Rachael Bernstein of the Los Angeles Times recently reported on the results of a long term study conducted by researchers at Harvard University and MIT.  One of the things the study found was a strong connection between an individual’s emotional state–whether they were happy or unhappy–and the emotional states of the people they had contact with.  This means we catch happiness and unhappiness the same way we catch infectious diseases–from the people we come into contact with.  The lesson here is clear: if you want to be a happy person, you help yourself a great deal if you hang out with happy people.  If you surround yourself with enough happy people, you’ll catch your share of happiness the same way in which you catch a common cold.  On the other hand, if you hang out with unhappy people, there is a strong possibility that some of that unhappiness is going to rub off on you.  So make it a point to surround yourself with as many happy people as possible.