By Amanda Tust
When was the last time you gabbed away at a party or asked an acquaintance to lunch? If it's been a while, it may be time to start putting more effort into happy hour. A June 2013 study published in the Journal of Research in Personality found that being extroverted in your youth can make you happier as you age. UK researchers asked more than 2,500 people personality questions when they were 16 and 26, then assessed their wellbeing and life satisfaction more than three decades later when they were 60-somethings. The results showed that those who were outgoing during their teens and 20s were happier with where their lives had taken them over the ensuing 40 or 50 years.
While much of personality may be hard-wired, there's always some nudge room in how you act around others. “Personality is partly genetically determined and it tends to be pretty stable from early adulthood onwards, but some research shows that people who are satisfied with their relationships and their work tend to become a bit more extraverted with time,” says study author Catharine Gale, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at South Hampton General Hospital in England. Here are some ways to build better friendships and invest in a happier future.
Nail A First Impression
A quick body language trick you can use when approaching someone you are about to meet for the first time is to briefly flash your eyebrows upward when you're about 15 feet away. “It helps you feel more open and ......(rest of the article)
