Science of Happiness Applied to Wildlife Watching...Patterns and Progress

Already 13 years ago David Niven published 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People in which he distilled happiness research into "easy-to-digest nuggets of advice". I especially like Advice #92 Know What Makes You Happy or Sad; a Professor Hamler is quoted: "All science is noticing patterns". Patterns come into play when something goes really right or wrong; hopefully you have been paying attention and you realize what happened wasn't random, there was a cause and effect. Niven's take: "People feel worse if they are unhappy but have no idea why."

Studying patterns in 12,000 diary entries from corporate employees led Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer to write a book titled The Progress Principle Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. The authors discovered that small events (basically progress towards a goal or objective) can "trigger big reactions". They cited additional research that found participation in small, regular events (e.g. working out or church attendance) could yield cumulative increases in happiness. To the authors, this reflects on the "inner work life" of a person, their definition: "the confluence of perceptions, emotions, and motivations that individuals experience as they react to and make sense of the events of their workday". They further tease out that just "making progress" on a project or goal doesn't mean it will lead to a good inner work life. The work you do must be "meaningful". Work is meaningful if "you perceive your work as contributing value to something or someone who matters (even your team, yourself, or your family)". Bottom line: employing a checklist or a journal (so you can measure incremental progress) while doing meaningful work ignites joy, engagement and creativity. Amabile and Kramer employ video game playing as an example; you become addicted playing these games because the designers employ a) constant progress indicators and b) achievement markers.

And no, I haven't purposely and knowingly been applying this wisdom for a decade; I just discovered this. It's powerful. I know there have been times when I have discounted (sometimes using stronger terms) "listing" by birders. Now I discover that listing is good (at least on one level) for your joy, engagement and creativity. Below is some of my meaningful work...a video documenting my listing of two uncommon species of dragonflies (Lake Darner and Subarctic Darner) heretofore not seen before September 2013 (I believe my 7th try)! May your patterns and progress intersect with...what floats your wildlife boat :-)

Discovery and Happiness...

"'The good life,' in other words, may be better lived by doing things than by having things" (Gilovich and Van Boven 2003). Their research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found folks were 'happier' doing things than buying things. The authors gave three reasons a) "experiences are more open to positive reinterpretation" b) "experiences are more central to one's identity" and c) "experiences have greater 'social value'."

Andrew Warren, senior collections manager for the University of Florida's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity had one of the greatest of zoological experiences recently...discovery of a butterfly species new to Florida. In a story from the SunSentinel.com, Warren relates how a series of collected butterfly specimens from 1950-85 were misidentified in the museum collection; the species involved was the pink-spot sulphur butterfly, a native of Cuba and the Bahamas. After publishing this finding, Warren also mentioned his discovery to Alana Edwards, president of the Atala chapter of the North American Butterfly Association in an attempt to confirm if the butterfly was still alive and well in south Florida. Alana spread the word via Facebook and email. E.J. Haas got the message and sent a photo of an unidentified butterfly from her cultivated butterfly garden to Warren. Response from Warren was: "Oh yes! Most definitely A. neleis!!!!!!...they are a current breeding resident- these photos confirm it!!! WOW! Many thanks, and congratulations on your great and extremely important photos!"

So, yes, you too can experience happiness on a regular basis by going outside and discovering/documenting what you find in nature. There is an excellent chance that your local community of: bees, butterflies, dragonflies, lichens, wildflowers, etc. aren't well known. 'We' don't know everything just yet and by the time we do, things will have changed.

Here's my discovery from yesterday at Riverside Park in Lolo, Montana...Cladonia macilenta aka 'lipstick powderhorn'. Go out and find something good.