Dan Buettner has uncovered in his journey to find what he calls the Blue Zones - where people live the longest - the happiest places to live in the world. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and I read a fascinating interview of Dan Buettner in The Atlantic. He’s studied the most well-lived lives of people around the world for over 15 years as a researcher and writer for National Geographic.  He’s written books on living longer - what he calls the Blue Zones of the world where people live the longest - and traits of the happiest people he’s encountered in his journey.  

He argues that happy places are the ones where the leaders have prioritized a better life over better business.  

He said, in the 1970s the mayor of San Louis Obispo “drove a push for aesthetics, social gathering places, and streets built for humans, not just cars. Today, San Luis Obispo routinely ranks in the top 10 happiest places in the country. It’s not a coincidence. You see the same features in Portland, Santa Cruz, Boulder—happiness is not a coincidence. There’s always an orchestration of common factors that come together to produce it.”  

Well, if that’s the case, and we care about human well-being how can we create more of this where we live? 

There are small things we can do - which gets to my point of this podcast.  He thinks happiness can be the sum of happy emotions. He uses an example of a “pride shrine” - a place in your home that reminds you of happy moments: a diploma, photos, trinkets. 

He says Costa Rica, Copenhagen and Singapore, also rank high on happiest places to live. But we can’t all move to one of these places.  Instead, he’s a big proponent of socialization.  He argues and his research shows that the happiest people socialize with friends - a lot.  Even as much as seven hours a day.   

Buettner’s research shows that who you hang out with matters and has a massive impact on your health and well-being. So his advice is to go out into your community and find happy friends - friends that like to laugh, and in doing so, you will increase your happiness and life longevity. 

Today, I invite you to look at the people you hang out with the make an effort to spend time with the people that make you happy.  

Inspired by this article in The Atlantic.  

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/10/get-rid-of-everything/543384/

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