Looking Back on Positive Memories Keeps You Feeling Happy

"The Persistence of Memory" (1931) by Salvador Dali.
From VirtualDali.

As more peaceful news starts to break through again, The Times of India reports that people who remember positive experiences are happier than those who focus on negative experiences. This information is based on a study that looked at correlations between "Big Five" personality traits and happiness.

As Ryan Howell of San Francisco State University explains, "We found that highly extraverted people are happier with their lives because they tend to hold a positive, nostalgic view of the past and are less likely to have negative thoughts and regrets. This is good news because although it may be difficult to change your personality, you may be able to alter your view of time and boost your happiness."

If you've got $31.50 burning a hole in your pocket, you can pay to read the actual study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, which is good because the news article is very light on details. How was this study conducted? How many participants were there? How were cultural differences in memory controlled for?

Who knows, but at least it's kind of normal news again, right!?

World Reacts to Osama bin Laden's Death

From The Daily Mail.

With literally 27,796 news sources reporting on the same thing (and that number climbing by the second), there is really only one story I could post today. It's a bit surreal to watch Americans celebrate someone's death, but in this case it seems entirely justified and understandable, and I admit to being swept up by the jubilation (at least over Twitter, since no celebrations happened near me).

With all this going on at home, it's interesting to see how the rest of the world is reacting. There are too many stories to sort through right now, but you can read reactions from many leaders around the world at Al Jazeera. They kind of say what you'd expect--western countries say it's a great victory, Hamas says bin Laden was a martyr, yadda yadda--but as time goes on and people have had time to think, they will become more enlightening to read.

There's no question that terrorism will continue, but this killing has huge symbolic weight, and it's been wonderful to shed our differences and experience a sense of togetherness with other Americans, even if it only lasts a few days or so.