by Royce Bailey M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.C.

- Can A Positive Attitude Be Learned?
- Are You Always Grumpy?
- Are You A Pessimist Or An Optimist?
- Happiness Is An Inside Job!

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice.”
Philippians 4:4

Happiness Is A State Of Mind

Why would God tell us to be happy, if we couldn’t direct our minds to be cheerful. Researchers for years have thought that hope and optimism are keys to a longer life. Multiple prospective cohort studies have suggested that feeling hopeful is a predictor of well-being and physical health. Dispositional optimism, positive expectancies for one’s future or better classified as ‘hope,’ has been studied in association with cardiovascular death in the healthy elderly. There was a 50% lower risk of cardiovascular death in the optimistic elderly over 15 year period, than the hopeless or depressive personality type. Interestingly, receiving either good or bad news didn’t change the outlook in the optimistic group. This supports the idea that dispositional optimism is a relatively constant trait of an individual’s personality and is sufficiently stable over long periods of time, thus lowering the hyper-adrenaline death risk over time.

D Type Personality Predicts Death After Stent Implantation

People that are distressed or have negative outlook on life (Type D personality, as opposed to an A type personality) have been shown to independently predict adverse outcomes when they have ischemic heart disease. The prognostic power of the Type D personality equals that of having a poorly functioning heart pump; even if they have a normal appearing heart. Incidently, the stent type did not make a difference. Poorer prognosis was seen in as little as 9 months. Type D personalities had higher circulating cytokines (inflammatory markers) and more abnormal levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine than those that were happy with life. Positive mental health can make the difference between life and death.

Symptoms Of Norepinephrine Abnormality

Symptoms of norepinephrine imbalance include aggression, anger, tension, irritability, rage, cravings, increased appetite and manic like symptoms.

Mind Over Matter

You’ve heard it said, “Mind over matter.” How can you normalize your cytokine and adrenalin levels?

1. Laughter normalizes cytokine and adrenalin levels.
2. Exercise normalizes cytokine and adrenalin levels.
3. Increase your fiber intake, natural foods and raw food choices. During stress or duress avoid processed food and sugar. Emotional illness may be rooted in a poor diet and nutrition.
4. Take a walk outside. Stop and take a deep breath. Close your eyes and remember the sights, smells and sounds around you. Recall these memories throughout a tough day.
5. Prayerful meditation normalizes cytokine and adrenalin levels. “Pray without ceasing.”

So How Do You Become Optimistic?

Can ‘hope’ be learned or taught? After my near-death experience, everything was placed in perspective. Live each day to its fullest, as if it was your last. With my Crohn Disease, there are days that I have no energy and others, when I feel better and then I do too much. Here’s what I do. Find pleasure in the little things of life. Enjoy the sounds (birds, music), colors (the flowers, the different shades of green in the grass and trees), the textures of life in general. The happiest people are those who are able to avoid constant arguments, let go of resentments, and therefore build close relationships with God and man. We are told to teach children to be industrious, love God supremely, and remember the little courtesies of life; these things are essential to happiness.^[1] If we can teach children these things then we can re-direct our minds to do the same.

What Won’t Make You Happy

Remember, being unhappy can be a habit, just as easily as learning to be happy.

What doesn’t make you happy is:

1. Money.^[2] Ask a big lottery winner.
2. Intelligence^[3] Look up the life of King Solomon.
3. Amusement.^[4]
4. Anything that gratifies self.^[5]

What Will Make You Happy

What are some sources of happiness that will change our outlook on life?

1. Focus on the positive. “All things work together for good to those that love Him.” Ro.8:28
2. Fix your mind on cheerful things.^[6] Smile; if you have to, fake it. A smile will lift your mood.
3. Be agreeable.
4. Focus on the now. Have single-mindedness.
5. Helping others and making other happy^{[7] [8]}
6. Stave off loneliness.
7. Feed your sense of hope. We sing of having this hope; hope in the future. That believing something better is in store for us.

What To Do With Worry

“Worry is blind, and cannot discern the future; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. Our heavenly Father has thousand ways to provide for us, of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service and honor of God supreme will find perplexes vanish, and a plain path before their feet.”^[9]

Footnotes:

^[1] White, E., “Aim at High Points in Character Development,” Child Guidance:189

^[2] White, E., “Laboring For Special Classes,” Evangelism:556

^[3] White, E., Testimonies To The Church;Vol.2:305

^[4] White, E., Testimonies To Ministers And Gospel Workers:103

^[5] White, E., Child Guidance:206

^[6] White, E., Ministry Of Healing:248

^[7] White, E., “The Acts Of The Apostles:12

^[8] White, E., Testimonies To The Church;Vol.2:248

^[9] White, E., Desire Of Ages:330

References:

Giltay, E.J., “Dispositional Optimism And the Risk Of Cardiovascular Death,” The Zutphen Elderly Study; Arch Intern Med, Vol.166, Feb 27, 2006:431-436.

Pederen, S.S., “Type D Personality Predicts Death Or Myocardial Infraction After Bare Metal Stent Or Sirolimus-Eluting Stent Implantation,” J Am Coll Cardiol, 2004;44:997-1001.

Tan, S., “Laughter Is Good For You,” Loma Linda University, Bottom Line, 11/15/2000:9.

Cheraskin,E., “Emotional Illness May Be Rooted In Poor Diet And Nutrition,” Nutrition Health Review, Spring 2002:7.