The Happiness Experiment - Week 3 Report

Continuing on with the Happiness Experiment, in which I express sincere gratitude to someone each day (either here on the blog or in person), to see if Shawn Achor's referenced research decreases my pain levels and increases my happiness.

This week, pain levels on a "moving average" basis since the start of the experiment have gone from 5.1 to 5.4.  On a regular average basis for this week alone, they've been 6.28.  Compare this with my vacation week (the previous week), which was a 4.7.  

Happiness scores as measured by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire have been a consistent 2.21 this week, which the test notes refer to as "somewhat unhappy."  My moving average over the last three weeks has been a consistent 2.3.

I think it's safe to say that expressions of gratitude aren't doing anything for my happiness level, which has been pretty flat since the start of this.  My pain levels showed an early decrease, but have gone back up to a higher level than the start.  I attribute this to a number of stresses I won't go into here, primarily at the office.  It does seem that there is a very strong correlation between pain levels and stress, which gratitude journaling apparently has no impact on.