Log #1

“What keeps us healthy and happy as we go through life?”

This is undeniably a tremendous and deep question which puzzled every one living on the earth. The 12 minutes TED talk was given by a director of the Harvard Study of   Adult Development, Robert Waldinger. The research that he is directing could be traced back to 75 years ago. Through 75 years' studying, the preliminary conclusion is that –good relationship makes us happier and healthier.

The talk shows that wealth and fame are not the most important things for one’s happiness and health but a good relationship with others. Being a 19-year-old college freshman, what I did the most in the past of my life was studying. My parents and all the teachers at school told me that chasing for good grades and getting into the best school would be the only chance and choice to become a successful person in the future. To get high scores on quizzes and tests is not a big problem for me since I started going to school. However, I am absolutely not a person who is able to integrate into the crowd. On the other words, I can difficultly make friends with strangers and also don’t really know how to keep a good and continuous contact with my friends. After watching this TED talk, I will start to try to be a people-smart and street-smart person instead of only being a street-smart person. What’s more, I change my mind about having ”success” and “happiness”. Although doing our best to get a good grade and to be famous is still considered to be an important thing for most people in Taiwan, I think what we can do more is to keep a good relationship every one we met. Try to pursue a happy and healthy life!

https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness