An amazing new study which made headlines today suggests that your attitude can have a profound emotional effect on people you don’t even know — friends of friends of friends, for example.
In a nutshell, take ‘er easy and the world takes ‘er easy with you, be an uptight bummer and, well, you?ll not only be undude, you’ll making the world a lot more undude than you might realize. Check out:
Strangers May Cheer You Up, Study Says
or
Happiness is contagious, research finds
According to UCSD researcher James H. Fowler:
“If your friend’s friend’s friend becomes happy, that has a bigger impact on you being happy than putting an extra $5,000 in your pocket.”
New age gurus regularly tout the “Power of Positive Thinking,” but they routinely do so as a selfish method of getting things you desire: a new job, a sexy trophy wife, or maybe just your rug back. However, this study shows that the power of positive thinking may indeed be more altruistic than these mercenaries suggest — when we feel far out, that good feeling spreads farther and farther out, like marijuana smoke at a prehistoric bonfire.
Great Dudes in History were generally great because they spread good feelings wherever they rambled — either by setting an example, or by being cool and kind to people they encounter, no matter if they’re 
fucking fascists or loves of their life. Now we know for a fact that that this dudeness ripples outwards like waves from a pebble thrown in a lake.
This in mind, we can argue that Dudeism is not as lazy or unproductive a creed as some real reactionaries might think.
I won’t say heroic, ’cause what?s heroic? But by keeping our minds limber and not worrying about shit, we help thousands of people do the same without even knowing it. With great dudeness comes great responsibility. We are none of us strangers. This is a family restaurant.
Fuckin’ A, man.
I always laugh over these scientific studies that come out informing us of the obvious. There was one not long ago that concluded that people recovering from or dealing with illness do better emotionally when they’re in a support group or have strong social systems (families, friends, churches).
You mean leaving sick people isolated and fending for themselves isn’t a good idea? Well, fuck me, man. Who knew?
But that’s the problem: Who does know? By and large most people have forgotten this basic knowledge that a fella wiser than myself said long ago: we’re social animals, or in the parlance of our times, party animals.
We’ve allowed marketers and politicians and other uptight and reactionary types (as well as ourselves) to convince us we should live very shut off, atomized lives. But the truth is we’re interconnected with and influence each other (and the universe itself) in ways we can only dimly understand.
Throughout history, from Buddha to the Beatles, we’ve needed people to remind us of that, though. As Dudeist compeer George Harrison once said: “Through our love we could save the world.” Same with takin’ er easy.
I take comfort in that.
you’re so right, dude. i guess what makes this study more interesting than the usual pap is that they’ve identified just how much our attitudes influence people so far removed from ourselves. multiply that effect by the hundreds of people you meet everyday and this multiplicative calculus of cool underscores the importance of being earnestly dudeish to everyone we meet.
something that we should do with or without scientific studies, of course.
reminds me of einstein’s quote that nuclear bombs didn’t create a new problem for mankind, only made an old problem that much more important to solve.
we all know we should be kind to each other, but if we knew how much our actions actually warped the emotional space-time contiuum, maybe we’d think twice about taking it out on poor old Smokey et. al.
Exactly. I was going to riff on the “atomized” reference I made and go into what little I understand of quantum physics and how it shows the oneness of everything, but it was way too early in the morning for me. :-) Hence the easier Beatles reference.
I think I’ve posted this on the DP before, but it seems relevant here, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1u489DqbMQ
I’ve had people at work and stuff tell me I make them feel calm and chill. Never quite knew why, but that’s cool.
Elenor Rigby.
This only proves although I think it may have been proven in the past. Like thousands of years ago an repeatedly. I have come to my own undeucated conclusion that depression is not a disease its just a bad vibration. I am reading “The lazy mans guide to enlightenment” like the main jist is everything has its own vibration and you can adjust it at will to be come more receptive or rejective. Obviously if you hang around people with negative vibes it will adjust yours, and you can adjust theirs too.
I have had major bummers before and I needed to be around people, just to pull me out. Its like karma, many think its like some cosmic justice, no it’s just the energy we tansmit, all of us vibrating at our own resonance. Hey I should write an article about this. Far Out.
I’ve been listening to “The Lazy Man’s Guide” on CD. Fabulous stuff, man. Like you, I’ve always (at my better moments) intuited the truth of all of this, but Golas (and Alan Watts, among others) have helped me to begin seeing the truth of it, rather than dimly feeling it. The Upanishads are purty good in this respect, too.
Check out http://www.thaddeusgolas.com if you haven’t already, especially the links section.
I hope you do submit an article…if you write it, Dude, it is no dream. :-)
Alright, Way to Go Donny!
“Emotional space-time continuum!” That’s far fuckin’ out man. There is so much good shit in this post. I love it.
The more I understand and uphold Dudeism, the more I realize the great service we are doing for humanity.
In a world of 6 billion people, how many Dudeists would it take to end global sadness??? Using the 3rd degree principle stated in the study, I guess we can take the cube-root of 6 billion, which is only about 1,817 Dudes. Though how long would it take for the happiness of 1,817 Dudes to spread around the world? You also have to think about places where there are no Dudes, like Iran and North Korea.
Man, i believe that there are dudes everywhere.
Like a fella wiser then myself once said: “they just don’t know that they’re dudes yet” or something like that…
Maybe the people arount these dudes, are just too uptight and need to limber their minds before they can embrace the way of the dude.
but, that is just, you know, like, my opinion man
Way cool on the vibe, cheers for the links!!
I hope this prayer/meditation/vibe isn’t too far out, but I say it, or something like it, several times throughout the day, believing that WE create our universe. If “working the vibe” is 85% intention and 15% focusing that intention, then try this to help you focus your intent:
I create my universe at every moment.
My universe is love.
My universe is health.
My universe is abundance.
My universe is gratitude.
I create my universe at every moment.
I share my universe with the world.
Doesn’t matter if anyoine thinks you’re wack for doing it. How do you fellow dudes focus your intent for positive change?
– NZDude
Dude, i dont focus at all, my mind is limber.
if i cant see anything positive in a situation i just say “fuck it” and start to think about something else.