Energy Express by Marilynn Preston

After the horror of the Boston Marathon bombing, with the Sandy Hook massacre and the defeat of the gun background check bill in the Senate still fogging my rose-colored glasses, I choose today to focus on happiness.

"There is no way to happiness," says the great Buddhist philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh. "Happiness is the way."

Improving your state of mind won't reset the unsettling past, but it will certainly have an impact on your future. Happy people are healthier, less anxious, more productive. And they live longer.

Whereas people who feel overwhelmed by negative emotions — the kind of sustained stress that grips us when we see innocent lives lost and healthy limbs blown off — are at a much higher risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

So what's the fix? I'm not advocating denial or detachment or Dewar's. Just take on board the latest research from the happiness experts who study Positive Psychology. Figure out what happiness means to you, and know that you can get there, step by step, if you are willing to stay focused on the good stuff and let go of the bad.

"This is a big new direction," says Ed Diener, author of "Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth." "I just took a health questionnaire at the grocery store on a machine, and it asked if I had been depressed lately. But it did not ask if I had been experiencing a lot of enjoyment and joy lately."

Here, then — to help you drop the fear and anger and live in the sweet spot of life — are a few more insights into happiness, as reported by Mary Monroe in the IDEA Fitness Journal:

— Real happiness, according to Ed Diener, is not a continual state of bliss. Nor is it the absence of all unpleasant feelings. In fact, the mindless pursuit of intense highs while avoiding all sad or unpleasant feelings is actually considered to be unhealthy.

— Real happiness, his research shows, is not a goal — it's a process. It requires positive attitudes about life and continuing and fresh involvement with life-affirming activities. Forget the BMW and a penthouse overlooking Central Park. Instead, live a life full of meaning and values. Surround yourself with supportive social relationships. Do rewarding work. (But not for Wayne LaPierre.)

— In "Be Happy: Release the Power of Happiness in You," author Robert Holden reports that happiness is a journey from the "ego-mind" to the "heart of your unconditional self."

Holden elaborates: "Happiness is your true nature, who you are, what you experience when you accept yourself." In that sense, every person must define happiness for herself.

I'm talking to you, dear Reader: What is your definition of happiness? Are you living it? Who is the happiest person you know, and what does he teach you about happiness?

— In the "How of Happiness," psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, explains that about 40 percent of our happiness is within our power to change through the ways we act and think. (That's a lot!)

Studies show that only about 10 percent of our happiness is associated with circumstances of life, such as money, health, beauty, marriage, etc. (Only 10 percent!)

"It's in our power," says Lyubomirsky, "to achieve real and lasting happiness. It's not something outside of us — it's inside — a way of perceiving and approaching ourselves and the world. But the one thing we've learned from research is that it takes work."

— Lyubomirsky compares happiness to fitness. Both are lifelong endeavors. "You need to work at it every day of your life, but once it becomes a self-reinforcing habit, it becomes easier."

One terrific way to work on it, as described in Martin Seligman's classic "Authentic Happiness," is to recall and write down three good things that happen to you every day. Seligman's single most effective exercise for boosting well-being? Acts of kindness. Do one completely unexpected act of kindness —tomorrow! — and notice what happens to your mood.

— If you want to be happy, all these Positive Psychologists report, do what happy people do: Devote a lot of time to nurturing and enjoying relationships; savor life's pleasures and live in the present moment; make physical exercise a weekly or daily habit.

Exercise makes you happier? I feel better already.

COMING SOON: How to give yourself a happiness makeover.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! LISTEN

"The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it." — Thich Nhat Hanh difficult is getting up and taking action." — Al Batt

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, well-being coach and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.

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