I live west of the Wasatch Mountains (a range on the western border of the Rockies) in a ski resort-filled area of the Western United States. We usually see an average of 4.0 months of ‘snow’ – typically from November 12 through March 12 – and in those 4 months about half the days are typically sunny.  COLD and sunny, but sunny nonetheless. 

This year our winter is going on 5 months with so. much. snow.  And, no surprise, more stormy and snowy days means less clear and sunny ones. 

And we are not used to less sunny days. 

I am super grateful for the water that comes with record-setting snowpack – we need it.  And I could do a whole post about being grateful for the water, the water we BEGGED for last year and the year before that. 

But this is not a post about being grateful for getting the thing we asked for. 

This is a post about how we can access a little more sun. 

A couple years ago, Albert C. Brooks, the Happiness researcher, wrote that “Mood is worse and anxiety is higher when the weather turns colder and grayer. In one experiment from 1983, researchers surveyed people on days with different weather and asked them to evaluate their mood and happiness. Both were higher on sunny days than on rainy days. When John Denver sang, ‘Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy,’ he was literally correct. When sunshine touches our skin, it increases our levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that improves mood.”

“Temperature matters for happiness too. One study from 2013 measured participants’ mood at various temperatures and found that a cool 57 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors is optimal for a positive mood. Temperatures colder and hotter than that were associated with a lower sense of well-being.”

What is so magic about 57 degrees?  Isn’t that a great question?

Well, I looked into it.  

According to Space.com, the average temperature on earth at any given time is – you guessed it – 57 degrees Fahrenheit, across land and ocean, night and day. 

In mindfulness practices, we sometimes ask people to visualize being warm and bright and open and receptive – just like the sun.  To imagine themselves as the constant above the clouds and the weather of their lives.  To picture all that sunshine and that clear, blue sky. 

It feels better already, right?

Maybe 57 degrees is just warm enough to access that boost of brightness, to accept a more receptive and open posture, and to react with warmth when we encounter less sunshine than we’d prefer. 

Mr. Brooks goes on to say, “You might conclude that the secret to happiness is to move somewhere like Palo Alto—a place that is nearly always sunny, warm, and not too hot. Not so fast. That consistently temperate weather isn’t all for the good. People in permanently warm places tend to be happier than their cold-weather counterparts during the autumn and winter months. But in the spring, that pattern reverses. When someone says they ‘enjoy the change in seasons,’ they probably don’t mean they enjoy digging their car out of a snowbank but rather that they get a big, noticeable happiness boost when bad weather turns into good weather.”

Here in my hometown we are ready for a big, noticeable happiness boost this weekend – when bad weather is supposedly turning into good weather.  We might even hit 57 degrees. 

I can’t wait to hear about how you’re accessing a warmer, brighter, more open, and more receptive version of you. And if you need help with finding some inner sunshine, I’m your gal. 

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