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Happiness And Well-Being Decreases In The United States

3/20/2019

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The 2019 World Happiness Report was recently released and the United States (U.S.) again dropped in its ranking falling to 19th, down from 18th in 2018 and 14th in 2017. In the U.S., income per capita has increased in the past decade and yet happiness has declined.

Finland takes the number one spot for the happiest country in the world. The top 10 happiest countries are, as in previous years, dominated by the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Sweden, as well as Finland. All but two of the top 10 countries, New Zealand and Canada, are in Europe.

Not only is our happiness suffering, but so is our health (partially due to the critical link between happiness and health). Life expectancy in the U.S. has declined for the first time in decades. The average life expectancy for Americans is 78.7 years, which puts the U.S. behind other developed nations and 1.5 years lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average life expectancy of 80.3. Not only is it decreasing, but it’s consistently behind other developed countries. Addiction and emotional well-being are considered two key reasons. 

Why is it that these countries consistently rank high in happiness? Why is it that the U.S. is dropping in the happiness ratings? What do the Nordic countries do differently that causes them to consistently rank happier? What can we learn from them?

According to an article in the HuffPost, "It’s not hard to understand why Finland is doing so well. The northern European country has a strong social safety net, including a progressive, successful approach to ending homelessness. It also has a high-quality education system, and its commitment to closing the gender gap is paying off. With a population of just over 5.5 million people, it’s the only country in the developed world where fathers spend more time with school-aged children than mothers." 


Finnish society has been built in such a way that people are supported but still feel like they have control over their lives, said Anu Partanen, the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything. Partanen recently moved back to her native Finland after a decade in New York, along with her American husband and one year-old daughter.


According to Partanen, “Most people would like a life where they can get health care if they get sick, where their children get a good education, where they can work and hopefully feel fulfilled in that work, while still being able to spend time with loved ones. It’s not that Finns are necessarily looking to become immensely rich. I think Finland just does a pretty good job of helping people achieve this lovely, ordinary life.”

Partanen, said her time in the U.S. was defined by anxiety. “It takes immense energy to find the right day care, find the right school, find the right doctor, then figure out the right insurance plan and how you’re going to pay for everything, as it’s so expensive.”


High economic growth and increased income per capita does not necessarily translate into increased happiness. In reality it can come at the expense of our social connections and happiness in our daily lives. The U.S. would do well to take this message on board, said co-editor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. “We keep chasing economic growth as the holy grail, but it’s not bringing well-being for our country. We should stop our addiction to GDP growth as our sole or primary indicator of how we’re doing.”


Besides advocating and voting for change, what can we personally do to bring more happiness and well-being into our lives? Join me for my next workshop, Living A High Vibration Life, to learn how to bring health and happiness into your life. This 3 part workshop is on April 7th, 14th and 28th from 3:00-5:30 pm. Learn more and register at https://perennial-yoga.com/living-a-high-vibration-life. Let's do what we can to right the trend of happiness and overall well-being in our lives!

Here is a look at well-being index (includes happiness) by state:
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Put A Spring In Your Step

3/19/2019

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Tomorrow, March 20th, is the spring equinox. This is a time in the spring where the amount of light and darkness is equal. A re-emergence of the light after a long winter of darkness. Spring is a time for the planting of seeds, a time of renewal and rebirth. The spring flowers begin to surface and bloom, the trees begin budding, the grass turns green, farmers plant their fields, and the robins return.

Here in Wisconsin we are experiencing the return of the robins. Have you seen them? Have you heard them singing? In a state that experiences a long winter (and this year was especially brutal), the return of the robin signifies the beginning of spring. It’s typically a time where we have a spring in our step, coming out from the dark cold winter months feeling hopeful and reenergized to see the reemergence of green, of light and of life. 


Some of us mark spring by engaging in spring housecleaning. Decluttering our homes and renewing them for the year. It can be a time for the attitude of "out with the old and in with the new". Spring can also be a great time to declutter our minds, our mental energy, our emotional energy, and our spiritual energy. An "out with the old and in with the new" so to speak. A planting of a new energetic seed. 

It's a great time to check in and take a look at what we want to clear out and let go of and what it is that we want to plant. It's a time for transference and manifesting. A time to reflect on what it is that you want to draw into your life.

A time to remember that what you water, what you give energy to, what you give your attention to...grows. 

What is it that you would like to energetically clear out to make space for planting some new seeds to grow? What old story are you willing to let go of, so you can energize a new story, a new way of being, a new mindset, a new experience? What are those seeds that you would like to plant this spring? 

Take a few moments this week to be still and check in with where you are at. What's going well and what isn't? What would you like to clear out to make room for something different? Step off that hamster wheel of life and reflect, reevaluate, renew, reenergize and rejuvenate. Don't get sucked into the belief that you don't have time. 

​This week, I invite you to be still, to be intentional, to remember that what you water, what you give energy to, grows. 
Whatever it might me for you, let the site and sound of the robins serve as an invitation to put a spring in your step. Shake off the winter blues and get into the action. During the winter I would typically hibernate starting at 5 pm, now that we are moving into spring it's lighter out later, the days feel longer and full of energy. It's time to put a spring in your step!
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Choose Your Words Wisely

3/12/2019

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I have working at giving even more consideration to the energy and the intention behind my thoughts, words and beliefs. Remember the rice experiment (January 27, 2015 blog post)? Our thoughts, words and beliefs have an energetic impact on us and on the world around us.

Words are important, thoughts are important, beliefs are important. They not only hold meaning, but vibration and energy. It's not only in how they are spoken, or how they are written, it’s also in how we give them to one another. Words and thoughts carry energy. The intention and the feeling behind the word or thought conveys the vibration. The energy you put behind a word will carry the meaning more deeply. The more power and intensity of the intention and the feeling behind the thought, word or belief, the more energy it will carry. Words and thought systems are important to choose wisely. 

It's common to hear words used in the news and in conversations that people are intending to put out there as a way to bring more peace, more love, light and good into the world. Words such as fight are being used. Daily I hear people choosing to view and think and speak about the “fight”. They're intending it to be the "good fight”, however stop for a moment if you would and consider the energy that the word fight is putting out into the universe. What vibration do you think the word fight carries?
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I invite you to consider pausing and contemplating a different word choice. It may be subtle, but for me it is in important distinction. Not only is there potentially a different energy and vibration going out with a different word choice, I also believe that it conjures up a different visual and intention. Can we use the word activate or activation? A calling to action.  Activate for peace, activate for love, activate for freedom, activate for good. Do you feel the difference? Fight feels negative to me and activate feels positive. 

I also hear the word resist used quite frequently in regard to this so-called "fight ". The phrase “keep resisting”. I would also like you to consider the vibration and energy associated with the word resist. Sit with it for a minute, how does it make you feel? It’s my understanding that the word resist and resistance would be lower vibrating words. What we resist, exists/persists.

Our words contain power. Let's not forget the power that they carry and be purposeful, intentional and wise in our choice. Other word choices we might want to consider include…freedom, inspire, persistence, spirit, resourcefulness, harmony, action. 

It feels like there is a lot of time and energy being put into hating this or hating that. I hear words like hopeless and powerless being used. These are fear-based words, these are low vibrational words. I don’t believe that these words are going to positively affect or inspire the kind of change that the people using them are desiring that they will.

Words that signify spiritual qualities carry a high vibration. Words like love, peace, life, joy, patience, health, wealth and truth. Words that oppose these qualities hold lower vibrations. These would include fear, discord, sad, depression, hate, anger, pain, poverty, blame, shame and distrust. Low vibrational words are words that carry with it fear or anger or both. High vibrational energy feels good. Lower vibrations feel bad.

How do you feel if you quietly or silently recite a word to yourself? Try it for a minute or two and see how it feels. Give yourself time to tune in and sense its subtle energy. 

Consider asking yourself, "What do I want?” Whatever you think about, put energy toward, will expand. If you want to see love and peace in the world, then intend love and peace for everyone and everything. You can't pick who gets the love and peace and not offer it to everyone. I invite you to focus your attention and energy on what you do want and not on what you don't want. 

This concept applies to all areas of our life. What result are you wanting to manifest? Is it a fight or is it peace? This is not an attempt to ignore the negative, but rather to put energy toward moving in the desired direction rather than getting stuck in a negative energy spiral. It's a subtle, yet powerful energetic shift.
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