Hot Off The Press

Good afternoon!!

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderfully sunny and bright Friday like I am! The sky is a beautiful, radiant blue today and my drive to work was rather pleasant!

Luckily, I have a big window behind my desk, so I get to enjoy the bright sun all day long. I realize I am very lucky because many people are stuck in a cubicle all day long! Even more reason to enjoy a mid-day walk (haha I wrote ‘mid-talk walk’- well that too!) outside to get some Vitamin D.

I wanted to share with all of you today a couple of fun research studies that are all over the news here in Canada today.

1. Is Happiness Contagious?

“New research from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego suggests that happiness is influenced not only by the people you know, but by the people they know.

The study showed that happiness spreads through social networks, sort of like a virus, meaning that your happiness could influence the happiness of someone you’ve never even met.

Sadness spreads too, but much less efficiently, says study co-author James H. Fowler, PhD, of the University of California-San Diego.

They concluded that the happiness of an immediate social contact increased an individual’s chances of becoming happy by 15%, Fowler says.

The happiness of a second-degree contact, such as the spouse of a friend, increases the likeliness of becoming happy by 10%, and the happiness of a third-degree contact — or the friend of a friend of a friend — increases the likelihood of becoming happy by 6%.

The association was not seen in fourth-degree contacts (the friends of friends of friends of friends). (LMAO!!!)

Having more friends also increased happiness, but having friends who were happy was a much bigger influence on happiness.

Very cool findings! Makes me want to spin with happiness…..(in Venice)

Perhaps, this is why my lovely readers have been emailing me and leaving comments saying that my happiness and enthusiasm has helped them stay positive? :D It works both ways I must say! I feel so much positivity on this blog and I am definitely happier since I started it and connected with all of you.

There’s more…

“Fowler says the findings do not mean you should avoid unhappy people, but that you should make an effort whenever you can to spread happiness.

“We need to think of happiness as a collective phenomenon,” he says. “If I come home in a bad mood, I may be missing an opportunity to make not just my wife and son happy, but their friends.”

I love this study. It reminds me a lot of the whole ‘Pay It Forward’ phenomenon. Nothing bad can come of spreading a little happiness around this world! :D

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2. Women and Clothes: Do we only wear 1/3 of our closet?

 “Women own an average of 100 items of clothing – two-thirds of which hardly ever get worn, reveals a new survey.

Even though women go shopping at least once or twice a month they wear their same favourite 30 pieces of clothing in rotation every seven to 14 days, according to the study. (LOL!!!! so me!)

The research also found that a woman will keep and re-wear favourite items – dubbed ‘comfort clothing’ – for up to TWELVE YEARS.

And one of the main reasons that women’s wardrobes contain so many excess clothes that hardly ever get worn is down to their “sentimental value“.

The findings come from an online survey of more than 300 women to mark the launch of The Clothes Show Live, the largest fashion and beauty event in the world, which returns to Birmingham’s NEC from today (FRI) until Wednesday December 10th.

Gavin Brown, a spokesperson for The Clothes Show Live, said: “Women hang on to their clothes because of a hoarding mentality – no-one likes to throw anything away – and because the longer the clothes have been around, the more sentimental value there is, sort of like an old friend.

“Comfort clothes are the ones that have probably been around the longest. Comfy, snuggly clothes for hangovers and watching films, things like that.

“Another reason for the 70 per cent of unused clothes is because often a item is bought just for a specific occasion – so therefore not likely to be used again for a while.

“Women change sizes too so you could have a load of clothes in your wardrobe – again that you don’t want to throw out – from when you were perhaps a bit thinner or fatter.

“Clothes are so much more affordable now too so women have much greater access to cheap items – so they can obviously buy a lot more.

“There’s also a ‘I’d rather not eat’ attitude that means that women are prepared to spend their money on looking good than on anything else.

“And often women are waiting for a certain thing to become ‘in’ again, so they hold onto it just in case.

A woman’s most recently purchased items are the ones that get worn the most and trend-savvy shoppers are more able than ever to spot an item that will stand the test of time, according to a study.

Mr Brown added: “The 30 per cent of regularly worn clothing is generally the most recent purchases, plus the staples, which are worn in a rotation every fortnight or so.

“In the past, trends would change every 20 years or so but now it’s about every five or six years. So you need to be able to wear certain classic items despite this.

“And a few tips for next year – tartan, purple and orange will all be in.”

I laughed so much when I heard this news story on the radio this morning! I was a chronic clothes hoarder (C.C.H) for years until recently when something snapped (well that, or lack of space!) and I got rid of literally everything I didn’t wear and gave it to charity.

Although, even though I gave away tons of clothes (bags and bags), I still rotate the same 6 work outfits each and every week! I will be the first to admit that my work attire is DRAB (lots of greys, blacks, neutrals). I just can’t be bothered to spend the money on anything else though! I’d rather put my clothing money toward weekend wear or ‘going out’ clothes! Not work!

This news story got me thinking- imagine how many homeless children or adults could have clothes on their backs if we donated what we didn’t wear?

I think as women we need to set a good example donating unused items to charity on a regular basis. I like to go through everything twice a year– before the cold/hot seasons.

Are you a Chronic Clothes Hoarder? Do you have a hard time giving away old clothes even if they don’t fit? Do you hold onto skinny jeans in hopes of wearing them some day? Or do you have an organized closet and regularly go through your items each season?

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Ok, so apparently 160 cookies are needed for the boys and girls Christmas party on Monday!!!! Ahhhhh I have lots of work to do tonight! Hopefully I will still have time to do the larabars. I will do my best as always :D

By the way– thank you all again for your amazing comments in last night’s post about career satisfaction. I am feeling so much more upbeat about things now. Our destiny is in our own hands and so if we are in a situation that we don’t like, we are the only ones who can take positive steps to change it!

Have a great Friday afternoon and a wonderful start to the weekend!

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson