by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

How to survive the winter fog blues? The Community Chest fundraising update and a call for person of the year nominations at the Feb. 7 Sewanee Civic Association dinner meeting illustrated one of the key strategies for happiness recommended by the evening’s speaker: practice gratitude.

The Sewanee Community Chest supports 25 initiatives that enhance the quality of life in Sewanee and the surrounding vicinity, Blue Monarch addiction services, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Sewanee Elementary School and the Sewanee Senior Citizens Center, to name only a few. Member-at-large Jade Barry announced the Community Chest had raised $80,958 toward its goal, with $24,414 still needed. Barry urged community members to donate now. The campaign ends March 31. Mail donations to P.O. Box 99, Sewanee, TN 37375 or donate online by visiting sewaneecivic.org. To track the campaign and learn more about funding recipients, visit the thermometer display outside the post office.

President Theresa Shackelford called for nominations for SCA’s annual award. Now in the 36th year, the Person of the Year Award honors a community member for outstanding volunteer work. Send nominations to P.O. Box 222, Sewanee, TN 37375 or email account sewaneecommunitychest@gmail.com. The deadline for making nominations is March 15. Please include a brief narrative explaining why the nominee deserves recognition.

Speaker John K. Coffey, assistant professor of psychology at the University of the South, specializes in positive developmental psychology. His research investigating “happiness” from infancy through adulthood often spans three or more decades.

To measure happiness researchers track the frequency of positive emotions, the frequency of negative emotions, and a person’s degree of life satisfaction, Coffey said.

According to Coffey, “Research shows how happy an infant is at 18 months predicts how far the child will go in college.” Coffey cited a correlation between a high degree of happiness and community involvement, skill at relationship building, better health and longevity, a productive, lucrative work life, and activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex where problem solving and other complex thinking occurs.

Climate has relatively little effect on happiness, Coffey noted. Scandinavian countries with cold climates and low levels of daylight in the winter are among the happiest, he said. Also interesting, the effect of income on happiness plateaus at $70,000. Above that, happiness doesn’t increase with increased earnings. Low income, conversely, has a far more striking impact.

How do we get to happy? The biggest drivers of happiness are things in life over which people have control, Coffey stressed. Top on the list of strategies Coffey recommended were savoring life and practicing gratitude which promoted building relationships. Similarly, he advocated actively cultivating relationships and being involved. He also emphasized physical activity as key.

Coffey advised against excessive screen time. “TV neutralizes emotions,” Coffey said. “And screen time on computers and cell phones actually makes us less happy. Studies show that limiting social media time to 30 minutes a day decreases depression and loneliness. On the average, people interact with their smart phones 2,400 times a day.”

“Happiness helps us build a skill set of behaviors, like being involved, that help us when we’re not happy,” Coffey said noting the upward spiral effect of happiness. Does happiness matter? Coffey insisted, “absolutely.”

The SCA meets next on March 7.