I put up a little post back in December about modeling delight. No research, just my own pithy advice as usual.

Kathy Sierra has done the research. She posted a wonderful essay on happiness yesterday. It’s long…almost 2,500 words. But it’s fantastic. If you find yourself frustrated, angry, yelling at your kids or screaming at God, you must read it. You simply must. I was delighted to find the same Flight Attendant Wisdom at the end of her post.

In reading some of the comments on the piece, there are some chronically unhappy readers who aren’t happy with the news Kathy offers. Hmmm.

We, the happy, are obligated to remain so. Periodically, we must put on our oxygen mask and wade into the misery pit to help someone find their way out (or help some unhappy customer find some semblance of satisfaction). What Kathy is saying is that the pit is not a place to stay. It’s true.

I’ve been a sideline fan of www.despair.com for several years. I find their material to be immensely funny, but experience has taught me that I don’t want any of their products near me. My kids bought me the Despair calendar a couple of years ago and I had to take it off my wall by April. It was affecting my attitude towards the people I worked with. Funny yes. Dangerous as well.

I think as an NF personality type, my capacity for empathy makes it especially dangerous to venture into the pit without a safety harness. Kathy’s article backs this up with the information about left vs. right brained preferences.

On the other hand, this empathy trait makes it easier for me to be a Persuasion Architect, developing personae for marketing purposes and interacting with a wider range of people. And it’s true that I’ll come home from strange places having picked up the local vernacular, accents and even gestures. The Angry Ones think we NF’s are just goofy.

While we may have a tendency to let anger rub off on us, we also have the capacity to absorb joy and amplify it. Let’s have a party after you read Kathy’s post.

Link: Creating Passionate Users: Angry/negative people can be bad for your brain.