The Bottom Line Benefits of Happiness

In this podcast lecture, we explore how we benefit from incorporating wellness programs into our lives. It is based on a study done at the University of California, Riverside.

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast. I'm Dr. Robert Puff. We're listening to this Happiness Podcast probably because we want to be happier. We want to be more peaceful. We want our lives to go better. But are there any other benefits to improving our lives? Besides our lives just going better, What else can we expect? There's a very interesting study that was recently done at the University of California, Riverside, Where they investigated corporate wellness programs and wanted to see if there were any benefits to the bottom line, Other businesses that use these programs. You may not know this, But surprisingly about 90% of companies use some form of corporate wellness programs. These can range from fitness programs to learning about nutrition. They also include educational programs about work-life balance and how to be happy. Some of the things that I teach. The study had some amazing results. Some of the key changes they saw were reduced absenteeism, Reduced healthcare costs, Higher productivity and overall job satisfaction increase. Businesses really care about the bottom line, But what they found was for every dollar spent on the wellness programs, The company saved $3. 27 in healthcare costs and $2. 73 in absenteeism costs. Overall, It's equivalent to an extra day of work per month on average per worker. So clearly a lot of good things come out of improving our lives at work and improving our lives overall has an impact in many places in our lives. But mind you, We may be thinking, But this is about work. I'm not sure if I care. And I get that, But I do think there's some great benefits to improving our lives overall that we can benefit from. And if our employer benefits from it too, That's not all bad either because what the study showed was that job satisfaction increases as our overall life increases too. But still, How can this benefit me? How can by taking care of my body and my mental and spiritual and physical health help me? I do think this study has many lessons for our lives. First one is I don't know about you, But I really don't enjoy being sick. I mean, It really isn't fun. And I know most companies give a few days every year for sick leave for if you're sick, You can stay home. But imagine this, Imagine instead of staying home and being sick, You stay home for a personal leave day and use that sick day instead of being sick, Going out in nature or going to a spa or leaving a day early for a short weekend getaway. I mean, There's a lot we can do with that extra day. If we don't have to use it to stay in bed all day and can instead use it for something wonderful, Something that really adds quality to our lives. That's a pretty big plus if we think about it. Plus, Like I said before, It's just not fun being sick. Wouldn't we rather get outside, Do something wonderful, Spend time with friends, Just stay home and read? I mean, The list can get pretty long when we think about things that could really add quality of life to our lives. Now, Some of you may be like me, You only make money if you work and you don't make money if you don't work. So for you, There's a lot of benefits as there have been for me. And that's why I really have invested so much time in being healthy. Because besides just not liking to be sick, I just get to use that time instead of being sick. I could use it for other things like I'm suggesting all of us to do things that add a smile to my face throughout the day, Things that I can look forward to. And I've been blessed over the last 30 years to only miss one day of work in those 30 years. I about 20 years ago got food poisoning and it was rough working that day so I went home. Now, I do think we have to be very careful on one thing here. There's a tendency to judge ourselves when we get sick. I mean, If we're sick and we need to stay home, Then we need to stay home and rest and get better and really not judge ourselves. But like this study shows, If we begin to start making changes in our lives, We're going to see about a 5% increase in our overall productivity and health. That's pretty amazing. And if we keep improving things like we're doing here on the happiness podcast by learning very specific things that we can do to improve our lives, We're going to find with time, We may get a lot better. Mind you, We may still get sick and that's totally normal. Please don't judge ourselves for that. That is not healthy. But when we can improve just a little bit, That's an encouragement. That's an encouragement to say, Hey, This is working. Maybe I'm not the perfect epitome of health, But I'm getting better and I'm going to keep working towards getting better. Positive reinforcement works so much better than negative. Let's not judge ourselves for being sick, But instead let's say, Hey, Are there things that I can do to improve my life because they do work. And if we implement them, We're going to find some really great changes. Now, Mind you, We can compare ourselves to someone and that someone is ourselves, Not others, Because that's just not fair. They don't have our background. They don't have our experiences. They don't have our genetics. But what we can compare ourselves to is our past. Once we begin to start implementing these changes by meditating more, Exercising, Eating better, Learning about ways to be happier, Working on our attachments, Working with impermanence, All the things that I teach here, And we can say, With all these changes, Am I seeing improvement? That's what we look for. Not with other people, But with ourselves. If we were sick 10 days last year and this year we're sick eight days, That's an improvement. And we just keep getting better. That's what we work on. Because one of the beliefs that I teach here is that we can keep improving our lives until the day we die. Yeah, We may get sick as we get older, But overall the quality is just going to be better. Our lives are going to be better when we work on ourselves and all the arenas of being healthy. Another thing that I really like about this study is that 5% increase. Over the years, I've gotten many people contacting me about the improvements they've seen in their lives. But I have gotten a few messages from people saying they haven't seen the drastic improvements that they were hoping for. Maybe they're struggling with anxiety, Depression, Insecurities, Whatever it may be. And what they don't see is immediate, Drastic changes. I mean, They do see changes. But I often think what people are looking for is 100% change that's permanent. And that's probably not realistic. If we spent 30 years doing something that's not healthy for us and we begin to change it, It's probably not going to change overnight. I think that's why a lot of people turn towards addictions like drugs and alcohol, Because they can immediately take away whatever the struggle is in the short term. In the long term, Of course, Are terrible for us. But in the short term, They can truly numb all the problems. But with wellness, It does take time. And that's why I like this study. It talks about the 5% improvement. But 5% times 20 is 100% improvement. So it may take us some time to make changes. But if we keep working on things, We will see those changes. And as long as we keep committing to improving our lives, We're just going to keep getting better. Now, Another thing that I really liked about this study is how they showed with these wellness programs, Overall satisfaction about work improved. I mean, We spend a lot of our time working, Even if we work from home, Even if our work is raising our children or volunteering at our favorite organization. But whatever it is, We spend a lot of time doing it. And I think it's pretty important to find some satisfaction in that work. Because if we spend a good portion of our life going to something that we hate or find fairly miserable, As I think other studies have shown without wellness programs, Then our lives are going to be tough. And they don't have to be. Our lives can be beautiful. But clearly, It just takes work. We have to make changes. If we keep doing what we've done before, We're going to see the same results. But if we decide, Okay, I'm going to really commit to improving my life in so many different areas, I'm going to eat better, I'm going to exercise, I'm going to watch my mental thoughts, I'm going to meditate, I'm going to do yoga, I'm going to do so many things that improve my life, We will see the improvement. And spending time at work, Being happier is amazing. It's so much better, Particularly since we do spend so much time there. Now, I don't know if you know this, But there's been a lot of studies on job satisfaction. And there's a lot of people out there, A majority of people don't always like what they do. They do it, But they're not very crazy about it. And as I said, We spend a lot of time doing it. So this is what I see that people do instead of working on making changes to improve their work and the things that they do. They bear it, They push through it, They just do it. And then they come home and numb themselves. They may spend hours watching television, They may come home and have two bottles of wine, They may turn to prescription drugs to numb their feelings. They do anything but making changes that can improve their lives. Because what we do outside of work, Taking care of ourselves wellness will affect our work. If we're feeling good, Our work's going to go better. I know that may not make sense, But again, Try it. See if we don't see by improving our overall lives that we see our job all of a sudden starts getting better. And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, You probably know that thoughts are very powerful. So going to work every day thinking, I hate this, I hate this, I can't wait to get home is not going to make the day go any better. It's actually going to make the day pretty miserable. But if we say, Okay, This is what I have to do right now. How do I work towards making it okay? Not only that, How do I make it so if this is what I'm doing right now, If this is what life tells me I need to do to get by, How do I go there with a smile on my face and make it even acceptable, Perhaps even good? If we begin to change our thoughts, Our world around us, Including our work, Is beginning to begin to change. And there is a correlation between what we do at home and what we do at work. If we're taking care of ourselves at home and making sure that our overall health is good and our happiness is in that right place, Then work's going to be better. If we think work and home are very separate entities, We're wrong. What we do at home will matter in regards to our job satisfaction at work. And as we take care of ourselves, Our lives overall are just going to begin to change and get better. And one last thing, Let's think about who we really work for. We really work for ourselves. I know we may go to an employer for 30 years, The same one, But who we're really working for is ourselves. And our employer may not care if we're happy at what we do, As long as we're productive and do what he or she asks us to do. But we care. We care a great deal about our job satisfaction. So if we commit to saying, Okay, I'm going to start implementing these changes for my benefit so that when I go to work, I can be happier and enjoy what I do or whatever I do, I'm going to commit for myself, Not for my school, Not for my spouse, Not for my employer, But for me. Then if we do it that way, We're going to be a lot more committed and we're going to be the ones to see the benefit. And when we see those benefits, We're going to really enjoy that we put forth effort to make these changes to improve our lives. There's a lot of science behind making improvements in our lives will improve our overall life. We can do it. We can make these changes and start improving our lives. So our lives are not only better, But they're beautiful. I truly believe we can all have beautiful lives no matter what. We have to work at it, But it's worth the effort. So let's commit towards making that 5% improvement until we get to that 100% where we really see the great improvement in our lives and our lives are just going beautifully. Thank you for joining me on the Happiness Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about the world of happiness, Please go to www. Happinesspodcast. Org. That's Happiness Podcast. Org. And if you are enjoying this podcast, Reviews are awesome. Until next time, Accept what is, Love what is.

Reviews

Thank you very much 🙏

Dr Puff’s podcasts are simply awesome!

Interesting! Thank you! ❤️❤️

Makes you think one step at a time to happiness. Thank you. 😌

I love Dr. Puff's upbeat voice, and thoughts and advice on happiness! Om Shanti ☮💓