“It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier... By engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world,” http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/talk-deeply-be-happy/
Talk Deeply, Be Happy? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
well.blogs.nytimes.com
People who spend more of their day having substantive discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, a new study found.

New word I learned today:
ba·nal   [buh-nal, -nahl, beyn-l] Show IPA
–adjective
devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite: a banal and sophomoric treatment of courage on the frontier.