The Sun You Choose Will Show You the Hidden Features of Your Personality

Our beloved shapes and forms can tell a lot about our hidden traits, as relational psychology and drawing psychology testing suggest — pick a sun and see what your choice says about you.

Bright Side has prepared for you a little psychological test.

The sun has always had a special place in religion and culture through the history of mankind. In this test we’ll ask you to rest your mind, look at this picture of 8 suns, pick one that seems the most appealing, and find out something new about yourself!

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Are you ready with your answer? Let’s see what it means!

1.

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Your special personality trait is always being positive and always looking for a way to improve yourself. You are not easily discouraged and intent to stand your ground at all times. Your glass is definitely “half full.”

This approach to life not only makes you resilient, but also makes you a great friend who can support your loved ones in any situation. You are outgoing, but sometimes you keep to yourself to not hurt people. This allows you to sift through the people you are around and leaves you with only a few truly good friends.

2.

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There are two really important things for you — personal space and respect from your peers and loved ones. More introvert, than extrovert, you are not distant from other people, but just more reserved.

You value simple, good traits like honesty and kindness, and you’re always there for your friends. This is why you should also beware of people using you only for their gain. Always trust your sixth sense, because it will lead you out of those types of situations.

3.

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You are smart, very curious, and courageous when it comes to new adventures and knowledge. Very honest and transparent, you are openminded and try to keep your judgement unclouded.

You are a natural-born leader and a guide to others. They rely heavily on your sense of right and wrong and value your educated opinion.

4.

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The hallmark of your personality is endless energy and restlessness. You are torn by a hundred ideas at a time. You are always willing to face new challenges and get really hyped at the opportunity to try something new.

You are beaming with a love for life, which you are trying to live to the fullest. And that’s what makes you a person with great life goals, just be sure to not get distracted.

5.

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You have the outstanding ability and willingness to help others with their problems. You love helping people in need and sometimes it may even seem like you have a hero complex — because who else would be better at saving the world than you?

You are a beam of light and inspiration in the lives of others. You are an intelligent person, but you don’t always share your thoughts with other people.

6.

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People who pick out this sun are generally joyful, fun-loving people who enjoy every little detail of life. Every obstacle in your way is just another reason to learn something new.

You don’t shy away from constructive criticism, and always maintain your cordial and cheerful disposition with others. People perceive you as trustworthy and as a person who has a lot of leadership skills.

7.

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You are easily inspired by new goals and you really go the extra mile to take them on — but there are usually way too many. In fact, one lifetime is not enough to fulfill them all. If you want your major dreams come true — you’ll need to figure out which ones are the most important for you.

Other people see you as someone energetic and persevering, who does not know when to quit. You are a positive influence on others.

8.

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Your patience is enviable. You don’t hold grudges and you are not easily offended. As a person, you are incredibly mature, somebody who likes to think things through and avoid mistakes.

Although love and other feelings are important to you, they tend to take a back seat to your rational mind and intelligence.

10 Things That Make It Hard For a Smart Person to Be Happy

Albert Einstein’s IQ is 170, Stephen Hawking’s is 160, Ashton Kutcher’s is 160, and
Natalie Portman’s is 140. It seems like smart people don’t have many problems and are truly happy. But as it turns out, happiness is rare among extraordinarily smart people and we’re exploring why in this article.

Bright Side loves exploring problems that continue to bother many people. Just for you, we have found out why intelligent people often feel lonely, unhappy and lost.

10. They tend to overanalyze things.

People with a high IQ tend to continuously analyze the events of their lives. Over time, this exhausts them because their findings are often full of fear and disappointment, and real dilemmas arise in their heads.

Writer and coach Robert Taibbi recommends learning how to accept your right to make mistakes, recognizing them and allowing others to be mistaken too. People are flawed, so we should not make a tragedy of it by criticizing or gossiping. You’ll be much better off just drawing conclusions and moving on.

9. They are too demanding of themselves and others.

Smart people know clearly what they want. Often they look at the world in an idealistic way, and it is difficult for them to give up their expectations. This prevents them from receiving satisfaction from life and feeling happy, and the reality of the world around them often just brings disappointment.

In his book, “True Happiness” Martin Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, calls for a daily “exercise of gratitude”. Just remember those things and events that make you feel grateful. It will distract you from having negative thoughts and help you to look at many other things. Or try to keep a diary of the things you’re grateful for, and every day, be sure to write in it about what you have (family, health, friends, education, and freedom).

8. They lack a warm and friendly relationship.

Everyone wants to experience understanding in a close relationship. But it’s very difficult for intelligent people to talk to an interlocutor openly since they are often misunderstood. They want to talk about important and meaningful events and rarely are accepted and understood. According to scientists, socialization for people with high IQs is an experience often more painful than loneliness.

Try to reconsider your surroundings and get rid of people who pull you to the “bottom” or internally empty you. Find ways to make new acquaintances with people whose company you aspire to. Appreciate the relatives who sincerely love you — this is the best way to get rid of the feeling of unhappiness, according to psychologist David G. Myers.

7. They suffer from psychological problems.

Many scientific works confirm that intellectuals often suffer from mental disorders. The scientists couldn’t find a direct dependence here, but the fact remains. The habit of constant analysis leads to frequent reflections about life, death and the sense of existence. All this in most cases leads to depression.

The solution? Help others more often, even strangers. Studies have shown that people who support others experience a sense of inner harmony much more often than those who ignore other people’s problems. In addition, this is an excellent excuse to ignore the constant reflections and gloomy thoughts.

6. They seek to meet the expectations of others.

The academic successes of such people lead to even greater future expectations of others. Such a load often proves to be an unbearable burden especially for gifted children who are deprived of childhood early on.

“Excessive self-focus and anxiety about how we look in the eyes of others prevent us from living and having fun. Try to treat learning and working as a game: get fully involved in the process and try not to get stuck in the result,” advises the well-known psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

5. They rarely make rational decisions.

As the study has shown, in their daily life, intellectuals make as many mistakes as everyone else. “People with above-average IQs make irrational actions and are more prone to delusions and rely on intuition,” the authors of the study claim.

Scientist Igor Grossman of the University of Waterloo suggests that such people should talk about their problems in the third person in order to emotionally distance themselves, reducing bias and coming to wiser conclusions.

4. They are not always successful.

Studies have shown that 85% of financial well-being depends on such things as individuality and the ability to communicate and negotiate. The Nobel Prize winner, Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, found that people are more willing to do business with someone they like and trust, even if they offer a more expensive product.

According to scientists, emotional, moral and physical intellects play a much greater role in achieving financial success. Learn to develop these for yourself. Emotional intelligence is expressed by how well you can understand your feelings and feelings of others. Moral intelligence is how you feel about your obligations and your honesty. The indicators of physical intelligence are how you take care of your body (nutrition, sports, rest and health).

3. They are experiencing more stress.

Canadian scientists came to the conclusion that people with high IQs perceive simple everyday problems much more sharply. They have a habit of thinking many times over what is happening, including negative things, leading them straight to chronic stress.

According to the advice of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it is worth learning how to temporarily disable negative feelings when we encounter a lot of problems. This will help us calmly analyze the situation and find new ways to get out of the difficult situation.

2. They are more likely to have health problems.

The more intelligent people are, the later they go to bed — this is the conclusion that scientists have come to. Such regimens are known to lead to heart diseases. In addition, it turned out that people with highly developed intelligence are prone to alcoholism and smoking due to increased anxiety.

Motivational speaker, writer, and businessman Adam J. Jackson advises that you to learn how to relax. Try to organize a vacation and do not forget to rest daily (a full night’s sleep mixed with your favorite hobbies) and even allocate time for doing nothing. Regularly do physical exercises that you like best. During these activities, the body forms “hormones of joy” — otherwise known as endorphins, which greatly improve your mood.

1. They feel more comfortable alone.

Highly intelligent people experience discomfort during frequent contact with friends. They are too focused on achieving their goals and therefore can quite easily abandon the opportunity to spend time with any company.

If you are comfortable alone, this is wonderful, but you should not isolate yourself from others. Psychologists have proven that people who purposely find time for their loved ones feel much happier at the end of their lives. It is important to share your experiences and joy — the very process of communication is important. Think about how to make the interaction interesting for you too.

The 8 Things Mentally Strong People Do Every Day

People aren't born with physical strength and no one is blessed with incredible mental strength at birth, either. Mental strength is developed over time by individuals who choose to make personal development a priority. In addition to avoiding the things that could hold them back, mentally strong people create healthy habits that assist them in growing stronger.

Here are eight things mentally strong people do every day to strengthen their mental muscles:

1. They Use Their Mental Energy Wisely

It’s easy to get distracted throughout the day by a variety of unimportant and unproductive tasks. Mentally strong people choose to use their time and energy carefully. They devote their efforts to the things that matter most so they can accomplish their goals.

2. They Reframe Negative Thoughts

Everyone has negative thoughts sometimes, but mentally strong people don't let those thoughts hold them back or drag them down. Instead, they respond to their pessimistic predictions and harsh criticisms with a more productive inner dialogue. They stay motivated to do their best by talking to themselves like a trusted friend or a helpful coach.

3. They Work Toward Established Goals

Mentally strong people establish clear personal and professional goals that give them meaning and purpose. They forgo immediate gratification by keeping their long-term goals in mind, and they view obstacles as challenges, rather than roadblocks to their success.

4. They Reflect on Their Progress

Mentally strong people reflect on their progress toward their goals every day. They set aside time to examine what they're doing well, and they humbly acknowledge areas that need improvement. They hold themselves accountable for mistakes and they constantly strive to grow better.

5. They Tolerate Discomfort for a Greater Purpose

While some people go to great lengths to avoid any type of distress, others endure pain simply to prove they're tough. Mentally strong people, however, tolerate discomfort when it serves a greater purpose. Whether they're exercising when they feel tired, or they're delivering a speech when they feel terrified, they use their pain to become better.

6. They Practice Gratitude

You can't be at your best if you're insisting you deserve better. Mentally strong people acknowledge that they already have everything they need. They recognize their good fortune and express gratitude for all things big and small.

7. They Balance Emotions with Logic

Mentally strong people know their feelings play a major role in their perceptions and behavior. They pay close attention to the ways their emotions could influence their judgment, and they carefully balance their emotions with logic so they can make the best possible decisions.

8. They Live According to Their Values

Although it may be tempting to measure your self-worth by comparing yourself to your competition, mentally strong people don’t fall prey to such distractions. They focus on living according to their values and doing their best, despite their circumstances. At the end of the day they don’t ask themselves, “Did I beat everyone else?” Instead, they ask, “Did I stay true to my values?”

10 Psychological Facts That Reveal a Lot About Us

Over the years, scientists have uncovered many of the human brain’s mysteries and shortcomings that were securely hidden in our psyche.

Today, Bright Side invites you on a journey inside your own head to find out what makes your consciousness work.

1. We’re constantly altering our memories

We tend to see our memories as small movies or video clips. Things that lie on some “shelf” inside our brain, safe and unalterable. But, as it turns out, recollections of past events change every time they pass before our mind’s eye.

Their content is influenced by memory blackouts and by events that took place in the morerecent past. For example, you don’t have clear recollections of all the people who attended a family get-together a couple of years ago, but since your aunt never misses events of this kind, your mind eventually includes her in the memories — even if she was absent on that particular occasion.

2. We can only have a limited number of friends

Psychologists and sociologists have come up with something called the Dunbar’s number — the maximum number of people with whom a person can maintain close ties. So, even if you have thousands of ’friends’ on Facebook, you can only have meaningful communication with 50-200 of them.

3. We feel happier when we’re busy

• Imagine that you’re at the airport, and you need to pick up the luggage. In ten minutes, you reach the claim area and immediately collect your suitcase.
  And now, a slightly different situation. You find a shortcut and manage to get to the baggage carousel in just two minutes. Then, you spend the remaining eight minutes waiting for your suitcase to appear.

In both cases, it took you no more than ten minutes to pick up the luggage. However, in the second scenario, you probably felt more impatient and dissatisfied. This is due to the fact that our brain dislikes being idle and prefers to stay busy instead. And, for every task completed, it rewards us with dopamine, the hormone of happiness.

4. We can memorize only 3-4 things at a time

Studies show that our brain can store no more than 3-4 pieces of information at once. In addition, this info can only be preserved for 20-30 seconds. After this time, we forget it unless we keep refreshing it in our memory over and over again.

For instance, you are driving and talking on the phone (don’t do that!). The person on the other end gives you a number, but you can’t write it down so you try to memorize it instead. You repeat the number again and again, so as to preserve it in your short-term memory until you can disconnect and write it down.

By the way, the fact that we find it easier to remember 3-4 pieces of information at a time explains why so many things consist of 3-4 digits or lines. This applies to phone and credit card numbers and even to the paragraph you’re reading!

5. Our visual perception of things differs from their actual appearance

Our brain constantly processes information received from sensory organs. It analyzes visual images and interprets them in a form accessible to us.

• For example, the reason for us being able to read a text quickly lies in the fact that we’re not actually reading it. We simply notice the first and last letters of each word, and intuitively fill in the rest, based on our past experience. As the saying goes: “It dsoen’t mtater in waht odrer the ltetres apepar in a wrod, if the fsirt and the lsat lteters remian in palce.”

See? We look at groups of jumbled letters yet perceive them as proper words! And this doesn’t just happen with texts.

6. We spend 30% of our time daydreaming

Imagine you’re at work studying an important document. Suddenly, you realize that you’ve just read the same sentence three times in a row. Instead of analyzing the text, your mind was wandering.

Scientists from the University of California say that every day we spend 30% of our time daydreaming. Sometimes (for instance, during long trips) this share increases to as much as 70%, but there’s nothing wrong with it. Studies show that people who love to wander in the clouds tend to be more creative. Also, they’re better at solving problems and getting rid of stress.

7. We can’t ignore 3 things in life: food, sex and danger

Have you ever wondered why people always stop to look at the aftermath of a road accident? Even though bystanders find the sight distressing, they continue to gawk.

Such curiosity is triggered by our “ancient brain” — a section responsible for survival. Its function is to constantly scan the environment, posing (and answering) 3 questions: “Can I eat that? Can I have sex with that? Can I be killed by that?” Food, sex, and danger are still the things fundamental to our staying alive, so we can’t help but pay attention to them.

8. We need as much choice as possible

As part of a recent study, scientists set up two tables in a supermarket. On the first table, they placed 6 types of jam, on the second 24. As a result, 60% of customers stopped to try jams at table #1. However, when it came to making purchases, table #2 proved 4 times more popular.

Why did this happen? As we already know, our brain can only focus on 3-4 things at a time. Therefore, making final decisions is easier when there’s a limited number of options (i.e., 6 types of jam).

Nevertheless, we always crave variety. We love to browse through a wide range of products — that’s why we’re more likely to stop by the table with 24 types of jam (although, in the end, we’ll still go for the same brand we’ve bought man

9. Most of our decisions are unconscious

We’d like to believe that all our actions are the result of careful planning, but in reality, 60-80% of our everyday decisions are made subconsciously. We don’t think about doing those things, we just do them.

Every second, our brain receives millions of units of data. To prevent over-exhaustion, some of the work gets relegated to the subconscious. Pocketing the keys, turning off the lights, closing the front door — we perform such actions automatically, without thinking.

On the downside, this often leads to self-doubt. For instance, when we arrive at the office and suddenly begin to fret over whether or not we’ve turned the iron off.

10. There’s no such thing as multitasking

Studies show that we can only perform one cognitive activity at a time. Try talking and reading at once or writing a letter while listening to an audiobook. Most likely, nothing good will come of it — our brain just can’t focus on two tasks simultaneously.

However, there is an exception. If the second activity is purely physical and automatic (the type of thing that we perform on a day-to-day basis), then it is possible to combine both tasks. For example, you can talk on the phone while walking. But, even then, there’s is a good chance of tripping and losing track of conversation.