I’ll admit it. I’ve never been a kid-lover. It’s awful I know. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind kids before but I’ve never had that strong desire to be around them the way some people are. When a baby cried, I’d cringe.

But I’ve changed.

Now I am a total, die hard, can’t stop smiling kid-lover. At least when it comes to my two little cousins. I never seen two happier children and when I’m around them, I love how their laughter and smiles are immediately contagious. If there’s anyway to get happy within a matter of seconds, surrounding yourself with kids you love is the way to do it.

I know I’ve been slow to come onboard as many of you have already caught on to the magic of kids. So many of us surround ourselves with them here at UCLA, whether it’s through mentoring programs, Unicamp, or the Pediatric Aids Coalition. Once you’ve seen their natural laughter, their smile that lights up a room, and their happy go lucky spirit that seems to overcome so many obstacles, you can’t help but be inspired.

I think children can really teach us a fundamental lesson about happiness. After swimming in the pool with my two cousins yesterday and seeing how happy it made them, I realized that kids really value the little things in life. Just going for a swim truly made their day. And a good piece of chocolate? They couldn’t be happier, even at two years old. (Mind you, they’re not too happy when their mom doesn’t let them eat the whole bar).

And with this natural happiness that children have, they add so much happiness to our lives. There is nothing like a child reaching out their arms to you, wanting a big hug. Especially when kids get to the age when they recognize you and want to be with you, there’s nothing like it. I love my little cousins so much—I always know our family is in for a good time when they’re around.

I’m still not gung-ho on having babies—that won’t happen for a long, long time. But I’m definitely making progress when it comes to being around them. Whether you are naturally drawn to children or you’re a little more hesitant as I was before, I think it’s practically impossible to not be happy when you’re around a happy child. They truly do see life with rose-colored glasses—it doesn’t take much to bring a smile on their face.

So keep the kids in mind this week. If kids can laugh and smile so much, why can’t we? Little kids notice the little things—so should we. A good swim, a little chocolate—what’s not to love?

May we take pride in our lives, realize the power of our dreams, and celebrate happiness today and every day!

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

Obnoxious, right?

I have a question for you and I’m going to ask you to be entirely honest: have you gossiped today? Sure, you can call it venting, harmless chatter or just plain “girl talk,” but seriously, a lot of this seemingly meaningless chirping is simply mean. I’ve seen a lot of girls get hurt lately by gossip, myself included, and there’s just no point to it. Chances are, gossiping doesn’t add to your happiness and it sure doesn’t add to the person you’re talking about who let’s be real, could very likely hear about what you’ve said.

We’ve all been on both sides of it I’m sure. It’s not always intentional but it causes pain nonetheless. What’s the point? It’s a vicious cycle—you gossip about someone, they get hurt and gossip about you in return…it never ends. And it shouldn’t have even begun.

So I’m going to set a challenge for all of us to attempt, myself included, starting today:

For the rest of the day, no matter what time you read this, we are not going to gossip about anyone, no matter what they wear, what they look like, what they say, or what they do.

Let’s do it. I think we’ll not only feel happier, we’ll also feel more proud of ourselves for holding our tongues and sticking to our word…the kind word that is.

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

Maria was really on to something when she said how feeling pretty made her also feel witty, bright, and charming. Can’t you agree? When you get all dolled up, do you notice that you too feel a little more happy? I think we’re friendlier when we feel confident in our appearance and thus, people are kinder to us—it’s a reciprocal process so that the better we present ourselves, the better we feel about ourselves, and the better our relationships (hello, self-fulfilling prophecy).

Now let’s get one thing straight: I’m not talking about looks. I’m not talking about perfect noses, plush lips, or blowing in the breeze hair. I’m talking about appearance. We don’t have a choice when it comes to our looks but we do when it comes to presentation. It’s the difference between wearing an outfit that makes us glow versus throwing on sweatpants every day. It’s washing your hair, smelling nice, and having bright eyes. It’s taking care of yourself. Yes, it can take a little extra time but in my opinion, it’s time well spent. Sure, you may save a few minutes sleeping in but when you’ve taken that time to freshen up instead, you’ll have a much fresher look on the rest of your day.

When it’s not finals week—put the sweats away. Especially since it’s spring, wear a dress, don those shorts you bought five months ago, and let your hair down. And the most important thing to put on: YOUR SMILE! (Credits of Gracie Lou Freebush). But in all seriousness, nothing looks better than a smile. It doesn’t matter how beautiful you are—if you don’t have a smile to complete your look, happiness might be hard to come by. And you deserve to be happy so grin away!

So get a little pretty this spring. Chances are, you can’t help but smile.

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

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Hi friends! Here’s a sneak peek at my article for The Odyssey Greek newspaper at UCLA. I think the information is still just as relevant though whether you’re a college student or not. Enjoy!

Did you know that 33 is the new magic number? TIME magazine is reporting that we reach our peak in happiness at this age—not during childhood, and especially not during college. In fact, the study reported that only 6% said their happiest days were in college. It seems like most UCLA students are pretty darn happy though…what’s not to love about collegiate life? Having your friends right down the hall, sleeping in, doing just about whatever you please in a given day sounds pretty good to me. But perhaps the best is yet to come.

The study was done by a social networking site in Britain called, “Friends United,” and many respondents said they garnered their happiness from their careers and from their personal relationships. They went on to say that 36% were happier after having children. They also said they were able to have more fun in their lives because they had more money at that point.

But just because we still haven’t hit the high note in our lives (if this study is accurate), it doesn’t mean that we can’t make the most of these four years. I recently did some research of my own for a social networking class and found that UCLA students on average are very satisfied with their college experience.

We’re also at an advantage being in the Greek system. With a built in social network, many of us have gained some valuable relationships that we may not have been otherwise established if it weren’t for our houses. Especially with the opportunity to live in, how can you not be happy when you can see your best friend in a matter of minutes? It’s a once in a lifetime experience and I think many of us would say that it’s offered some of the happiest moments of our lives.

Furthermore, many Greek students are highly involved on campus—when you make the most of your experience you’re bound to be happy. You’ll be able to look back on this period of your life and know that you lived it to the fullest—no regrets. I see so many Greeks in Dance Marathon, Unicamp, Bruins United, Campus Tours—the list continues—where we are all trying to make a positive difference both within our campus community and in our outreach community. How can we not be happy knowing that we are changing lives for the better? Whether it’s raising funds for pediatric HIV/AIDS or welcoming New Bruins on our campus, we are happily making positive changes here. And we are happier for it.

So what do you think? Do you think your college experience has offered you some of your happiest years? With all the laughter I hear in the Chi O house and all the smiles I see everyone giving on Hilgard, I think many of us are quite happy to be here. Of course we always hope that our happiness will continue to increase in our lives, but for the time being, let’s just enjoy it in the here and now. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for if you ask me.

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

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There are moments when it’s hard to put life in perspective and I realized this morning that we often let numbers define us in ways they shouldn’t. An 89.5 on grade (yep, that’s the number I saw last night checking my grades), a higher number than usual on the scale (yep, that’s me this morning). Heck there can be a whole slew of numbers that can steal our happiness–a low credit score, an expensive bill, the list goes on.

But in light of these numbers that were weighing me down earlier, I came to the conclusion that these numbers can’t define me. Numbers are labels, but they can’t label our relationships with our loved ones or even how happy we feel (I’ve found that it’s actually better not to put a scale on happiness). It’s the intangible things like laughter, like love, like joy that can’t be measured and that we shouldn’t attempt to measure.

So instead of relying on numbers to define your self-worth as I was doing earlier, I hope you’ll join me by finding meaning in your life elsewhere. After all, the numbers are constantly fluctuating but hopefully our relationships can keep improving. You can’t put a number on your life.

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

As Career and Personal Development Chair of my Chi Omega Chapter at UCLA, I like to give a little career advice every now and then. As an intern at Disney ABC Television Group for the past two and a half months, I’ve learned some tips and tricks that I think can significantly affect happiness in the workplace. One happiness hang-up you may have experienced in the office? Making a mistake. It happens to all of us, yet there’s no reason for it to take away our happiness for a prolonged period of time. Here’s how to move on and make it better.

Chances are, if you’re a girl, you probably utter, “I’m sorry” on a regular basis, even when there’s nothing to be sorry for. Sure, there’s a time and a place to be apologetic but saying sorry at the drop of a hat loses its oomph. Furthermore, if you do make a mistake and an apology is warranted, there’s one crucial thing I’ve learned from the work environment—don’t make excuses, just get it done.

You may think that excuses will save you time or face, but truly, it’s just better to own up to it and fix the problem as soon as possible. Unless you feel like there is a genuine misunderstanding, then don’t waste more time by making your boss hear out the minutia of your mistake. All they’ll want to hear at that point is, “I’m on it” and “All fixed!” Focusing on your error instead of the solution will only hold you back. Move ahead and make up for a mistake instead of making excuses.

It can be easy to fester in your slip-ups but you’ve got to get a move on. While you should always allow yourself time to learn from errors so that they don’t happen in the future, you can’t let an accidental fault loom over your head forever. Employers like an upbeat, confident (yet not cocky) employee who is ready to learn. They should be understanding when you make minor flubs every now and then as you learn (in fact, they often expect it!) and if anything, you’ll leave them actually feeling impressed when you can take an error and improve the situation tenfold.

So rather than wasting words on why you made a mistake, get to work on what didn’t work the first time. Fix the problem instead of trying to explain yourself. You’ll feel much happier when you can move on and enjoy your day! Make the most of it.

Keep shining,

The Sunny Girl, Lauren Cook

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