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Be the Change You Want to See in the World

We've all heard this famous quote from Gandhi, but latest research is showing that maybe this statement is much more profound than we can imagine. There was no quantum physics when Gandhi was creating his quotables, but now we know more certainly and through quantum experimentation certain incontrovertible truths that may just shed some light on the title of this newsletter.

And the following statements could be said to be deeply philosophical and spiritual, but also physical, and since the lines between physical reality and spiritual truths are now so blurred, who's to say which is which? I think it's less of a which and more of a both. However, there is a kernel of physical (quantum) truth in all of the following statements.

We can indeed send healing energy from a distance to be received and used by a sick person; our thoughts and expectations can affect our reality; (nocebos and placebos), what we expect to happen usually does and the world we create for ourselves through our thoughts cannot be blamed on anyone else; we have the power to heal ourselves of anything depending on how we think about it; everything happens for a reason and the experience is usually given to us through an order from our higher guidance; if we feel good and have well-being, then generally speaking, life is good.

But have you heard of the Happiness Effect? We all know that contagious diseases, like the viral bronchitis I got in the Boulder Community Hospital recently while visiting a patient, operate like a giant infectious network, spreading like the latest computer worm or virus. But so does happiness. A 20-year study done by Harvard social scientists showed that emotions can pass among a network of people up to three degrees of separation away. So your joy and happiness may to a larger and more profound extent than you realize, be determined by how happy your friends' friends' friends are - and here's the spooky part - even if some of the people in this chain are total strangers to you.

"We seem to have a collective identity as a population that transcends individual identity." (Dr. Nicholas Christakis/Harvard) I guess we are our brother's keeper after all and it appears that it behooves us to be cheerful because we help the whole world and I guess it also behooves us to have only happy friends who have happy friends who have happy friends.

Christakis et al explored the emotions of 5,000 people and the more than 50,000 social ties they all had. Here are the intriguing results: If a subject's friend was happy, that subject was 15% more likely to be happy, too; if that friend's friend was happy, the original subject was 10% more likely to be so. Even if that friend's friend was a total stranger and entirely unknown to the subject, that subject still got a 5.6% boost.

Here are more stats: If your next door neighbor is happy, then you are 34% happier. If your sibling living within one mile is happy, then you have a 14% increase in your happiness quotient. If your spouse is happy, then you are 8% happier. (Interesting how your neighbor being happy touches you more than your spouse being happy. Go figure.) If you have a happy friend living within a mile, you are 25% happier. If your happy friend has a friend who is happy, then you get a 10% boost and if that friend of a friend has a happy friend, then you have (as said before) a 5.6% chance of being happier. Like my viral bronchitis, happiness is contagious.

If we want to wrap ourselves up in a comforting, peaceful, happy, abundant and healthy world, then we must do our part for our social environment. Do everything you can to feel good. No matter what the issue is, don't try to justify why you don't feel good. And don't try to justify why you should feel differently. Don't try to blame whatever it is you think the reason is that's keeping you from feeling good. All of that is just wasted effort - and does your neighbor, your spouse, your siblings and, in turn, the whole world no good. Just try to feel better right now.

That's how we can save the world.

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