Busy.  Like a bee.

Today has been a busy day, to say the very least.  I have been completely immersed.  In it all.

As busy as a beaver.
As busy as a one armed paper hanger.
As busy as a one legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

You get the idea.

The thing of it is, I truly like to be busy.  In fact, I think when I was born… I popped out of that birthing canal… and said to the world… “Okay.  Let’s say we get started already!”

And I haven’t sat down since.

There is an article out in TIME this week about our human nature to want to be lazy.

It reports that humans are inherently lazy.  They give one explanation which might be the culprit.  Apparently, we have a trait left over from our ancestors’ days of conserving energy for the next hunt. Ahhhh.  The next hunt.

Unfortunately, a new study published in a journal called Current Biology, discovered that even when we do choose to move…. we do it in such a way that our bodies naturally behave in the most economical way possible.

Science has already proven that our bodies naturally choose the most efficient way to walk.  We go at a speed and step length that limits the number of calories we expend.  It goes way deep into the “nervous system monitoring what we do” and blah, blah, blah.

But it comes down to this:  Thor, me hungry.  Rest. Hunt. Eat. Rest a lot more.

Well, I did my fair share of hunting today, and very little resting.  Thank you very much Professor.

And then….. As if those labcoats couldn’t leave well enough alone.   Researchers at the University of Chicago and Shanghai Jiaotong University enrolled a large number of college students to take part in experiments of the “Busy vs. Not Busy” kind.  One group was idle during long periods, and the other group was kept busy.  (This is a Reader’s Digest version of the study)

At any rate…. the group that kept busy showed indications of being “happier” throughout the study.

So.  Staying busy makes us happy.   Busy and smiling.   Bzzzzzzz.
Lazy and resting for the next hunt.  Uggghhhh.

Well. I don’t feel particularly happy tonight.  I do feel tired.  Like I need to rest for the next hunt.

And I don’t even hunt.

Except at Easter time.  And then I hunt eggs.
I hunt eggs all year long actually.  Chicken eggs.

So what is my point?  I bet those researchers are elated that I am NOT one of their test groups.  I’d throw the “Results Curve” right out of the Laboratory Window.

And then I’d run down 23 flights of stairs to go fetch it.  And then I’d run back up again…. and then I would….