Happiest people 'have more old pals'

[theblackalchemist]

Happiest people 'have more old pals'

 

Researchers in Britain have carried out the study and found that happiest people have more old pals -- those with at least ten good friends are likely to be happier as compared to those with fewer than five.

 

"Having a number of old, close friendships is related to individual happiness. People who were 'extremely satisfied' with life had twice as many friends as people who're extremely dissatisfied," said lead researcher Dr Richard Tunney.

 

In fact, Dr Tunney of the University of Nottingham and colleagues have based their findings on a poll which they carried out for the National Lottery, leading British tabloid 'The Sun' reported.

 

Happiest people 'have more old pals'-Health/Sci-The Times of India

[Pyrotex]

Absolutely spot on. Yes. And all you youngsters out there take notice.

 

At the age of 61, I now have TWO friends from the "good old days". Mary was the first girl I ever dated. I was a senior in college and she was a freshman (University of Alabama). Stacy was the first guy I ever considered a "best friend". We met when he was a sophomore and I was a grad student (Mississippi State University). I still talk to them on the phone every couple of months. I visit Stacy at least once a year.

 

There is no way to convey to you (especially if you're under 30) how much my day-to-day happiness is supported by knowing that I'm still in touch with those two people. And with my mother, who is 87. Those people KNEW me way back when. They know how far I have gone, how much I have changed and grown. They value my friendship far beyond reason and logic.

 

I only wish that I had kept in touch with others. I waited too late to track down Bill, my good friend in the 10th grade. He was dying. I let several other good friends from college drift away for no good reason, and now I can't remember their names. One of them went by the nickname of "Duke"--I'm not sure I ever knew his real name. I finally located Ronnie from high school, but try as I might, too many years stand between us now and we have nothing in common.

 

Damn. Hey! You! Yes, you--the ones under 30 or 40. Get a notebook. TODAY. A good sturdy notebook that won't get torn up over the years. Now, write down the names of every friend who really mattered to you over the years. And what town or school you knew them in. And why they mattered.

 

And on those cold, thin days when you hear that faint keening sound of your mortality, and it seems that your memories are all faded and muddled, get out that notebook. And get online. And reconnect. And share a memory and a tear. Let them know they still matter to you.

 

It will save your life.

 

It will save your life.

 

 

It will save their life.