It’s true, you literally infect others. Your well-being has an enormously influential impact on everyone around you up to 3 degrees of separation away from you! Research studies show that parents’ well-being improve their children’s, and people’s happiness uplifts their spouses. But did you know it also influences strangers you will never meet like your best friend’s landlord? Research by social scientists James Fowler of UC San Diego and Nicolas Christakis of Harvard suggests that happiness spreads up to three degrees of separation from us: if you’re happy, your best friend’s sister, hairdresser’s spouse, and colleague’s son will also be happier.

Happiness spreads. It really is true.

By the way, it's definitely worth the time to watch Emma's TED talk:

Yay!  Yes, thanks so much for introducing me to her (via posts on PandaWhale), Adam!

You're very welcome, Tina! I'm a big fan of Emma Seppala's work!

i'm a big fan too!  she's spreading great info and she has been very kind to me personally. very professional. i've been sharing her tedtalk with all my peeps!!

Same here - thanks to Adam, I now follow Dr. Seppala on Twitter.  :)

Yay!  I'm grateful to be a part of it.  I showed a clip of TED Talk to my "Cultivating Emotional Intelligence" class!

That's excellent. She's actually writing a book right now too, so I'm going to chat with her about that in a few weeks.

Emily, she interacted directly with you?! Wow! I don't know where she finds the time...

yes, i was impressed too!  she found me on twitter and we had a little chat.  she is a good person, doing good things for the world!

She truly is.

Her work with veterans with PTSD demonstrates the innovative and therapeutic properties of compassion.

I think her best work is still to come.