I figured it was worth coming out of happiness hiatus to tell you about that!

The purpose:
"To create a focus on individuals and communities choosing Happiness in every moment. It’s a scientific fact: People who experience a preponderance of positive emotions tend to be successful and accomplished across multiple life domains."
[http://www.internationalhappinessday.com/]

You can check out the site and participate - they have a bunch of suggestions for how to do that.

Or you can have a DIY happiness day and simply choose happier thoughts throughout the day. There are plenty of tips for that right here at Happiness Strategies.

Or - and this might be my favorite - you can choose NOT to be happy. Buck the trend. Stay miserable. You’ll find everything you need for unwavering woe in the series How *NOT* To Be Happy.

You don’t even have to wait till July 10th.

Sadly, I’ve had to turn off comments as I’ve been getting stampeded with SPAM (a SPAMpede, perhaps?). I’ll try turning comments back on after a few days and see if the spambots have moved on.

Thanks for understanding.

Stay happy!

Michele

PS My other project is progressing nicely, so I expect to resume happiness posts and the newsletter in a few weeks. See you then.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to let you know I’ll be taking a short break from blogging here as I work full-time on another project.

If you need a happiness refresher while I’m gone I hope you’ll find inspiration in the archives. In particular:

• 101 Happiness Strategies
  Strategies for boosting your happiness level, based on happiness and positive psychology research
• Happiness Life Strategies
  All kinds of ways to be happier everyday - from the serious to the frivolous
• Happiness Media
  Summaries of interesting media reports related to happiness
• How *NOT* to be happy
  A favorite of readers - how to embrace your inner miserati and keep joy at bay.

See you again soon!

Michele

Technorati Tags: happiness,happiness strategies,life strategies,happiness media,how not to be happy

Image: Lukman Kusuma

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

If you have any doubt about the wonderful job our brains do, you’ll be won over by this riveting, disturbing and emotional story from Jill Bolte Taylor, neuroanatomist and stroke survivor.

‘How many brain scientists have the opportunity to study their brains from the inside out?’ she asks.

In this fascinating 18-minute talk from last month she describes the euphoria and misery that accompanied the mental machinations of experiencing a stroke, and of perceiving the world alternately from the 2 sides of her brain - the parallel-processing right brain and the serial-processing leftie.

She speaks with obvious heartfelt conviction of the life-changing wisdom it brought her - the peace, synthesis and joy that’s possible by perceiving life through the right bran.

Technorati Tags: Right brain,left brain,stroke

1. Woody Allen

Failed motion picture production at NYU and City College of NY. Oh and also failed English at NYU. Before winning Oscars for directing, producing and writing.

2. Thomas Carlyle

Loaned The French Revolution manuscript to a friend whose servant used it for kindling. Carlyle went home and re-wrote the whole thing.

3. M*A*S*H

Richard Hooker received 21 rejections for this novel before it was published, became a bestseller, a huge movie success and a massively popular TV series.

4. Star Wars

Yoda et al were rejected by every Studio in Hollywood. Eventually 20th Century Fox relented and the film became one of the highest grossing movies evah.

5. E.T., Forrest Gump, Home Alone, Speed and Pulp Fiction

All were passed on by major studios. All are now iconic pieces of popular culture.

[Source: Adapted from Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul (2000) by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Bud Gardner]

The lesson from the lessons:

It’s only failure if you stop there.

More Quick Tricks

Image: carlsilver

It’s like a best-of clip show from the world’s greatest telescopes, with the images merged into a seamless spatial panascope (I know there’s no such word, but you get what I mean).

It brings to life our humble place in this spectacular universe and ignites our sense of wonder. You can’t be jaded too long watching this.

If you can, Download this TEDTalk in high-def (recommended!) >>

Otherwise, watch the low-def version below:

There’ll be a free download later this year.

Researchers using a representative sample of 973 twin pairs found that the heritable differences in happiness were pretty well explained by the differences in personality, particularly the dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness.

What does that mean for people who’d like to be a bit cheerier but may not have inherited the ideal personality? Co-researcher Tim Bates from University of Edinburgh said in an article on the study:

‘If people want to raise their own levels of well-being, our best advice is that they practice the kinds of behaviors that characterize calm, conscientious, extroverts…Try and be active and social, even if with just a few people. Practice the things you find emotionally challenging, maybe even keeping a diary to help you keep a sense of reality, and allow you to reflect on which strategies work, and which do not.’

Uh - does this all sound familiar? That’s because we’ve covered a lot of this ground in 101 Happiness Strategies.

To recap:

How to be happy - 11. Focus on what you can do to be happier

Genes - via personality - contribute at most 50% of happiness variance. That leaves a lot of wriggle room around the genetic stuff for boosting happiness.

How to be happy - 12. Make peace with your personality

Much of the personality influence works via the way people act - which is why Bates suggests we ‘practice the kinds of behaviors that characterize calm, conscientious, extroverts’. What you do affects how you feel.

How to be happy - 13. Act like you’re an extravert - even if you aren’t

Introverts who behave like extraverts are happier than those who don’t. Again, personality might be the premise, but it’s not the whole story. You drive the narrative.

How to be happy - 14. Concentrate on intentional factors

When you take into account that genes/personality might contribute 50% and external conditions another 10% to happiness, you’re left with a solid 40% up for grabs. That’s too much happiness potential to leave on the table while complaining about your personality shortcomings.

Happiness Life Strategy: Know your personality

Knowing your personality traits can help you make choices for happiness. For every personality profile there’s a situation that brings out the best - and the worst - in a person.

Technorati Tags: happiness,personality,genes

Image: PixelPet

You can’t retrieve information that doesn’t go into your memory in the first place - it’s like searching for a  file your never saved. If you want to remember something, make a point of noticing it - consciously.

Example

Want to remember where you parked the car in the 52-story movie car-park? Make a deliberate point of noticing the location (Red 45, or whatever) and even telling yourself ‘I’ve parked at Red 45′.

Cletus memory tip:

Take a photo of the ‘Red 45′ pylon with your camera phone. And don’t let Lurlene leave the phone in the car.

2. Hang it on a hook

Mnemonic systems are great for organizing your memories for easier retrieval. The idea is to link new information you want to remember to existing stuff you already know well.

Example

Say you want to remember 5 items to pick up at the shops: a magazine, toothpaste, chocolate, an iPod case and coffee beans. If it’s a path you know well, you could choose landmarks along the way: the entrance to the lane, the tunnel, the oval, traffic lights and the Chinese restaurant. Now you just link the new items you want to remember to the already well known landmarks. Be creative and OTT to help your memory.

Visualize:

• A huge pile of magazines blocking the lane entrance
• A choir of buskers brushing their teeth for money in the tunnel
• Chocolate bars jogging around the oval (give them sweat bands or leg warmers for a nice retro touch)
• Music blaring out of the traffic lights (if it’s anything from an Australian Idol contestant you could have people moaning and covering their ears for added realism)
• Coffee beans spilling out of the windows and doors of the Chinese restaurant.

Try it - it really works!

Cletus memory tip:

So does a list. Shell out for some post-its and save them brain cells for alcohol to do its work.

3. Play it again, Sam

Repetition strengthens the neural pathways and this helps ’set’ a memory. Mental rehearsal is a great way to establish those pathways.

Example

Want to remember someone’s name when you’re introduced? Repeat the name aloud immediately (’Charmed, I’m sure, Mr Hypotenuse’), then repeat it mentally after a few seconds, then after a few minutes and then perhaps after a half-hour.

Cletus memory tip:

Or you could just akks the dude what his dang name was again.

More Quick Tricks

Image: clsawyer

Following last week’s bad news about anti-depressants I wanted to bring you some good news too.

A research study at Duke University found that a 30-minute brisk walk or jog 3 times a week worked as well as antidepressant drugs in beating depression.

OK, so now we know these drugs may be no better than a sugar pill. But wait. There’s more.

Longer lasting

The researchers followed up participants six months after the study ended, and found people in the exercise-only group were much less likely to become depressed again than either the medication-only group or the medication+exercise group.

Proactive recovery

According to the lead researcher, exercise had a big advantage over pills in the study - it gave people an active role in their own recovery:

‘Simply taking a pill is very passive… Patients who exercised may have felt a greater sense of mastery over their condition and gained a greater sense of accomplishment. They may have felt more self-confident and had better self-esteem because they were able to do it themselves, and they may have attributed their improvement to their ability to exercise.’

Walk away (from) the troubles in your life

According to Mayo Clinic, exercise can help depression as well as anxiety sufferers in a numbers of practical ways, including:

• Confidence and a sense of accomplishment
• Distraction and a more positive focus
• Interactions that help prevent isolation
• Providing a healthy coping strategy

They offer some sound tips for starting and sticking with exercise if you’re anxious or depressed.

So if you’re looking for a mood booster, think about adopting that thrice weekly, 30-minute walk/jog into your life. You stand to gain a bunch of benefits and you might just ditch those doldrums too.

iPod recommendation for your walk/jog:

Image: Kandoka

What makes kids happy? A new iPod? The Wiggles? An industrial-sized pack of M&Ms?

A new study by Mark Holder at the University of British Columbia has checked in to the question of childhood happiness. And the findings might not be what you expect.

At the bottom of the contributing factors are money, the child’s gender and parents’ marital status, each adding less than a measly 1% to sense of happiness in the average child.

Seems the little guys know whether or not they’re rich - it just doesn’t matter that much.

Strong contributors are leisure activities like sport, as well as the child’s temperament.

But the big kahuna of childhood happiness is - drum-roll - sprituality, or an inner belief system, which accounts for 8-17% of sense of happiness in the average child. (Compare this with 4-5% in adults.)

Why spirituality? Could be the sense of hope, could be the ready-made social network of many religions - although in an article on the study the researchers were quick to say religion and spirituality are not the same.

Whatever it is that makes spirituality important to a child’s happiness, it’s worth knowing that how a child sees the world matters much, much more than the things they have.

Related articles

Happiness and childhood: do we need happier classrooms?

Image: stevekrh19

1. Write it down

A written rant is a neat way to let off steam. Not only does writing it down take the sting out of a situation, it can bring you all kinds of insights that elude you when you’re in the throes of throwing things.

2. Breathe

Inhale deeply. Exhale the yuck.

3. Have an out-of-body experience

Instead of losing yourself in a frustrating situation, observe how others respond. Watching others deal with the delayed flight, the rude waiter or the customer throwing a hissy fit and holding up the queue can take you out of your own skin and turn down the tension.

4. Be a boy scout

If you know the things that routinely rattle you, you can be prepared for them.

Hate being hassled by hawkers?
Have a big smile and a firm ‘Absolutely no thank you!’ ready to roll off your tongue.

Loath it when people/trains/planes are late?
Always have a book in your bag.

Irritated by inane chatter?
Carry an iPod loaded with music/podcasts/audiobooks.
(Warning: Not recommended if the inane chatterer is your boss/spouse/parole officer.)

5. Go to your happy place

Mine has chocolate, Pepsi Max and new episodes Arrested Development, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. Yours can be anything or anywhere you like, as long as it lowers your blood pressure and stops that vein from throbbing. Try lying on a warm beach, sailing a calm ocean or chilling to death metal.

6. Remember - it’s not always about you

If someone is being a giant clod, there’s a good chance they have iss-ewes that don’t concern you. They don’t mean to make you mad, you’re just collateral damage. This perspective can turn your anger into compassion. Or at least remind you that Tom Cruise wasn’t always this weird.

7. Smile

It’s very hard to be angry with a smile on your face. Just curl those lips and let the good feelings displace the bad. (Did you know the Mona Lisa’s smile was her anger-management strategy when told about Dan Brown by a clairvoyant? You can almost hear her screaming serenity now.)

Image: kiwanja

The article reports findings that antidepressants seem to offer no more than a placebo effect, except in the most severely depressed people.

And those severely depressed people respond less to placebos, not more to the drugs.

Reports of subjects’ happiness have been greatly exaggerated

The study involved UK and US researchers and looked at all clinical trials submitted to the FDA for the licensing of the 4 SSRIs with complete datasets:

• Fluoxetine (Prozac)
• Venlafaxine
• Nefazodone
• Paroxetine (Seroxat or Paxil)

The conclusion?

‘Compared with placebo, the new-generation antidepressants do not produce clinically significant improvements in depression in patients who initially have moderate or even very severe depression.’

SSRI specialist David Healy of Cardiff University said in an earlier New Scientist article that this latest research confirms suspicions that the effectiveness of these drugs has been exaggerated.

‘Most importantly this new study shows that the people who did respond to the drugs would have responded to placebo, anyway.’

The file drawer problem

The change in mood toward these drugs also reflects the file drawer problem - the results not found in studies that don’t get published.

When Erick Turner of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and his colleagues hunted through the literature they uncovered 23 unpublished studies, of which 22 found negative or questionable effects of antidepressants.

Because such studies don’t find clinically significant results they get relegated to the file drawer and fail to inform the broader picture of effectiveness.

Placebo placabo

There seems little dispute that antidepressants offer a placebo benefit. And to paraphrase The Bard, doesn’t a placebo by any other pharmaceutical name make you feel just as sweet?

David Nutt of Bristol Uni says yes - even a placebo benefit shouldn’t be discounted.

I guess that’s true.
And maybe the pharmaceutical companies could be paid with Monopoly money.

Don’t try this at home

I repeat New Scientist’s warning - if you’re on anti-depressants be sure to consult your doc before taking yourself off them.

Related articles:

• If you weren’t born happy, swap medication for mindset
• Imagine if there were a happiness pill - would you take it?

Image: xianstudio

‘Should I walk instead?’

‘Maybe it’s just around the corner and then I’ll miss it.’

‘But if it’s not around the corner then how long till it gets here?’

If such Shakespearean dilemmas plaque your daily commute, you’ll be relieved to know there’s now a definitive, mathematically sanctioned solution to the bus-catcher’s bind.

New Scientist reports that Scott Kominers and some fellow Harvard mathematicians have come up with a formula for making the choice between waiting and walking - and you don’t even need a calculator.

Happiness life strategy

If neither option is clearly preferable (it doesn’t work if there’s a long wait between buses and a short walk to your destination or vice versa) then the formula says waiting, however vexatious*, is the preferred option.

Of course you can still choose to walk and get there later, but Kominers suggests you’ll save yourself frustration by making this decision pre-bus stop.

So put an end to vacillating and adopt Kominers’s solution. You’ll have a less stressful wait and a more relaxed ride - and you’ll probably be happier when you get where you’re going.

That is, unless you think you should take the train?

*My tip for making the wait less vexatious is to actually do The Bus Stop - simply copy the moves from the video. If nothing else, you’ll likely have the waiting area to yourself.

Image konr4d

In Happiness Strategy 12: Make peace with your personality we learned the ‘Big-Five’ dimensions of personality are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism and we saw that extraversion and neuroticism are particularly related to happiness.

According to Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University in the UK, regardless of your personality composition there’s an ideal environment for you (New Scientist 9 February 2008).

Nettle notes that for each personality dimension there’s both an upside and downside.

• In his own study extraverts had more sexual partners and enjoyed greater career and economic success (they’re also more likely to be ‘born happy’ as well as act in ways that promote happiness). On the other hand extraverts suffered more injury- and accident-related hospitalization and greater family instability, including divorce.
• Agreeable people attract and keep friends and enjoy plenty of social support. The cost, however, is often their own priorities, which they sacrifice for the sake of others.
• Conscientiousness can help a person gets things done but it can also close their eyes to opportunities that distractible people notice and exploit.
• Openness can serve people well in historical/cultural contexts that value artistic qualities but not in times where more practical qualities are needed.
• Neuroticism (which is related to unhappiness) can be an asset in times of genuine threat.

Nettle’s point is that knowing your personality puts you in touch with its pros and cons. And that helps you make better choices for happiness.

Happiness life strategy

It’s no secret to Happiness Strategies readers that I score high on both introversion and neuroticism. Realizing I had these predispositions gave me two of my most reliable and effective happiness strategies.

1. Recognizing my introverted tendencies led me to re-structure my life to have more alone time. I changed my work situation so I can work from home and I stopped going out so much. I now feel drained much less and enjoy my social time much more. I look forward to being with people!

2. Facing my inner neurotic helped me pay less attention to my worries - I realized they weren’t necessarily ‘real’. It also helped me accept and enjoy my pleasure in order and tidiness - it was simply a quirk, so I could enjoy it instead of trying to deconstruct or change it.

Want to know yourself a little better? You could do an online personality test or read more about the Big Five dimensions. But you probably already have a good sense of your personality, and can gain more insight simply by tuning in.

By becoming more aware of your predispositions you too can work with them for greater happiness. For instance:

• Agreeableness
  If you feel resentful that your preferences often get pushed aside, realize your part in this. You could choose to raise your own priorities a smidge and lower your need to be loved by everyone all the time.
• Conscientiousness
  If you’re not so good at being organized and getting things done, office manager may not be the career for you. Look for opportunities that reward flexibility and don’t require routine - perhaps sales or creative work.
• Openness
  If you feel constrained by your friends you may benefit from looking for new people in your life. Instead of doing the things you find stifling, explore courses, classes or groups with interests that stimulate you. You might find a whole new dimension to yourself!

As Nettle says,

If your personality causes you grief, why not try changing the niche you occupy in this complex system that is modern life?

Technorati Tags: happiness,personality,extraversion,neuroticism,agreeableness,conscientiousness,openness,Big Five

Image konr4d

Well, yes and no - it depends on the book.

It may surprise you that research shows people panache is more polished in readers of Pride and Prejudice or Harry Potter than readers of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

According to a 2005 University of Toronto  study, reading fiction is linked to social skills like empathy and awareness. But non-fiction? Not so much.

The study was correlational, not causal, so we can’t say for sure that our reading matter makes us more or less socially adept.

I can see how reading fiction could boost people skills. After all, reading a novel gets you right into a character’s head - you experience ‘first hand’ another person’s feelings and cogitations, tuning you in to the depth of their internal life. It makes sense that your social insight would be cultivated. 

On the other hand, it could go in the other direction, with socially skilled people simply choosing to read more fiction. That would still be interesting. Perhaps reading fiction is a way to hone the skill, or perhaps it’s pleasurable to flex a strong empathy muscle.

Regardless of direction, there’s a link between reading stories and getting on with others. So it can’t hurt every now and then to put down your Q Is for Quantum Particle Physics and pick up A is for Alibi.

Technorati Tags: happiness,relationships,research,reading,fiction

Image: iofoto

I still haven’t gotten over the demise of Borat and Ali G, two characters who brought me great, chunky wads of happiness.

But I think it’s time to mark their passing with a little blog vigil. Two of my passions are science and technology, so this clip where ‘Ali G talks to some geezers about science and techmology (sic)’ seems a fitting farewell.

Even if you aren’t a fan, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better argument for evolution than the one so eloquently made here. And I challenge you not to laugh at the ‘geezers’ as they try to make sense of the yellow enigma that is Ali.

Enough intro. As Ali would say, ‘Can we see the muff please?’

Farewell, yellow-rapper-suited one. Respek.

Well fret no more, chocoholic chums - a recent SparkPeople article has set about busting these and other chocolate-coated myths.

Now before you install chocolate at the base of your personal food pyramid, take note: the quantities you can savor before the guilt-free swing-tag falls off are not large. The article quotes 1.4 ounces or about 40 grams - somewhere between a fun size and regular size chocolate bar.

Here’s a paraphrased summary of the article:

Myth: Chocolate puts you in caffeine overdrive.
Busted! A 4-ounce chocolate bar and 8-ounce chocolate-milk drink each contain 6 mg of caffeine,  versus 65-135mg in a regular coffee.

Myth: Chocolate kicks up your cholesterol.
Busted! The saturated fat in milk chocolate doesn’t raise cholesterol the same way other fats do. Eating a 1.4 ounce chocolate bar can raise HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Myth: Chocolate is nutritionally bankrupt.
Busted! Chocolate yields magnesium, copper, iron and zinc and has the same amount of antioxidants as a 5-ounce glass of red wine. A daily dose of the dark stuff can help lower blood pressure and improve insulin resistance (but don’t abandon medication!).

Myth: Chocolate rots your teeth.
Busted! Milk chocolate’s mouth-clearing fat content shortens sugar-tooth contact time and its protein, calcium and phosphate may actually protect tooth enamel.

Myth: Chocolate gives you migraines.
Busted!  Research findings say nope.

Myth: Chocolate causes zits.
Busted! Twenty years worth of studies say nuh-uh.

Myth: Chocolate makes you a fatty boombah.
Busted! The average chocolate bar contains 220 calories, not so high that you can’t enjoy it now and then.

With Cupid just behind us and the Easter Bunny hippity-hoppitying his way over, it’s good to know we can indulge ourselves, moderately, in the pleasures of chocolate.

Be wise and be happy.

Technorati Tags: Happiness life strategy,happiness,research,chocolate,myth busting

Image: Scyza

I’ve just released a little eBook called

How to be Wise & Happy
Happiness strategies inspired by
history’s wisest philosophers

How to be Wise & Happy looks at the happiness philosophies of 5 great philosophers and uses that wisdom to suggest modern-day strategies for happiness. Plus there’s a bonus section containing happiness insights from 4 modern wise women.

You get your FREE copy when you subscribe to the weekly newsletter - you can sign up now using the form at the top-right.

If you’re already a newsletter subscriber you won’t miss out - I’ll be sending you the link with the next Happiness Strategies Weekly Update.

Here are a few of the philosopher-inspired happiness strategies.

Inspired by the philosophy of Epicurus -

Many people think success without love would be empty, yet neglect to nurture their friendships or think pro-actively about who they value as friends. Making friendship a life priority can help protect the precious attachments that contribute so much to our happiness.

Inspired by the philosophy of Socrates -

By looking back at which decisions have brought you long-term happiness and which have eventually left you feeling regret, you can deepen your self-knowledge.

Inspired by the philosophy of Schopenhauer -

If we accept that happiness is not automatic, then it puts the onus on us to find and create happiness for ourselves. We can take a more active approach to designing a pleasing life for ourselves.

A new study, reported last month in the media and about to appear in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, looked at the way our bodies produce antibodies in response to infection.

(Flu vaccines were used as a proxy for pathogens because the body’s response is similar for the purposes of the study.)

Not everybody has fun flu fighting

In the first experiment, Two groups of women were given flu vaccines. The high self-discrepant group - women who were displeased with themselves and their progress toward goals - produced fewer antibodies in response to the vaccine than a second group of women who were satisfied with their lives and goal progress. The levels stayed low for more than a month post-vaccination.

In a second experiment high self-discrepant women were asked to write - one group wrote about goal-related concerns, a second wrote about daily activities. The first group reported fewer flu symptoms and showed higher antibody levels.

Happiness life strategy

To have a strong immune system it helps to be on track with our life goals, or at least to be at peace with our progress.

But if we can’t, there’s still hope for fighting the flu.

By getting our disappointments out of our head and onto the page, we can be more rational in examining our expectations, more clearheaded in questioning our approaches and more constructive in coming up with alternative ideas.

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, maybe we should eat it while writing.

Image: ppreacher

You can’t change someone else. And pressuring them to change tends to make them dig their heels in further. We all have a bit of that rebellious child still in us.

But there’s one person you can change - you. And because relationships are mini systems, you only have to alter one part (yourself) to affect the whole system (the relationship).

Let’s say Ken is always late meeting Barbie at the movies. Barb hates missing the start so she’s constantly berating Ken for not getting there on time. Which does nothing to change his tardiness.

Valentine’s Day Happiness Strategy: Make like Michael Jackson and start with the Man in the Mirror

Instead of persisting with this pointless ploy, Barbie could change her own behavior and do something different. For instance:

• When making plans, she could tell Ken she’ll buy her ticket and head in just before the movie starts, and if he’s not there, she’ll catch him for coffee afterward. The trick is to keep it light and pleasant - not threatening or ultimatum-like.
• She could see movies with punctual friends and do less time-sensitive activities with Ken.
• She might choose movies she has little interest in to see with Ken. That way she won’t care if she misses the beginning and she can just enjoy Ken’s company.

By doing something different, Barbie jolts both Ken and herself out of their current behavior pattern. Depending on how much Ken wants to see (particular) movies with Barbie, he may well be motivated to turn up on time.

But the beauty of this approach for Barbie is regardless of what Ken does, she’s no longer stuck in frustration and resentment. Barbie just made herself happier with nary a concern about Ken’s crappy timekeeping.

Leaving her more relaxed for quality time in her camper van.

Did you miss:

• When you’re waiting for Prince/Princess Charming to come along and make you happy - what should you do?
• When you’ve forgotten what you ever saw in them - what should you do?

Technorati Tags: happiness,relationships,love

Image: paultalbot