By Judie Donaldson

Until a few years ago, I never really thought about planning my life in order to be happy. Did you? I thought about things like the importance of being a good person and living a good life, creating opportunities for my children, having work that was meaningful, making a contribution to the world, and nurturing loving, caring relationships. I even worked hard to clarify my values. I believe that, for most of my life, I did just fine when it came to living a rich and satisfying life, but I didn’t focus directly on happiness and its relevance.
It was when I became a practicing Buddhist that the notion of happiness entered my consciousness directly, for the Buddha’s teachings are aimed at enabling people to liberate themselves from suffering­–or unhappiness­––to be happy. I must admit that I was a little jittery about this as the fundamental purpose of life. I would have felt easier if the Buddha’s goal was contentment or peace of mind.
But, let me not spend time arguing philosophy with the Buddha. Something tells me that’s a losing proposition.    So, let me go back to happiness which, most importantly, I’m grateful to the Buddha for encouraging me to address. It’s become the most important factor in my life planning. Believe me, even as seniors in our 70s, 80s, and 90s, we can still do some life planning.
I have a particular reason for writing about this today because I recently attended the memorial service of a seventysomething–year–old friend. I feel plagued with feelings of sadness because, unfortunately, I am confident that she died as an unhappy person who didn’t know how to feel differently.
As seniors in the final stage of our lives, happiness––along with qualities such as life purpose and meaning––has a poignant meaning. This is it for making a choice to be happy.    As that trite, but familiar saying goes, “Life is not a dress rehearsal.” And being happy? Let’s go for it. I find that I have developed a passion. I want everyone I know––and certainly all the Carquinez Village members­––to be happy in this last stage of their lives.
What’s the trick to being happy, anyway? I’m not an expert, so I can’t offer any advice. So, I did what I always do. I scanned the research. Fundamentally, I learned that happiness is partially emotional and partially influenced by genetics, personality and cognitive factors. I was fascinated to learn that each of us has a natural emotional “set point,” like a thermostat, and that our mind does a kind of mental arithmetic that it employs to compute our experiences, ideals, acceptance of what we can’t change, and other factors.
Overall, the result is that happiness is a state of mind . . . and here’s the key. It can be intentional and strategic. Regardless of your emotional “set point,” your everyday habits and choices can change the needle of your feelings of well-being. So, from my perspective, it’s a good idea to pay attention to our habits and choices. We can choose to use them intentionally and strategically.
Research presents a good reason to be intentional about our happiness because happiness and good health go hand-in-hand. Scientific studies have found that happiness can make our hearts healthier, our immune systems stronger, and our lives longer._Several studies suggest that happiness causes better health.  Others propose that good health may cause happiness, but not the other way around. Researchers are still trying to untangle the relationship of these two factors. In the meantime, if you need some extra motivation to get happy or happier, check out these six ways that happiness might benefit your health.
Happiness has been found to predict lower heart rate and lower blood pressure. One research study demonstrated that the immune system went up and down in relation to an individual’s level of happiness. Research has shown that happier people have less stress, and that, when it is experienced, happiness can moderate it.
When studied in relation to pain, happier individuals had less pain over time while the unhappiest individuals’ pain worsened. In a seven-year study of individuals 65 years of age or older, the happier people became less frail and less likely to experience a stroke, particularly the men. Innumerable studies have demonstrated that happier people have greater longevity.
So, Carquinez Village members, my wish for you is that, if we conducted a research study, you would rank high on all of the positive benefits associated with happiness. Of course, I wish that for others, too.  As for me, I’m going to go, pay attention to my habits and choices, and do a little life planning. How about you?

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