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The Key to Health and Happiness Lies Far From The Workplace

Guest post by: Dr. Paul Lanthois

Article Overview: Many entrepreneurial types work themselves to the bone often sacrficing relationships with friends and family along the way in their nun-like devotion to their holy career.They often do this under the hallucination that "I'll be happy when I become successful." But a 70 year study follwing the lives of Harvard graduates revealed thatthe key to health and happiness lies far from the workplace...

The Key to Health and Happiness Lies Far From The Workplace

I had realised that I had been spending a lot of time away from home working and attending conferences. There was another important conference coming up but I was sensing the strain within the family. I got on the phone to my friend and business colleague, Marc and said, "Mate, I won't be making it to the conference next week. I need to spend some more time with my wife and family." Although disappointed, Marc enthusiastically supported my decision. "It's probably a good move champ. As they say, happy wife, happy life."

We have all been faced withthe dilemma of balancing work and family committments. Although we can get a great deal of personal satisfaction and a sense of achievement from our work recent research is showing that time spent with familyand friends has longer lasting and more significant benefits. Not onlydid this study show thatmaintaining close personal relationships was a significant cause of happiness but the research also concluded that this resultant happiness had a great influence on your health.

In previous articles I have mentioned about the key to giving up unhealthy habits was to have a big enough emotional reason for change. Based upon this 70 year study of adult development following the lives and careers of 268 Harvard Students it seems that the happiness derived from having close personal and family relationships served as a big enough emotional reason to give up a lot ofunhealthy habits.

It seems one of the greatest positive influences on your health was having close personal and family relationships.

It reminded me of a trip to Zimbabwe 15 year ago where I had a brief meeting with a Nyanga or a traditional healer within the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe. He believed that illness is brought about by bad spirits. You get bad spirits when you do wrong to another. His recommended cure is to go and make peace with who you wronged. I remember thinking at the time how lovely and refreshing this social based healing was but following the results of this study there seems to be a lot more substance to the theory that I originally gave it.

So you may be wondering how I can apply this to my working and familylife.

The answer is simple; if you want great health and happiness, the solution doesn't lie in working harder and for longer. Instead start to create a life really worth living by filling it full of close relationships. Get back in touch with your family and old friends. It is this happiness boost from relationships that helps to provide the impetus and motivation for any health kick. And you don't need to be Einstein to appreciate that a happier and healthier you is more productive.

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Article Tags: adult development, balancing work and family, business colleague, champ, dilemma, emotional reason, family committments, family relationships, happiness, happy life, harvard students, important conference, influences on your health, nyanga, personal relationships, personal satisfaction, shona tribe, spirits, traditional healer, unhealthy habits



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