I thought of a handful of different topics for the “H” letter of the A-Z Blogging Challenge and then I thought well then H is for Handful!

H is for Happiness

Happiness is important to me. Not everyone sees happiness as a goal … some people see it as a byproduct … but it is a goal for me. I would rather be happy than successful. I would rather be happy than rich. Not that these things are mutually exclusive but for me happiness is the ultimate goal. To that end I am always exploring ideas of what makes me happy, how to change my thinking to increase happiness and how to manage unhappiness to minimize it as much as possible.

Do you see happiness as a goal or the pleasant byproduct of other goals?

H is for Health

Because not much matters if you don’t have decent health! And it sure is hard to be happy without it.

H is for HubPages

I have to throw in a mention for HubPages because I really like writing for the site. I have written there for four years and recently reached a milestone of having written more than 1000 articles on the site. I earn passive income on the work I’ve done there through Adsense and some affiliate programs. I write about the topics that interest me most at any given time.

Right now HubPages is running a contest where you can earn money for writing about long tail topics. Check it out!

H is for How To

The first “H” that came to mind was “how to”. I write a lot of “how to” articles for a lot of different sites. And when I don’t know how to do something the first thing I’m likely to do to remedy that is to look up a “how to” in Google. I noticed that a lot of other people chose this phrase for the H of their A-Z blogging challenge too!

Tags: a-z blogging challenge, happiness, how to, hubpages

Most people say that they want to be happy at their jobs. I feel the same way. But you know what I’ve been thinking about lately? I kind of like the fact that freelancing from home allows me to be grumpy when I feel like being grumpy. I don’t ever have to put on a happy face just because I’m at the office. Now, I’m naturally not a very grumpy person but it’s nice to be able to just feel however I really feel when I’m working. Not all people are so lucky.

In fact, there are a lot of people who not only have to be polite and professional at their jobs regardless of how they feel but who actually have to outright pretend to be happy even when they are not happy at all. For example, if you were going to work as a professional clown then you would need to make sure that you put on a happy face at work even if you were having a terrible day. What kind of party would it be if the clown was all pissed off? This goes for other types of entertainment as well; someone cast in a musical can’t be very grumpy on stage and still present a good show.

I’m trying to think of some other jobs out there where you truly need to pretend to be happy even when you’re not. There are many that come to mind in which people should act happy for the sake of others but often don’t. People who work in daycares and hospitals are good examples. It would be nice if they’d act happy and make it easier on kids and patients but they don’t actually have to in order to make a living so they don’t.

Are there other jobs out there where the employee really needs to act happy to make the job work?

Tags: career, employment, happiness, hubpages, jobs, kathryn vercillo

I have been doing a lot of research into mortgage rates right now. This interest was sparked after I wrote an article on CT mortgage rates. The article was about how low Connecticut mortgage rates combined with low housing rates in Connecticut make now a great time to buy a home there. I started wondering if there is going to be a better time to buy than now or if this is really it.

Because of this, I started looking around at a bunch of mortgage blogs to see what people are saying about mortgage rates. For the most part, news headlines are saying that mortgage rates are not going to get any better than they are right now. However, the blogs are saying something different. Many of them are suggesting that mortgage rates may indeed dip a little bit more than where they’re at right now and are suggesting holding out for a better rate.

Of course, the chance you take if you do this is that the news headlines are right and the blogs are wrong. You run the risk of missing out on low rates right now. Is it worth the risk?

This question reminds me of an article I read last year about the two basic approaches to decision making. Some people look at a decision and say “am I happy with this?” regardless of other options. If they are, then they make that choice and are happy. Other people want to weigh whether option A or option B will make them happier.

For those people who fall into the first category, the question would be “am I happy with these low mortgage rates?” The answer is likely to be yes, the person will get a mortgage and they will be happy with their investment. For the people in the other category, it’s important to assess whether rates will go lower or not. If that type of person gets a mortgage now and then rates drop, they won’t be happy even though their rate is low because it’s not as low as it could have been. Which category do you fall into?

Tags: - ct mortgage, connecticut mortgage, connecticut mortgage rates, happiness, mortgage, mortgage rates, mortgage rates in ct, news, Personal Finance, real estate

I believe that the key to living a healthy life is to live in moderation. I don’t always stick with this belief. I have some hedonistic tendencies. I like to indulge and imbibe. I like to revel and rejoice. But ultimately, I believe that most things work best when they are done in moderation rather than at the extremes.

I believe that this is true of both work and play. I definitely go through periods of being a workaholic. This is sometimes great since I really do love the work that I do. But ultimately the lack of moderation in my work causes me to dislike what I normally enjoy about it and to seek to regain that balance of work and play yet again. Likewise, when I play too much, I miss my work. When I am too social, I miss my solitude and when I stay home alone too much, I miss my friends. My life is constantly about trying to find balance and that balance comes with learning moderation.

One specific example of moderation that works is in dieting and weight loss. I don’t believe in fad diets. I don’t believe in rapid weight loss. I don’t believe in extreme weight changes. What I believe is that your body has a weight that’s right for it and that if you eat healthy and in moderation then you will naturally balance out at this weight, the right weight for you and the one at which you will feel your best. I don’t believe in over-indulging in treats but I do believe in indulging in what you enjoy on a regular basis. I believe, ultimately, in moderation – in weight loss, yes, but more importantly in life as a whole.

Tags: balance, being healthy, diet, eating right, ehow, happiness, how to, kathryn vercillo, life, moderation, weight loss, wellness

I firmly believe that we choose whether or not to be happy. I am not saying that I always feel like this is true. Sometimes I, like anyone else, feel that life is throwing too many bad things my way and it’s impossible to be happy in the midst of all of it. Sometimes I, like anyone else, feel that if only certain people in my life would do certain things differently then I could be happier.

But these are just feelings. Emotions. When I can clear away the emotional reaction that I’m having to things, my honest underlying belief is that we can choose to be happy no matter what circumstances we are facing. Of course, this requires will power and a strong commitment to maintaining our own peace of mind. It requires inner strength. But isn’t being happy worth what it takes to develop those skills? I think so.

I wrote an article over at Helium about this topic – learning to stay happy despite what’s going on in your life. It’s a short article that doesn’t cover the entire breadth of this big subject but it focuses on the key thing that I think is important for a happy life which is learning to get control over your own thoughts so that you can develop peace of mind.

Tags: emotions, feelings, happiness, peace of mind, wellness