Happiness is Contagious

Several years ago, I had a retreat in Metta Forest Monastery in Southern California. It lasted just three days, which was quite short. Retreat in Metta was also pretty relaxed. Nonetheless, I felt very peaceful and happy.

Now, some people would tell me, “You were mindful, therefore you were happy.” This is certainy true, but I still think that there was something else. I believe observing the Eight Precepts helped too. On top of that, I was associating with happy people…

Scientists from Harvard University and University of California, San Diego, conducted a study on 5,000 people and concluded that the happiness spreads through social networks.

The study found that:

Knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself. A happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%, and even your neighbor's sister's friend can give you a 5.6% boost.

(Read the story here.)

Back to my retreat at Metta: The monks were happy. The Thais/Lao who offered food to the Sangha were happy. So were the other yogis. No wonder I was happy too.