Web MD has an article called Strategies for Happiness: 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person By Tom Valeo. Reviewed by Cynthia Dennison Haines, MD. Here’s a quick summary of the 7 strategies from the article: Happiness Strategy # 1: Don’t Worry, Choose Happy First, make a decision to be happy. Then you can select… Continue reading 7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person
Category: Positive psychology
How to be happy – 11. Focus on what you can do to be happier
Lesson: Some people are born happier than others Is happiness genetic? Partly, yes. Twin studies suggest that genes could explain 38% (1) to 44-52% (2) of happiness variance. Other researchers think these figures leave out important considerations, and that perhaps 25% of our potential for happiness may be related to genes (3). That means your… Continue reading How to be happy – 11. Focus on what you can do to be happier
How to be happy – 10. Don’t keep up with the Joneses
Lesson: Money changes everything – except happiness Strategy 8 highlighted the small contribution of external life conditions to happiness, and Strategy 9 showed that changes to these conditions only make a short-term difference – we adapt and our happiness levels are soon restored. Since for most of us money is one of the most important… Continue reading How to be happy – 10. Don’t keep up with the Joneses
How to be happy – 9. Get off the hedonic treadmill
Lesson: We adapt quickly to the good and the bad We saw in Strategy 8 that, outside extreme stress or deprivation, circumstances add little to happiness. But what about changing those circumstances – wouldn’t getting a different job, winning the lottery or moving to a new state make us happier? The research might surprise you.… Continue reading How to be happy – 9. Get off the hedonic treadmill
How to be happy – 8. Make happiness an inside job
Lesson: Externals don’t have a big impact on happiness You might think the happiest people are the ones with great life conditions – money, health, youth and a good marriage. But researchers have used statistical techniques to quantify how much circumstances contribute to happiness, and their findings tell a different story. Here’s what they’ve found:… Continue reading How to be happy – 8. Make happiness an inside job
How to be happy – 7. Don’t just ease the bad, boost the good too
Lesson: Happiness isn’t the opposite of depression Before the growth of positive psychology, psychologists were mainly concerned with problems. Research focused on understanding what caused difficulties like depression, and on alleviating them. It was thought easing depression would bring about – well, happiness. But newer research has shown that understanding what leads to depression doesn’t… Continue reading How to be happy – 7. Don’t just ease the bad, boost the good too
If you weren’t born happy, swap medication for mindset
In yesterday’s Guardian, Rebecca Hardy looked at a topic very close to this happiness strategist’s heart: although people are ‘popping happy pills like Smarties’, the accumulating mass of scientific research suggests that ‘happiness is, quite literally, a state of mind’. Hardy extensively quotes Sonja Lyubomirsky, a favorite researcher of mine and a co-author of the meta-analysis… Continue reading If you weren’t born happy, swap medication for mindset
How to be happy – 6. Make happiness a goal
Lesson: A review of happiness perks By now you probably need no more convincing that being happy is a good thing. We’ve seen how happiness supports your health, how happiness comes before, and sometimes causes, many other benefits, and how happiness is good for people around you, too. Before moving on to new research lessons… Continue reading How to be happy – 6. Make happiness a goal
How to be happy – 5. Spread it around
Lesson: Happiness makes you – well, nicer Strategy 4 looked at the range of benefits associated with happiness. But the perks aren’t just for you. The 293-study meta-analysis from Strategy 4 also revealed benefits for your relationships and the people around you. These findings came from the experimental studies, where good feelings were created artificially… Continue reading How to be happy – 5. Spread it around
How to be happy – 4. Be happy now
Lesson: Happy people enjoy all kinds of success You might be surprised by the sheer breadth of benefits associated with happiness. One study performed a meta-analysis of 293 separate findings to tease out the relationship between happiness and success. First they looked at correlation studies – what goes with happiness. They found happier people tend… Continue reading How to be happy – 4. Be happy now