Ever heard of the “Grant Study“?
It’s one of the longest running studies ever done on human development… It started in the 1940’s when researchers at Harvard Medical School followed 268 college graduates, and studied them for next 75 years! They met with these people regularly through life and measured a bunch of psychological, anthropological, and physical traits — like their personality types, IQ, job titles, drinking habits, family relationships, etc. as they grew over time.
The goal of the study was to figure out what factors lead to success and happiness in life…
After 7 decades of data collecting, here was the main conclusion:
Warm relationships between parents, spouses, children and friends have the greatest impact on your health and happiness in old age.
- looks don’t matter
- intelligence doesn’t matter
- location, fancy clothes, the type of car you drive doesn’t matter…
It’s all about warm relationships with other humans.
The principal investigator, George Vaillant summed it up best when he said: “The seventy-five years and twenty million dollars expended on the Grant Study points to a straightforward five-word conclusion: ‘Happiness is love. Full stop.’ ”
Keep this in mind as you go about your weekend.
Happy Sunday my friends 🙂
Love, Joel
Thanks to all who sent me photos yesterday! I’ll be sharing some throughout the week 🙂
This one’s from Stacie — It’s Lake Michigan, taken while driving through the Upper Peninsula of MI. Winter can be beautiful too! 😀