Micawber
MEANING:
noun: An eternal optimist.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Wilkins Micawber, an incurable optimist in the novel David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens. His schemes for making money never materialize, but he’s always hopeful that “something will turn up”.
Moyzis is the name of a UC Irvine biological chemistry professor who recently published his research that found a dopamine gene variant linked to human longevity… Because the FDA is mere steps away from the campus, it can’t be long before this happiness gene is plopped inside a capsule to fuel our years to 100. While people may not be healthier, they will certainly be happier.
The variant gene is part of the dopamine system and plays a major role in the brain network responsible for attention and reward-driven learning, two things at which I excel BTW. It’s no wonder I was all over this news.
Dopamine is our brain’s happiness drug. It shouldn’t take a Micawber or a Moyzis to connect these dots…lifelong learning and longevity are related, with happiness as the driver and the destination.
Did I mention that my husband, Larry, got a Masters degree in biological chemistry at Purdue University? He turned up at a party I attended just after my graduation, and daily I thank him for marrying me and giving me a happy life. I believe that he is my personal dopamine gene variant. Nope, don’t even think it: neither of us are dopes in our jeans… With him I am an eternal optimist; our name is Colando.
Accept the Colando quest for 2014: be a Micawber every day 🙂
The only way to be!!! Full of joy and gratitude.
Let’s be ‘Spunky Junkies’ every day in 2014
Sounds good!!!