Mary Leigh Meyer: Howdy, welcome to It Sounds Like Health! This is Mary Leigh Meyer.
Sam Craft: And, I’m her co-host, Sam Craft.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And we are here today to talk about happiness, and we brought in Dr. Carly McCord. She’s a licensed psychologist. She’s the director of Telebehavioral Health and a clinical assistant professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Educational Psychology. Welcome to the show!
Carly McCord: Thanks for having me.
Sam Craft: She’s also happy a lot of the time I see her.
Mary Leigh Meyer: She’s the…
Sam Craft: …around the building.
Mary Leigh Meyer: …happiest.
Sam Craft: She is the happiest.
Mary Leigh Meyer: The happiest of…
Carly McCord: I do like being happy.
Mary Leigh Meyer: …the happy.
Carly McCord: And, I study happiness. I was lucky enough to get to do my dissertation on happiness.
Sam Craft: You did your entire dissertation on happiness?
Carly McCord: Yes.
Sam Craft: How did you do that? I mean like what do you…I don’t even know where to start with that. Tell me a little bit about that.
Carly McCord: Well, I came to the program knowing that I wanted to do positive psychology research and then wanted to fit that in with the faculty at Texas A&M, and so Dr. Tim Elliot studies rehabilitation psychology and so I was able to look at trajectories of happiness following severe disabilities like spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, burns and fractures.
Sam Craft: I’m so glad you think of happiness like that because I think of happiness as like riding on a wave runner or driving my car or you know like the little things that everybody takes for granted every day.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Like the leftover cookies in the break room.
Sam Craft: Yes, oh that’s a great point. Yes, for sure.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I like that phrase though, positive psychology.
Carly McCord: Yeah, so historically in medicine and psychology, we spent a lot of time researching and trying to figure out what’s wrong with people and around the 90’s there was a big push to try and figure out what’s right with people and capitalize on that and…
Sam Craft: Do you think a lot of that was from the events of the military that were happening at that time? The Iraqi War was all that and I think PTSD was kind of coming to a realization this really is what it was and not just the war syndrome, or whatever they called it in the older days. Do you think that had any part in that? Or is it just a…
Carly McCord: That’s a good…
Sam Craft: …natural shift.
Carly McCord: …question. That’s a good question. I would love to pick the brains of some of the positive psychology founding fathers.
Sam Craft: Yeah, no…
Carly McCord: And ask them what was their…
Sam Craft: Yeah, yeah. Sure.
Carly McCord: …inspiration for making that shift.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And, it makes a lot of sense in conjunction with traumatic brain injury and chronic pain, what can you do if you’re in a not very fun situation, what can you do, like what mental tricks can you do to help yourself a little bit?
Carly McCord: Yeah, absolutely. That’s actually a common misunderstanding, that we often, when we look at negative events in other people’s lives, we overestimate the impact of the negative and we think that that is going to really affect their quality of life and their happiness, and so the rehabilitation psychology literature has done a good job of documenting that that really is a misconception.
A lot of people find more meaning. There’s these, you know this idea of happiness is not the same as emotion or positive emotion, so it’s really this authentic happiness is something a lot deeper than just your momentary emotions.
Sam Craft: That just second of euphoria that you have or whatever.
Carly McCord: Right. There’s actually a methodology for that. They call it experience sampling methodology where they ping people throughout the day and ask them how they’re feeling, to describe how they’re feeling and so that only correlates about 60 percent with someone’s … the construct that we define as happiness that their positive emotion is part of it but people can experience a fair amount of negative emotion and still be happy.
Sam Craft: That’s interesting.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yeah, I’m trying to wrap my head around that. So, happiness is not necessarily a positive emotion. So if I get excited about the cookies in the break room, is that?
Carly McCord: That’s happiness as an emotion. I mean, so I guess the word could be used two ways, but some even called it authentic happiness. But, this idea that…and it’s hard to break down sometimes all these terms because there’s happiness, there’s subjective well-being, there’s life satisfaction and they all kind of start to intertwine, but I guess my stance would be in agreement that happiness is something that is a little bigger than just your momentary emotions.
Sam Craft: Well, I think…before the show we were talking about you just kind of getting warmed up. You were talking about a formula for being happy. Can you break down that formula again?
Carly McCord: Yeah, so the idea is that your happiness is composed partly of your set point, partly from your life circumstances and partly from the things that you do. So, set point is this idea that there’s a genetic component to your happiness and about 50 percent…twin studies have demonstrated that about 50 percent of your variability in happiness is due to your genetics.
So, some people are just dispositionally more happy than other people, right?
Sam Craft: Is that kind of how depression can run in your families, the genetics? Same kind of concept?
Carly McCord: Same kind of concept.
Sam Craft: Okay.
Carly McCord: Set point, genetic component, about 50 percent, only about 10 percent due to your life circumstances and then about 40 percent…
Sam Craft: That’s so little.
Carly McCord: I know it is so little. And then 40 percent due to what you choose to do, the volitional activities that you engage in and so, yeah, I mean people think…there are these studies like are people who win the lottery happier than people, are they happier after they win the lottery? And, no, they’re…
Sam Craft: I would definitely like to test that theory.
Carly McCord: It’s been tested.
Sam Craft: No, no, like me personally.
Carly McCord: Oh, yes.
Sam Craft: I would like to test that theory.
Carly McCord: Me too.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I will be a participant in that study, also.
Sam Craft: Maybe not all the time. I could definitely be happy most of the time. Most of the time. Well, it’s crazy to think that 10 percent, because you think being happy and enjoying your life is such a big part of your life and it’s just really 10 percent that they found. That’s really, that’s a crazy number.
Carly McCord: Yeah, so, and a lot of people think can money buy happiness and there’s been a lot of research done in that area to show…
Sam Craft: You can buy a wave runner.
Carly McCord: …that.
Sam Craft: For sure.
Carly McCord: Yes, it can buy a wave runner.
Sam Craft: That’s pretty happy. Sorry.
Carly McCord: No worries. Yeah, I would think maybe the wave runner falls on that volitional activities category.
Sam Craft: I think so, but your big fancy word for happiness is my happiness.
Mary Leigh Meyer: That’s so interesting because I feel like all, you know most movie plot points and most books I read, the main character will go through trials and tribulations and it’s a lot of life circumstances that are getting them down, but to hear that it’s only, what did you say, 10 percent?
Sam Craft: Right.
Mary Leigh Meyer: That’s crazy.
Sam Craft: And, 50 percent is just your natural disposition, right?
Carly McCord: Correct.
Sam Craft: Wow, wild.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Because I feel like that 10 percent is what we react to the most. You know, I’ll get really down if somebody…
Sam Craft: We run out of cookies in the break room?
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yeah, or somebody cuts me off on the way to work.
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Sam Craft: 10 percent.
Carly McCord: Well.
Mary Leigh Meyer: 10 percent.
Carly McCord: But then if you think of this global measure of happiness, like if you think about, “yeah, I was ticked off on the way to work because somebody cut me off,” your mood rebounds, right? You rebound. So, there’s that, I think that’s the idea is there’s this meaningful happiness. Yeah, but a single circumstance or event really can’t throw you off from who you are dispositionally and then these things that we choose to engage in.
Sam Craft: So is happiness, is it more of a deeper feeling and meaning, like psychologically, than it is like I’m happy today? Does that make sense? I feel like the way you’re talking it’s much deeper than what the average, everyday person thinks happiness is.
Carly McCord: I would agree with that.
Sam Craft: Yeah?
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Because I feel, I always say, “that makes me genuinely happy.”
Sam Craft: Yeah…
Mary Leigh Meyer: Sometimes I’ll…
Sam Craft: What is…
Mary Leigh Meyer: Say…
Sam Craft: Genuinely happy, though?
Mary Leigh Meyer: Like sometimes I define it, “oh, like that makes me happy” versus “oh, I’m like genuinely happy that you’ve accomplished so much and you’re succeeding in your life” versus “oh, yay, these cookies,” you know, “I’m so happy that you brought these cookies.”
Sam Craft: Yeah, yeah. It’s like…
Mary Leigh Meyer: Saved my morning.
Sam Craft: Is there a different level of happiness somewhere else?
Carly McCord: Well, so, okay so there’s always this constant pursuit of happiness, right? And, then the pursuit of like the positive emotion is like in its purest form would be hedonism and that’s not…I don’t think what, I mean sometimes we might be seeking that, but in general, I think there’s this broader construct, right?
And, some people call it authentic happiness, genuine happiness. Yeah, it’s deeper than feeling good.
Sam Craft: Yeah, and then that was my question. It’s like psychologically it’s not just one thing it could be a multitude of things to make you happy and then how happy are you really? I guess, as far as levels of happiness. I guess, when I think about it, if you really think about cookies in the break room or whatever your example is, there are times that you are way more happier than you are for little things that just, “oh that makes my day better.”
Carly McCord: Yeah, mm-hmm.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And maybe it’s something like in a few weeks I’m going to forget that there were cookies in the break room but in a few weeks I will not forget that you are succeeding in life and you know it’s…
Sam Craft: Yeah, it’s like the cookies are the little things and the other things are bigger things.
Carly McCord: And, I think if you focus so much on just the positive emotion then you miss out on the value of negative emotion, number one. Like anger and frustration and sadness, those are all adaptive in certain areas and a response to certain things and if you don’t have those from like an authentic happiness standpoint, you can’t be authentically happy. You have to have this complete range of experiences and emotions to be a complete person.
Sam Craft: Is happiness contagious like I’ve always heard that it is but mentally, is it really?
Mary Leigh Meyer: A smile is.
Carly McCord: Ooh.
Sam Craft: Yeah, I mean is there any research-
Carly McCord: I don’t know the literature on-
Sam Craft: To show that?
Carly McCord: Happiness contagion effects.
Sam Craft: I would think I mean there might be some out there.
Carly McCord: I do know that acting happy leads to happiness. Like even if you don’t actually feel happy…
Sam Craft: That is interesting.
Carly McCord: Down to the core, one of the core studies was putting a pencil in your mouth which like gives you a…
Sam Craft: A smile.
Carly McCord: Smile and then the surveys that they filled out and I can’t remember if there was any kind of biological markers there too…
Sam Craft: Still, though, that super interesting.
Carly McCord: That showed that, yeah, it changed how people were thinking and feeling.
Sam Craft: So, I would think it’s probably contagious then.
Carly McCord: So the fake it till you make it thing is real and going back to what I said earlier, it’s got to be balanced with…if you’re faking it all the time and you’re never honoring your real experience then that’s probably not going to pay off.
Sam Craft: Yeah, well it’s not genuine.
Carly McCord: It’s not genuine.
Sam Craft: Neither are you at that point if you’re faking all your emotions.
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yeah, and if something makes you angry don’t fake that you’re happy through it because, like you said, anger is a genuine emotion that is an important one.
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Sam Craft: Well, that’s like grief and sadness. I think there’s people that don’t express that there’s much more, a lot more problems down the line so I think it’s important to express all your emotions for that matter, but…
Carly McCord: Absolutely. The more you can honor them then you can move through them. If you ignore emotions…
Sam Craft: They can just build up.
Carly McCord: They have something to tell you and they just build up.
Sam Craft: They have to come out eventually.
Carly McCord: Right.
Sam Craft: You know, good, bad or ugly they have to come out eventually.
Mary Leigh Meyer: You said something earlier that I’m interested in. You said something about negative outcomes or…oh no, what was it? It was about your expectations of a bad event.
Carly McCord: Oh, that we overestimate?
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yes. What is overestimate a bad event mean?
Carly McCord: Like if we saw that somebody got a cancer diagnosis or a spinal cord injury and they couldn’t walk anymore, and so when we, as outsiders, look at that. We say, “that’s so hard. I don’t know how I could do that. I’d be miserable. If I lost the use of my arm, I’d be an incomplete person.”
When it’s ourselves we take our entire lives into context and often find people are resilient and find meaning from difficult circumstances. So, it’s just this outsider bias of looking on to other people’s lives we think, “how could we do that? They must be miserable.”
Sam Craft: Like, “poor them and this is awful” and the other person’s like, “no, no, no, this has changed my life for the good. It’s shown me I can do this on my own and I can get back to where I was and …”
Mary Leigh Meyer: That’s interesting. So, what are some things that people can do every day to…you know, because you said that, what was it, 40 or 30 percent?
Carly McCord: 40 percent.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Well, what are some real-life examples?
Carly McCord: Some of the most tried and true ones are volunteering and getting outside of yourself and giving away to others is absolutely a happiness promoting activity. Practicing gratitude, so that can be, there’s lots of great gratitude apps even, but whatever kind of practice works for you. I know some people that go on gratitude walks with their partner or even solo with your pup and just kind of recounting some of the things that you’re grateful for.
Sam Craft: So that 40 percent it’s not just…when I say 40 percent, to me it’s almost like I’m thinking like it’s very specific things but it’s really like day-to-day things that just bring you joy, whether it be exercising or walking the dog or I say watching TV because that brings people joy, it brings people happiness to certain people, but it’s almost just like everyday things. Is that a good way of thinking about it, that 40 percent?
Mary Leigh Meyer: But, I feel like what you’ve listed brings a different kind of happiness than like watching TV. You know because I am not happy when I exercise. I do not like it.
Carly McCord: Yes.
Sam Craft: Sure.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Like I do not enjoy that activity. It does not bring me happiness in the moment like watching TV does but like a couple hours after I exercise I feel a little bit better. You know my spirits are lifted a little bit.
Sam Craft: I think it’s just person to person, though. I mean, I don’t like working out either. I’m not, that doesn’t make me happy but I know some people, they enjoy writing, they love, it makes them happy. That is not my life. I have no interest in, not a fan of that, but I think it just goes person to person what your interests are and what you like to do.
Carly McCord: Well, I think you’re speaking to that authentic happiness piece of like the struggle leads to greater authentic happiness.
Mary Leigh Meyer: So, volunteering…
Carly McCord: Gratitude.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Gratitude.
Carly McCord: So, yeah, and those are practices that you can and still exercise, sleep, engaging in meaningful relationships, taking time to spend time to spend time with people that matter.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And those are, it’s kind of ironic how those are all the things that I feel like go out the window for me when I’m stressed or busy with something else. I…
Carly McCord: For sure.
Mary Leigh Meyer: …don’t exercise…
Sam Craft: It’s just taking…
Mary Leigh Meyer: …as much.
Sam Craft: …for granted too.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I don’t sleep as much. I don’t think to stop my day and be thankful for what like who is around me and what’s around me.
Carly McCord: Yeah, it’s so great to have that research and literature base to say and prove to us that these things really do matter and can make a difference if you are intentional about doing them.
Sam Craft: So, from your research or your study, maybe you can speak to this, maybe you can’t, they’ve always said that if you’re happy and you smile a lot you’re going to live longer, like you have a better life. Is that tied to mental health? I mean, obviously it feels like it is but does it go anywhere else? I mean, can you speak on that?
Carly McCord: Yeah, I think there is some evidence that people who are happier live longer.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And when is the point because now I’m wondering if my happiness has been authentic happiness or genuine happiness.
Sam Craft: Is it good or is it like fake happiness, like is this really it?
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yeah, what’s the point for people who are listening that are wondering are my levels of happiness appropriate? What’s the point for people to maybe go see somebody or ask for help? Like what’s normal?
Carly McCord: Oh, when they’re not happy?
Mary Leigh Meyer: Yeah.
Carly McCord: Well, I mean that’s another shift too. With this movement in the research has shifted this idea of when you can go talk with a mental health provider…
Sam Craft: When you should.
Carly McCord: Or a coach. Yeah, that we’re created to thrive and so there are some folks who absolutely will meet with professionals to reach another level of productivity, another level of happiness and they’re not clinically depressed but I think that’s another end of the spectrum and the treatments would look different and the path of what their therapy would look a little bit different.
But, yeah, certainly folks who, on the depression side, who are just…loss of interest in things that you previously enjoyed, feelings of being sad and depressed and blue, trouble sleeping, eating more than you used to or less than you used to, just kind of general either agitation or slowing of your behaviors. And, then the key pieces like how’s it impacting your functioning? If you’re not able to get out of bed or you’re really struggling at work, we have really effective treatments for depression, both therapy and pharmacological, that can help.
Sam Craft: And, talking about the other side of the coin, depression being that, I think a lot of people don’t realize when they are depressed. I don’t think they know when to go get help and it’s a lot better now than what it used to be, the stigma with mental health and “I can’t go see somebody because they’ll think I’m crazy.” So, I mean, I think that’s gone out the window and I think anybody that thinks they need help should definitely at least try to find someone to ask about it.
Carly McCord: Yeah, I think it’s getting better. I mean, one in four of us is going to…
Sam Craft: One in four.
Carly McCord: …is going to have a mental illness. I have a history of depression and anxiety and have been to rounds of therapy when things aren’t going well and get back on track.
Sam Craft: I think it’s good. I mean, for me, when I’m down or something, it helps me to talk to somebody, whether it’s my wife or anybody else.
Carly McCord: Yeah, absolutely.
Sam Craft: Just get it out of you. I think that’s great.
Carly McCord: When you hold it inside it’s just living in the darkness and it’s growing. So it is important to talk to someone, even if it’s not a professional.
Sam Craft: Yeah, get yourself back on the happy track.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Because you can change half of that happiness equation. Even…
Sam Craft: You can, that’s crazy.
Mary Leigh Meyer: …that’s in your control and even after the 10 percent of life events, you know if you get let go from your job and you’re having a hard time coping with all those difficulties that come with it, it’s okay to get help to help you get that 10 percent back to where it was.
Carly McCord: And, there are real practical things that we can do. But, like you said, it’s always hardest to do them when you feel bad and so some people are better than others about being able to just stick to it and start something new but counseling is great for that. That you have somebody that can help you organize your thoughts, get it out there, clarify it, then set goals that are, we call them smart goals, like specific, they’re measurable…
Sam Craft: They’re achievable, I think most of all.
Carly McCord: They’re achievable. Yeah…
Sam Craft: I think a lot of people just…
Carly McCord: They’re time bound.
Sam Craft: Lot of people just feel lost and they don’t feel like they can ever get somewhere and I think finding somebody that can help you do that is very important.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Like if you make a goal to just be happier you need to have some way to quantify it. You can just become happier but that’s not…you need to make your goal something attainable and achievable, like I want to volunteer.
Carly McCord: Twice a week.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Right. Moving forward I want to try and exercise three times a week. That kind of thing, that kind of stuff.
Carly McCord: Yeah, and it’s good, yeah it’s good to be realistic with yourself, right? It’d be great if I could just shift gears and work out every day. For me, what’s reasonable? Once this week, great go for a walk once this week and feel good about it.
Sam Craft: So, yeah, so maybe every day find a task that you think will make you happier and just make it a goal to accomplish that for the day.
Carly McCord: Yeah. I include that in my treatment plans. Like when we are working with depression, and really, literally, most everybody I work with, make sure you’re picking something to engage in that’s…
Sam Craft: That’s tangible to…
Carly McCord: …positive, makes you feel good.
Mary Leigh Meyer: What else can you tell us about what is happiness and what isn’t happiness?
Carly McCord: I think we’d talk about what predicts happiness and what doesn’t, from the literature, that a lot of times we might think that your age predicts your happiness. That’s not a very strong predictor, although there is a little bit of evidence to say that older adults have greater life satisfaction.
Sam Craft: Really? That’s interesting.
Carly McCord: Isn’t it? Gender doesn’t really matter. Women do have higher rates of depression, but they also are more joyful. Educational levels, whether or not you have kids, the amount of money…you need like a baseline, enough money to meet your basic needs and then beyond that money doesn’t matter. Physical attractiveness is not really…it does not predict happiness.
Mary Leigh Meyer: And those are all things I feel like our society values…
Sam Craft: Well, yeah and think those are…
Mary Leigh Meyer: …the most.
Sam Craft: For sure certain things that make you happy like extra money or physical appearance. I think that’s a lot of things, so it’s really just misconceptions. It’s not that true, genuine happiness, is it?
Carly McCord: What we do know predicts happiness is these things that bring us meaning in life. So, meaningful work and leisure time, meaningful relationships, faith and spirituality is a predictor of happiness and then, tied to something we talked about before, sleep patterns, exercise, those things are predictive of happiness.
Sam Craft: Just kind of taking care of your body?
Carly McCord: Mm-hmm.
Mary Leigh Meyer: What is meaningful leisure time? Because like I always feel kind of guilty…
Carly McCord: You tell me, what’s your meaningful leisure time?
Mary Leigh Meyer: I always feel kind of guilty, taking time. I know it’s important, but taking time to wind down. I might watch a show on TV, I might mess around on the internet for a little bit but then I feel guilty that I should be doing the dishes or laundry, I should call my friend that I haven’t spoken to in a while.
Sam Craft: I think it’s just whatever…
Mary Leigh Meyer: What is meaningful leisure?
Sam Craft: …makes you happy, like that’s meaningful to you, I guess. I mean, that’s, again, it’s a subjective to what you like to do in life.
Mary Leigh Meyer: That’s true.
Carly McCord: Yeah, that’s why I flipped it on you. There’s no research definition for meaningful leisure or like it’s not prescriptive of “if you do this, it’s meaningful leisure.”
Sam Craft: Yeah, it’s just all suggestions to, “maybe you should try this, this or this.”
Carly McCord: So, to recap, happiness is this combination of who you are as a person, that we can’t change, right? Can’t really often change our life circumstances, but there’s stuff that we have ownership over, so what do you guys want to do intentionally to try and boost your authentic happiness?
Sam Craft: Authentic happiness. I think I’m going to try to exercise more because I don’t like doing it but it does make me feel really good afterwards. So, I think I’m going to try to get in the habit. I wish I was one of those people who love to run. That’s just not my life, but I do enjoy…
Carly McCord: So, what are you going to do?
Sam Craft: Well, that’s just it, I do enjoy working out so I’m going to try it. I’m going to give it a try and see if I can develop…
Carly McCord: Like you’re going to the gym or you’re going to go for a walk?
Sam Craft: No, I’ve got a park next to my house. Get out there and walk the park with my son and…
Mary Leigh Meyer: How many times a week?
Sam Craft: I’ll say at least three. We’ll start off with three. I think I can commit to three. I mean, like time-wise that’s what I think I can commit to.
Carly McCord: Yeah. That’s a big commitment.
Sam Craft: Yeah.
Carly McCord: ‘m not ready to commit to three.
Sam Craft: There’s a playground so my son can play. He likes that so…What about you, Mary Leigh?
Mary Leigh Meyer: I’m not sure. I already, for the most part, I’ve been really bad this past week, regularly work out, three to four times a week. You know, I just get on the elliptical and put on a TV show on my phone, but I have been looking into some sort of volunteer effort. You know, I’m relatively new to town, so I’m looking at the food bank or a local hospital. Some sort of community engagement to do in my free time. So, I think…
Carly McCord: So, what’s a good next step?
Mary Leigh Meyer: My smart goal is going to be to find one and sign up.
Carly McCord: Oh that’s…
Sam Craft: That’s easily doable. You can do that today.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Because and also that’s one of those things…
Carly McCord: Or you could just say, I’m going to make a list this week.
Mary Leigh Meyer: That’s true.
Sam Craft: Yeah, baby steps.
Carly McCord: Or I’m going to make a call and find out what the minimum commitment is for the food bank.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I like…
Carly McCord: And ask them like what are the options?
Mary Leigh Meyer: I like the list idea and maybe I’ll sign up in the next three to four months.
Sam Craft: I mean, we’re pretty busy. There’s a lot going on. I get it, you know, little baby steps.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I’ll sign up right after allergy season is over.
Sam Craft: Oh yeah, that’s pretty bad right now.
Carly McCord: It’s hard to see that far into the future of like well you don’t know how you’re going to feel after you have that additional information. You may be super pumped and motivated, so…
Mary Leigh Meyer: Or I may not like any of the options.
Carly McCord: Any of them and you’ll have to keep looking.
Mary Leigh Meyer: I’ll need to start the list over.
Sam Craft: What about you, Dr. McCord?
Carly McCord: Hmmm, what am I going to do? I’m trying to get in motion again and I had gotten really good at doing 100 pushups, but…
Sam Craft: Hey, close enough.
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Sam Craft: Whoo, close enough.
Carly McCord: In the morning to start my day.
Sam Craft: That’s awesome.
Carly McCord: To get my body moving and then fell off the wagon this last week so tomorrow, I’m going to wake up…
Sam Craft: On a Saturday, that’s…
Carly McCord: Every day, you can just roll out of bed and do it. If I just, I don’t know why I got off track?
Sam Craft: Well, the saying, you know, saying goes, “if you just do it, it’ll be done.” So, that’s kind of the way I look…
Carly McCord: ust do it.
Sam Craft: Like I get home and it’s like, “I’ve got to take out the trash.” It’s like, “oh, I don’t want to take out the trash.” You just do it, it’ll be done.
Carly McCord: So, man, movement was our, well volunteering actually, I said movement was our theme but…
Mary Leigh Meyer: It’s mental movement for me.
Carly McCord: Yeah.
Sam Craft: Mental movement.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Because I’ve been sitting on, I’ve been wanting to do it for months but I haven’t…
Carly McCord: Engaged, right? Be intentional.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Okay, I think we can all take a little from the happiness equation. You know it’s that, what is it…50 percent, 40 percent, 10 percent, it’s good to know.
Thank you for coming on the show, Dr. McCord.
Carly McCord: Thank you for having me.
Mary Leigh Meyer: It’s been a good talk.
Sam Craft: Stay happy.
Mary Leigh Meyer: Stay happy and stay listening. This has been another episode of Sounds Like Health.
Source: TAMU Health Science Center
