Molly+Mahoney+RP+Post+7

The Journey Towards Finding Happiness Myers, David G. "The Secrets of Happiness." Psychology Today. 1 July 1992. Web. 6 June 2014. The author of this source names four things that make up a happy person. Those are self-esteem, optimism, extroversion, and personal control. David G. Myers states, “people who like and accept themselves feel good about life in general.” You would think that a lot of people would have low-self esteem, when in fact, “most people actually see themselves as better than average (Myers).” Low self-esteem is mostly from when we look at others and then back at ourselves and compare. Optimism is basically “seeing the glass of life as half-full rather than half-empty (Myers).” I’ve always believed that looking on the bright side is good thing, but it is also true that “unrealistic optimists may fail to take sensible precautions (Myers).” Extroverts are the people who are likely to go up to strangers and make new friends so they are “more likely to have gotten married, found good jobs, and made new, close friends (Myers).” Personal control is a big one because you can do what you want with your time. The happier of the world tend to be very busy and get things done. The not as happy of the world usually nap, or watch television, or waste their time somehow. It is easy to see here why the first would be the happier of the two types. Finally, if you are not any of these things, “Fake it (Myers).” Just like they say smiling on the outside can make you happier on the inside, pretending to be these things can make them a part of you.