How happy was your weekend?
I just had a fabulous weekend… On Friday, my Godparents visited Katie and I at our home, they are also my Uncle and Aunty — we showed them our wedding DVD and when they left, we sat in the evening sunshine relaxing. It was beautiful until quite late and we sat on the decking overlooking our beautiful garden.
On Saturday, we had friends for lunch and more friends for dinner… We ate well, drank my favourite port from new crystal decanters and sat up late putting the world to rights.
Sunday, we bought an Italian design leather sofa and had lunch with Katie’s Mum before having an intimate barbequeue in the late evening sun again and finished off the Belgium biscuit chocolate cake left over from Saturday night… Yummmm. Fabulous stuff…
Why on earth am I writing about this today? Let me explain in scientific terms…
For many people, Friday might be the cue to start letting off steam built up from the working week. Saturday might be a chance to spend quality time doing all manner of things and Sunday evenings might mark the end of the weekend and a time to start thinking about the week ahead, may even feel gloomy as a result. So, how was your weekend? In particular though, how was your Friday? (June the 20th)
By now you may have heard that June 20th of each year is supposedly the happiest day of year! Naturally, this can’t be the case for everone, however — in general, June 20th should be a happy day for most people.
Who says so? Who makes this kind of statement? Let me tell you… A bloke called Cliff Arnall, a British psychologist, he makes this kind of statement and has created a way to prove it!
In the tradition of empirical science, Arnall created a formula in order to scientifically test his theory. Arnall works with this formula:
O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He.
Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor for the Telegraph UK, explains the equation as: “O” stands for being outdoors and outdoor activity, “N” is connection with nature, which is in full bloom now, “S” is socialization with neighbors and friends, “Cpm” stands for childhood positive memories, “T” is the mean temperature which is now usually warm, and “He” is holiday expected.
This interesting formula seems verging on truth for me! I was outdoors, connecting with nature, socialising with neighbours AND friends, recalling days gone by (consciously and unconsciously) and enjoying the warmer weather… Does the formula stand up for you?
It may likely do so, after all June 20th marked the beginning of summer and most of us look forward to warm weather. And with warm weather comes outdoor activities which fuels our desire to commune with nature-even if it means mowing the lawn! And chances are, the summer does bring back fond memories of childhood, or if we are with friends we may discuss happy days gone by.
Personally, I cannot say that Friday was the happiest day of the year for me… I got married this year and so Friday does not compare and this year is not really the right one to apply this forumla I suppose… So I am going to test this next year… 😉
Rather humorously, someone told me that he found that day rather depressing, he said that as Friday was the longest day of the year too (Summer Equinox and all that) that the days just got shorter now and that was Summer over and done with… Hmmm, he needed some one-to-one time and a talk about positive framing… Have a happy day today!
