optimism

Poppy truly intrigues me. As the main character in the movie Happy-Go-Lucky (I’ve mentioned her before—for a refresher, have a look at the clip below) I found her so frustrating.

Despite widespread poverty and political strife, Nigerians are some of the happiest people in the world. Why?

How do you see the coming summer? Are you complaining already that it’s going to be rain filled and humid? Or sun drenched and a time when you can stretch out and enjoy life—and the outdoors—a bit more?

How often do you help out in your community? Not enough? Never? Turns out that if you’re the volunteering type, you've got a healthy level of happiness. That’s one finding from Dr. Cahit Guven, an economics professor at Deakin University in Australia. His recent research found—surprisingly—that very happy people aren’t as helpful in their communities as you might think.

I don’t know how it happened, but it seems the older I get, the more optimistic I am. When I was younger, at times I’d swirl in tornadoes of negativity about issues big and small.