be friendships, romantic relationships, or parent-child relationships.           

            In order to create happiness in a romantic relationship, you must first have an understanding of yourself. You need to know who you are as an individual, your likes as well as dislikes, as well as your flaws and how they can make it difficult to become closer to another individual.  This is never easy and generally doesn't occur over night. However once we understand ourselves, we're able to connect on a deeper level with others. The key to a good “relationship” is a good foundation. If you know who you are, and your partner understands their needs and wants, then it is easy to determine whether or not the relationship shall work out. If you're able to be yourself with your partner then there is nothing better then that, to be with someone who accepts you for who you are. Every relationship will come with bumpy roads and disagreements. You simply must pick and choose your battles, and work things out. Compromises and negotiations occur, how ever if you can never see eye to eye, you're better off separated, where you both can be happy.  Knowing your core-self is very important in a romantic relationship. Knowing who you are and your internal characteristics. Having a clear idea of how patient or how frustrated you can be may avoid any conflict in a relationship. In the book of Happier, Lord Byron mentioned, “The core self comprises our deepest and most stable characteristic - our character. If you in love with someone you would like that person to know who you really are from the inside but first you need to know who you are.”

            Some people think that a good relationship is when they find the right person, but it really all depends on how you cultivate and know your partner. It is important to maintain a good relationship participated in activities that are significant or enjoyable to us as well as to our partner. Spending time together, building a strong communication base is an important factor to cultivate happier relationships. Cultivating a happier romantic relationship almost guarantee longer and healthier relationship. The problem in finding a relationship is that there's no such thing as the perfect one.

            Elizabeth Barrett Browning says “I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself but also for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.”

Knowing and accepting your romantic partner is something that I suggest any one who looking for a long term relationship and healthy relationship to practice. Accepting your mate’s bad habits and the good is something you have to experience. If you cannot accept the person for who they are or the actions they choose to do then there will be negative feeling floating around. Knowing your partner is also an important factor to a healthy relationship. Love cannot last without a rational foundation. In the book of Happier, Lord Byron stated, “To be loved for our wealth, power, or fame is to be loved conditionally; to be loved for our steadfastness intensity, or warmth is be loved unconditionally.”

            Unconditional love is so different from the kind of love most of us have known all our lives that it deserves both a name “Real Love” and definition of its own. Real Love is caring about the happiness of another person without any thought for what we might get for ourselves. It’s also Real Love when other people care about our happiness unconditionally. It is not Real Love when other people like us for doing what they want. Under those conditions we’re just paying for love again. We can be certain that we’re receiving Real Love only when we make foolish mistakes, when we fail to do what other people want, and even when we get in their way, but they don’t feel disappointed or irritated at us. Love alone has the power to heal all wounds, bind people together, and create relationships quite beyond our present capacity to imagine. There’s only one kind of love that can fill us up, make us whole, and give us the happiness we all want: unconditional love or true love. It is unconditional love that we all seek, and somehow we intuitively realize that anything other than that kind of love isn’t really love at all—it’s an imitation of the real thing, like conditional love. We mostly see it everywhere. What could be wrong with it? Imagine that every time I do you a favor you tell me I love you. We could do that all day, but at the end of the day would you feel loved? No, because I’d know that you “loved” me only because I did you a favor. We simply can’t feel fulfilled by love we pay for. We can feel loved only when it is freely, unconditionally given to us.

            True happiness in a romantic relationship is loving and accepting your partner’s bad habits and actions. Which can build a strong chemistry between the two. The “right person” that can make the relationship grow to unconditional love is the one who excepts you core-self and understands who you are. The key to true happiness is not so easy, people just have to be willing to take the risk and open up their heart because relationships are based on love, trust, and honor.

WORK WORK and MORE WORK!

        I cannot complain about my job. All my co-workers are really nice and helpful. They all have a very positive attitude. I am able to interact with people, which I love to do. The pay is decent, but sometimes I find myself having nothing to do but work all the time. Sometimes I wouldn’t have time to even spend with family and friends. Most of the time I would have to schedule plans throughout my week to even catch up with my relationship. It’s hard to manage a romantic relationship, schoolwork, my job and family.

         I work as retail sales person. It’s an amazing job just for now, to get through with school but not my future. My friends visit me sometimes at the work place and they think it’s the best place to work at. My boss is so chill and he doesn’t really bother the employees to do things because we already know what needs to get done. Even though, they say it’s a great place to work I don’t feel lucky being there. I’m not really happy with my job just because I have so much stress on my shoulder. I believe that work is similar to education, if one is not challenged enough or over challenge things becomes boring or be over stressed and that would result in being less happy or not happy at all. When people look for jobs, they look for how much they pay. They will hate that job, but they still stick around because of the paycheck. I think that people should look for jobs that will make them happy. I enjoy my job but it’s just at times I feel a lot of things are going through my daily life. and I don’t have time for myself.