Happiness

In the post of February 29, 2010, titled, How's The Fit Re-visited #4, I wrote about how you have some degree of choice about the personal characteristics you wish to develop in yourself.  In studies done on the healthy personality, it turns out that happiness is not so dependent on external circumstances as it might seem.  They only account for about 15% of a person's sense of well-being.  External circumstances such as, age, income, gender or education are not as strongly correlated with a good life experience as is personality!
So, what are the traits associated with life satisfaction?  Who's happy?
There is a group of traits which may be recognized as assertiveness or "agency".  These are:  independence, self-confidence, and decisiveness.
Other helpful characteristics are:
~Optimism and positive perceptions and expectations
~Self-esteem
~Sociability and a pleasant demeanor
~Confidence in ability to accomplish goals important to you
Personality is a strong predictor of life satisfaction.  If you want to be happy, try growing and nurturing some of these traits in yourself.

 (credit:  Subjective Well-Being and Healthy Personality by Continuing Psychology Education)