First Stop Paris
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 30 inches
Barbara Muir © 2012
For about a year now I've wanted to write a blog abouthappiness. I'm not exactly an expert, but I've taught
courses on change management, and for about eight
years a psychology course at a community college,
and in countless cases I've seen what works.
Who am I? I'm an artist and a teacher, a mother of
two sons and a very happy wife. My expertise on
happiness is partially anecdotal, and also from
research because I find the topic endlessly fascinating.
What's odd is that we often hone our skills in happiness
at very hard times in our lives. I started wanting to be
happy probably at birth. But really began working on
it when I was the mother of a young child, my first born,
and worried that my own lack of understanding of how
to be happy would get in his way. He is a grown man now,
and married the one he loves this year, so I feel like my
decision to figure out how to be has worked out well
for him.
With one reason for my passion
for happiness -- Christopher
I'm calling the blog Smile First -- because that is the
most basic rule for happiness. Try smiling -- even
if times are hard. Even if you've been crying because
of a horrible loss. It is known that smiling tells
the brain that you are happy. We smile when we're
happy, and smiling also makes us happy.
Last night I watched a Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy --
she explains about a great study she carried
out at Harvard on Body Language.
That's also where I got the idea for my blog title.
I'm sure I'll be linked to lots of Dentistry blogs,
but I have long wanted a place to talk about
happiness in addition to my talk about art. I do
try to combine the two because they are linked in my
mind. But from time to time when the happiness
writing urge hits. This will be the place.
Have a smiling first day.
