Happiness Is A Serious Problem

American radio host Dennis Prager has a book named “Happiness is a serious problem”. He has spent a lifetime career talking about the importance of being happy. According to him, we have a moral responsibility to be happy because happiness and unhappiness are both contagious.

 

If you have ever run with other runners in a group training program or in a running club, then you probably can picture in your mind the runners whom you learned to avoid because they were unhappy and through their unhappiness took the fun out of your runs.

 

The Law of Attraction tells us that we become what we think about. If you are happy with and appreciate the people, places, things, and activities in your life, then you will tend to attract more happiness into your life. Similarly, if you are unhappy about a lot of your life, then you will tend to attract a lot of unhappiness into your life.

 

With all this in mind, it is clear that you have an obligation not only to yourself but also to runners around you to be happy when you run.

 

So here is a test of signs of a happy runner. Take this test to see whether you are happy when you run.

Do you smile when you run?
Do you laugh when you run?
Do you carry yourself lightly when you run?

Do you say “Hello” to others when you run?

Do you wave at people when you run?

Do you look forward to what is around the next turn when you run?

Do you talk about positive things and happy times when you run?

Scoring:

If you answered “Yes” six or seven times, then congratulations are in order because you are mostly or always happy when you run.

If you answered “Yes” three to five times, then you have some to a fair amount of work to do on your happiness quotient. Look at the questions to which you answered “No”, and take time to contemplate why you did so and how you could change your answers.

If you answered “Yes” zero to two times, then you have a lot of work to do. Maybe you do not like running (perhaps because you lost touch with why you began running in the first place, or perhaps because you never liked running to begin with but were running because of someone else), and this dislike is expressing itself in many ways as unhappiness. Or maybe you have been a generally unhappy person. Whatever the reason might be, be gentle with yourself while you take plenty of time to find your reason(s) and work on changing your attitude. Except for the unhappy runners whom you have attracted into your life, your fellow runners will appreciate your self-growth!