Life Hack No. 34 - Surround Yourself With Happy People.

This life hack will be short because (1) I have three more to do before I sign off on Linked In for 2022 (if not longer), and (2) it's very simple.

I took this photo a few months ago. It was posted at the end of my street at a now vacant parking lot that used to be a McDonald's, is supposed to be used for affordable housing, and was a place where 60-100 unhoused people and their animals lived for a pretty long time a few months into the pandemic. It's been cleared out now for quite some time. I have no idea where the people went. No one seems to know when construction will start. I think it was supposed to start 5-7 years ago.

Someone occasionally posts happy signs like the one in the photo on the fence surrounding the parking lot. In typical San Francisco fashion, notwithstanding all the above, the city has someone take the signs down. That much is enforced. Why? I don't know. What's the problem with a happy sign like this one? That's not what this life hack is about, though. If I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why our elected leaders do "x" and not "y", I would not be a happy person because I don't think much of it would make sense to me.

Not long ago, I wrote about reacting to and protecting yourself from O.P.E. (Other People's Energy). I was doing some research to see if I could locate the article I read about it when I was in Ireland. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. So, this life hack is a take on that advice, but is a little different.

It's simple. Surround yourself with happy people. That way, you'll expend less energy dealing with O.P.E. Also, happiness begets happiness. While I am not often a "half-full" type of person, I really appreciate those people who are. I like spending time with people who see the world with rose-colored glasses. It's extremely useful to me to spend time with people who assume good motives, focus on the bright side, don't wallow in self pity, and/or don't spend time and energy making a sport out of being mean, dismissive or condescending to people.

My advice to you if you don't already do it is try it. Surround yourself with or make every effort to find the happy people and spend time with them. If it works for you like it has for me, you will find yourself happier. You might even make someone else happier. The happy people love you and want the best for you. Spend your time with them. See what happens.