There are billions of people on our planet, and some are truly happy. The rest of us bounce back and forth between happiness and well, unhappiness depending on the day.

I’ve learned there are certain traits and habits chronically unhappy people seem to have mastered. We all have bad days, even weeks — myself included — when we fall down in all seven areas.

The difference between a happy and unhappy life is how often and how long we stay there.

Here are the seven qualities of chronically unhappy people.

1. Your default belief is that life is hard.

Happy people know life can be hard and tend to bounce through hard times with an attitude of curiosity versus victimhood. They take responsibility for how they got themselves into a mess, and focus on getting themselves out of it as soon as possible.

Owen Poindexter, AlterNet
Waking Times

The more research is released, the more legalization makes sense.

Back in the 1930s, the arguments to criminalize cannabis were bizarre and openly racist. The anti-pot crusader Harry Anslinger made all sorts of over-the-top claims, such as, “Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters.”

The latest statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than 5.4 million American children between the ages of four and 17 living today have been diagnosed with the behavioral disorder known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study, published in The Lancet Neurology, finds a list of common chemicals are likely contributing to what the researchers are calling the “global, silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity” in children, reports Forbes.

The 11 chemicals and their effects (via Forbes):

Lead–This is one of the most extensively researched compounds in terms of neurodevelopment, and has been consistently linked to serious deficits, including low IQ. Its effects seem to be permanent, leading to the conclusion that there is no safe level of exposure.

The NDAA is just the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it? Prior to vote, the House and Senate Arms Services Committee attached a provision to the NDAA that would transfer the Apache people’s ancestral lands in the Tonto National Forest to a corporation called Resolution copper, which is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, which as an Australian-English mining company. Senator John McCain, the senior Republican Senator from Arizona headed the push for this provision to be included.

As can be expected, Apache leaders were appalled by this move. They learned of the provision, ironically, while attending the White House Tribal Nations conference. Republicans have been trying to give ancestral lands to corporations for years now, but have always been blocked by significant opposition by the San Carlos Apache Tribe and their Democratic allies in Congress. But now, the NDAA will go to the Senate for a vote...

Katie was given a cabbage and the rest is history.

Katie, a third grader, was granted a cabbage plant through a school program to grow, and grow it did! Not only did her plant grow, but her passion for local farming and feeding the hungry did as well. Katie displays a kind of pragmatism and strength that is hard to find even in adults.

“Some people approach an issue and say, ‘well this issue is too big, I can’t do anything about it.'” she says in the intro of the video, “I know that by myself I can’t end hunger, but it doesn’t matter how small your actions are, even if you don’t realize it at the time, you’re making a difference.”

Gary ‘Z’ McGee, Staff Writer
Waking Times

I submit to you, if you are willing to take your foot off the pedal of your out-of-control, wasteful life, that there is a deep intelligence buried beneath your status anxiety. This intelligence, so familiar to those who have not been ground through the unforgiving gears of the man-machine, yet misinterpreted by those who have, is knowing that things are not supposed to be this way. Work isn’t supposed to suck. Leisure time isn’t supposed to be a “pie in the sky”. The air is not supposed to be saturated with smog. The Gulf of Mexico isn’t supposed to be drowning in spilled oil. The Pacific Ocean isn’t supposed to be tainted with nuclear waste from the Japan nuclear plant disaster. Money is not supposed to matter more than the heart. Profit is not supposed to matter more than people. Most of all, love is not supposed to be something owned and clung to, but something lived through and then let go of.

Facing considerable political, economic, social and ecological crises, the human race is desperate for a transformation and a new direction. Business as usual ensures that we are doomed to run a course of half-conscious self-destruction, as man-made catastrophes multiply and stress mounts in every aspect of life. We must overthrow our ignorance, as it has become a fearful master, goading us into war, pollution, waste and exploitation.

The social problems and entrenched patterns at the source of global issues are too vast and complex to be solved at the personal level, yet, paradoxically, the personal transformation of the individual offers a lonesome opportunity to avert the catastrophes we are engineering for ourselves. Human consciousness has a critical role to play in our collective destiny and there is a seismic shift occurring here that is creating a rising class of conscious people better equipped than ever to deal with such a chaotic environment.

Jed Shlackman, Contributor
Waking Times

The path of the spiritual adept progressing toward mastery is one that requires a steadfast commitment toward balance and integration. In life we develop a variety of skills and master the characteristics of archetypes and polarities so that we can reunite them in ourselves to recover our wholeness.

A quality that is seen as desirable can be taken to a polarized extreme and become unhealthy and dysfunctional. A quality that is perceived as negative or pathological can be recognized as being the polarized extreme of something that is actually beneficial when applied in balance and moderation. Even some of the most valuable and empowering spiritual teachings can be taken to an extreme or out of context and lead to unhealthy patterns.

Christina Sarich, Natural Society
Waking Times

The CDC recently admitted that this year’s flu shot likely won’t protect you from the flu, but did it ever? Though the CDC has issued a formal apology regarding the issue for this season, flu vaccinations have long been seen as ineffective by a horde of experts. But don’t worry – here you will find more than 20 natural flu remedies using natural antivirals.

No surprise here, but there won’t be any refund for insurance companies or patients who have already taken a flu vaccination early as preparation for the 2015 flu season in January and February, despite the CDC’s admission of its inefficacy.