Street or in a hospital or as a lawyer for a few years, but you make that career shift and follow something else that you have a love for. Duckworth: The most successful people in life are following something that they could say, “I love what I do.” Most people can’t say, “Oh, I love what I do because I make a lot of money or I love what I do because there are free snacks in the kitchen.” Free snacks are great. But loving what you do is a special kind of happiness. “I define talent as the rate at which you get better at something when you try.” Knowledge@Wharton: You say in your book about when you were teaching in New York ... posted on Nov 26 2016 (14,788 reads)

journey. Three common life themes Studying stories is not easy, since every person’s life is so unique. In their quest to categorize and correlate, researchers have come up with different ways to analyze life stories, and one of those ways is by theme. A theme is a common motivational thread or pattern that runs through a life story. The three themes detailed below—communion, agency, and redemption—have all been linked to well-being. If you want to cultivate happiness in the coming year, organizing your goals and your life story around one of these themes could help the pieces fall into place.  1. Communion. Stories that emphasize connection,... posted on Jan 1 2017 (20,445 reads)

cooperation, and kindness. One illustrative study found that people who simply viewed 10 slides of really beautiful nature (as opposed to less beautiful nature) gave more money to a stranger in an economic game widely used to measure trust. All of these findings raise the intriguing possibility that, by increasing positive emotions, experiencing nature even in brief doses leads to more kind and altruistic behavior. How nature helps our health Besides boosting happiness, positive emotion, and kindness, exposure to nature may also have physical and mental health benefits. The benefits of nature on health and well-being have been well-documented in diffe... posted on Dec 7 2017 (15,939 reads)

the meanings and values handed down from previous generations. As a youth, my grandfather questioned the “orthodoxies” of his day.  His life was challenging. But he never gave up on life. Or on himself. He said that it was our responsibility to find the meaning in what we face. “We all have a will to meaning in us.” He said that the “will to pleasure” (Freud) and the “will to power” (Adler) do not define the human being. They do not bring happiness or fulfillment. If you try to pursue happiness for its own sake, it will elude you. Happiness “ensues” when you fulfill something that is meaningful to you. It is through that se... posted on Apr 14 2017 (57,099 reads)

woman they were sharing lives with. So I became very interested in what people were doing in this last stage of their lives, and I found that it was dismal. There is only so much golf and so much bridge that people can take. So I began looking into creating a life skills program for At-Risk Adults ages 60 and over. I spent a little over two years analyzing and amassing material, and we now have over a thousand topics that can be used in targeted group sessions. These include topics like happiness, gratitude, memory improvement, positive steps for dealing with worry, and the importance of napping. Napping is really an issue, and also such a delight. Then there’s balance, conquer... posted on Nov 1 2017 (8,028 reads)

by the the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley showcased the newest and hottest findings in the science and practice of gratitude. Impressive as the advances were, not one speaker (myself included) grappled with what may be the single biggest question that stands in the way of making the basic science useful for practical applications: What must be overcome as a culture or as individuals in order for gratitude flourish? We live in a nation where everyone is on the pursuit of happiness. Each individual has his or her own path this journey takes. For some, the search begins in books; for others it comes through service. But perhaps the most popular form of seeking happin... posted on Feb 7 2018 (16,400 reads)

the word "disillusion" sounds negative but it also could be interpreted as a freeing from illusion—dis-illusion. So, one of the reasons, Tami, that I ended up exploring as much as I did is I was sensitive to this process of disillusion. I was fortunate enough to come from a very stable environment as a youth and I had a measure of success in the sports arena and did fine in school and so on. My life seemed to be going well, and yet I noticed nothing seemed to last—happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment [were] just until the next thing—which is not a bad thing as I look back on it. But at the time, I started exploring, "Where is happiness, fulfillmen... posted on Jul 13 2018 (13,310 reads)

peer-reviewed findings from the science of a meaningful life that were most provocative, powerful, and influential this year. We narrowed down the nominations from there, considering how the research is viewed today and how it fits into our coverage of the field over the past 15 years. Here are our top choices. Emotional experience is much richer than we thought How many different human emotions are there? Psychology once assumed that most of our feelings fall within the categories of happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. But a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that there are at least 27 different b... posted on Jun 21 2018 (18,617 reads)

Brown is a professor of economics and director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Society at the University of California, Berkeley. Her recent book, Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science (Bloomsbury), draws upon simple Buddhist ideas to argue for an economic system based on environmental stewardship, shared prosperity, and care for the human spirit. Brown measures economic progress by the well-being of all people, not Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or average national income. She advocates creating an economy that recognizes the interdependence of people with each other and the planet, and works toward achieving the goals of reduci... posted on Jun 22 2018 (8,828 reads)

and alcohol. That oxytocin should have so many health benefits is not so surprising when we recall its central role in stimulating uterine contractions during birth, the letdown of milk during lactation, the pleasure associated with orgasm and pair bonding. Acts of generosity and compassion also appear to be good for mood. A2010 study showed that while people with money tend to be somewhat happier than those without it, people who spend money on others report even greater levels of happiness, an effect that can be detected even in toddlers. When people give money to others, areas of the brain associated with pleasure are activated, and this response is greater when the... posted on Jul 19 2018 (20,373 reads)

its immediate comprehension either, not least because joy is not a concept, nor indeed a word, that we are entirely comfortable with, in the present age. The idea seems out of step with a time whose characteristic notes are mordant and mocking, and whose preferred emotion is irony. Joy hints at an unrestrained enthusiasm which may be thought uncool… It reeks of the Romantic movement. Yet it is there. Being unfashionable has no effect on its existence… What it denotes is a happiness with an overtone of something more, which we might term an elevated or, indeed, a spiritual quality. A century and a half after Thoreau extolled nature as a form of prayer and... posted on Aug 22 2018 (9,682 reads)

unhappy and in the way. Our country’s ideas about old women are so toxic that almost no one, no matter her age, will admit she is old. In America, ageism is a bigger problem for women than aging. Our bodies and our sexuality are devalued, we are denigrated by mother-in-law jokes, and we’re rendered invisible in the media. Yet, most of the women I know describe themselves as being in a vibrant and happy life stage. We are resilient and know how to thrive in the margins. Our happiness comes from self-knowledge, emotional intelligence and empathy for others. Most of us don’t miss the male gaze. It came with catcalls, harassment and unwanted attention. Instead, we ... posted on Feb 27 2019 (468,482 reads)

youth. I’ve seen intergenerational connection help children learn to read, graduate from high school, and go on to accomplish their dreams. But I’ve only recently come to realize some of the biggest benefits of bringing old and young together. As I recount in my new book,  How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations, when younger and older connect, the intergenerational relationships built are a route to success in early life and a key to happiness and well-being in our later years. The benefits of intergenerational connections Forty years ago, the eminent Cornell University professor and child psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner fa... posted on Jul 14 2019 (6,910 reads)

my circumstances may not be exactly as I wish, I still have reason to be grateful. Right now, as I sit in my cell, it’s hot and the air is stale — but I hear a little bird chirping happily somewhere outside my window. ~ Scott Zirus, TX Does gratefulness truly make us happy? How does gratefulness serve us during difficult times? What is your experience of gratitude as a person who is incarcerated and denied so many of the freedoms and privileges associated with happiness?These are some of the questions we explored through Grateful Anyhow, a recent project in partnership with Prisoner Express (PE) that engaged approximately 350 incarcerated men and women ... posted on Aug 28 2019 (5,491 reads)

up, Nipun's mission was to either become a Himalayan yogi or a tennis pro. Whatever it was, he wanted to "be the best." He excelled at school and went on to study computer science and philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Impressing his lecturers, he immediately got a job as a software engineer, quickly finding himself on the corporate ladder. The wisdom of Nipun at age 25 was to realise that this ladder actually had no end and didn't lead to more happiness or even a feeling of success as was promised to him. And so, while many of his peers were becoming full-time workaholics, he became a full-time volunteer, and has stayed that way ever since.... posted on Nov 19 2019 (7,461 reads)

we love. But we don’t have to figure it all out. We don’t have to become tangled up in our unknowable future as if it were an unsolvable dilemma. We don’t have to handicap the odds in this high- stakes evolutionary horse- race in order to respond. We can cut through all the mind chatter by asking a deeper and more essential question: Can I find in myself a no-matter-what commitment? Under the worst- case scenario, can I still tap into the well of uncaused, unreasonable happiness? Can I still relate to my fellow humans, and to all of life, with care and love? Can I still, to the fullest extent possible, remain present as a force for good in every moment? A no-matt... posted on Feb 3 2020 (8,652 reads)

sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor.  That's not my business.  I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.   I should like to help everyone if possible. We all want to help one another -- human beings are like that.  We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful.  But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. ... posted on Nov 3 2020 (9,515 reads)

its immediate comprehension either, not least because joy is not a concept, nor indeed a word, that we are entirely comfortable with, in the present age. The idea seems out of step with a time whose characteristic notes are mordant and mocking, and whose preferred emotion is irony. Joy hints at an unrestrained enthusiasm which may be thought uncool… It reeks of the Romantic movement. Yet it is there. Being unfashionable has no effect on its existence… What it denotes is a happiness with an overtone of something more, which we might term an elevated or, indeed, a spiritual quality. A century and a half after Thoreau extolled nature as a form of prayer and... posted on May 4 2021 (4,876 reads)

stuff. About three years ago the prime minister invited me for a conference. I delayed my trip to Copenhagen for two days just to do this meeting in Bhutan. I’d done my book, Soil Not Oil; we’d just finished the study on the Himalayas, “Climate Change at the Third Pole”. So I talked of all this and then the prime minister asked me to come back and help the transition to a 100 per cent organic Bhutan. As he wrote in his letter, “The only way we’ll grow happiness in a society which is largely agriculture is by growing organic.” From our experience, he could see what the Green Revolution has brought. A quarter million farm suicides. Cancer; ther... posted on Aug 23 2021 (4,659 reads)

and Buddhists. This makes sense because you do not need to subscribe to any particular religion or believe in any God to meditate. Though Harris does not realise it, the same is true of prayer. It is possible to be a praying atheist, a “pray-theist” if you like. In fact, Tibetan Buddhism offers a prayer for the “four immeasurables”—loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—that some atheists may find appealing: May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness. May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering. May they never be disassociated from the supreme happiness which is without suffering. May they... posted on Sep 21 2021 (6,529 reads)