Here is the third set of extracts from Harriet Vines' book "Age Smart." Dr. Vines is an experienced author, lecturer and retired college professor who has appeared on radio and TV, talking about her research into helping people age well. This one deals with the importance of happiness. Robert Griffith, Editor

Chapter 3: Age Happy

Tolstoy may have said happy families are all alike, but everyone experiences happiness differently, in different forms, at different levels. There's waking up to a sunny day, passing a tough exam, hearing baby's first words, having fun at a party, falling in love, listening to great music. We say we're "happy" when we feel enjoyment, relief, pleasure, and accomplishment. Happiness varies with events, culture and genes. Happiness, also, is more than just not being unhappy. When a positive event happens, the body sends a message to the brain. "Happy" signals increase the pulse rate and skin temperature and make the muscles relax.

How Happy Are You?

Research indicates we are born with a genetically set "happiness-level range" within which we usually function. The level may rocket up or plummet down, depending upon events, but the changes are not permanent. Over time, we resume living within our set range.

Your Happiness Coefficient

How would you describe yourself? Take into account how you usually feel, how you see yourself compared to many people you know and how you would like to be. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 = 'Not Very Happy' and 5 = 'Very Happy', select the Happiness Coefficient that best describes you. Do you think others see you the same way?

What Makes Us Happy?

Social Interaction is numero uno on the source of happiness scale; it was cited above as a basic component of successful aging, as important as "resistance to disease" and "physical and mental fitness." We need other people to help us survive, and we need them to help us age well.

The two other main sources of happiness people cite are 1) attaining goals and 2) leisure activities.

It's Good to Be Happy

The benefits of happiness are manifold. Happy people tend to enjoy numerous and rewarding social relationships, a significant determinant of successful aging. Happy people are predisposed to accentuate the positive and have a warm, open, friendly style. Both their outlook and manner appeal to others. Think of yourself. Don't you prefer the company of smiling faces to sour pusses? In addition, there is a strong correlation between happiness and good health.

Who's Happy?

Is your glass half full or half empty? Optimists see negative events as temporary setbacks, specific to an incident and caused by circumstances or bad luck. Pessimists, on the other hand, see them as pervasive, permanent and personal, i.e., everything always goes wrong, it's their fault and there's nothing they can do to change it. Because they believe they can affect what happens, optimists take steps to develop better health habits, a more energetic immune system, and a more active, stronger social support system. The result, as noted, is they live longer. Optimists also experience less negativity as a result of their good health.

Pessimists tend to be passive ("Nothing I do makes a difference") and don't act to ward off unpleasantness. Their anxiety and worry obstruct positive life events and invite negative ones.

Chasing the Blues Away

What happens, though, if negative thoughts persist? Battle them; refute them. Your power to deliberately change your thoughts and the feelings they generate, gives you power over sadness and depression. To change your feelings about something, you need to change the way you think about it.

We respond and function according to messages we send ourselves. If you are discontented, change the messages you send yourself. Your beliefs about the world determine the world you see. Hamlet said it a long time ago, "For there is nothing good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." When pessimistic thoughts arise, confront and disprove them. Argue, dispute, test them against what actually occurs. What evidence supports them? What may be alternative explanations? Somewhere, sometime, you know you did something right. Think about that! Some people pinch themselves, bite their tongue, or snap a rubber band against their wrist to stop unpleasant thoughts and change the message.

Focus on an interest - the more you know about a subject, the more interesting, rewarding, and enjoyable it becomes. Try something different and new. Take up gardening, photography, or learn about contemporary art. Get politically involved. Study a foreign language. Many who didn't grow up with computers and felt threatened when PCs first appeared, now surf the net with aplomb (and Google).

Mental Fitness Workout #3

Sensory Drills

The sense of smell is a powerful memory clue because the olfactory nerve goes directly into the brain. Unfortunately, the nerve may become less sensitive with age, so do this exercise whenever the opportunity arises.

In a restaurant, at home, or in the street, try to identify foods not in your line of sight by their odor. In your journal, list the ones you identify correctly. Describe any memories that may be evoked.

Open a drawer. Without looking, feel and identify the objects in the drawer. List the ones you correctly identify in your journal.

Visualization

Visualize a perfect gift for each member of your family and/or close friends. Truly see it, as opposed to just thinking of it, and describe it in detail in your journal. Explain your choices.

Mental Aerobics

Correctly read aloud at sight the following passages in which each word is spelled backwards. Then write the correctly spelled sentences in your journal.

gnieB yleritne tsenoh htiw fleseno si a doog esicrexe - dmumgiS duerF

erehT si on etutitsbus rof drah krow - samohT nosidE

tuB ni ecneics eht tiderc seog ot eht nam ohw secnivnoc eht dlrow, ton ot eht nam ot mohw eht aedi tsrif scrucco - riS sicnarF niwraD

There are several more mental exercises in this chapter from Aging Smart, but we can't include them all here. If you want to order the book, please go to: http://www.agesmart.us/