are the key research-based principles for turning gratitude into a lasting habit, drawing from the GGSC’s new website, Greater Good in Action. Over the past two decades, much of the research on happiness can be boiled down to one main prescription: give thanks. Across hundreds of studies, practicing gratitude has been found to increasepositive emotions, reduce the risk of depression, heighten relationship satisfaction, and increase resilience in the face of stressful life events, among other benefits. The problem is, gratitude doesn’t always come naturally. The negatives in our lives—the disappointments, resentments, and fears—sometimes ... posted on Jul 27 2015 (49,099 reads)

latter endeavors irresolution produces false steps, and in the life of the mind confused ideas.” And yet that inner knowing is the work of a lifetime, for our confusions are ample and our missteps constant amid a world that is constantly telling us who we are and who we ought to be — a world which, in the sobering words of E.E. Cummings, “is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else.” Try as we might not to be blinded by society’s prescriptions for happiness, we are still social creatures porous to the values of our peers — creatures surprisingly and often maddeningly myopic about the things we believe furnish our completeness as human bei... posted on Jan 1 2018 (13,742 reads)

he is ever-ready to explain his choices to anyone who wants to know. He has tasted/experienced everything other kids have and is presented the opportunities many times, given our frequent visits to many relatives and friends in different places. Of course he gets tempted at times and rebels. Steering away from the extremes of bribing and punishing, we manage to strike a balance and help him stick to his better choices. He doesn't have grand ideas and concepts for what would bring him happiness. He is just fully living his life. Everything has meaning for him. He doesn't overlook this moment expecting another; he is not chasing after anything and has no plans for tomorrow. He g... posted on Apr 26 2020 (47,350 reads)

to revel in the “sudden awareness of the citizenry of all things within one world.” Nearly a century before  modern neuroscience presented the uncomfortable finding that mind-wandering is making us unhappy, Bertrand Russell contemplated the conquest of happiness and pointed to the immense value of “fruitful monotony” — a certain quality of presence with the ordinary rhythms of life. The diaries and letters of humanity’s greatest minds are strewn with such instances of finding happiness in simple everyday moments, but no one captures the humble grace of presence better than Mary Oliver in one particularly bewitching passage from ... posted on Apr 30 2015 (19,544 reads)

6 percent of U.S. workers checked their work email when they or their spouse were in labor.   Technology can bring happiness. Anyone who’s found the perfect meditation app or downloaded a grandchild’s photo won’t doubt that. But technology can also bring anxiety, stress, and frustration. And that seems to be a given, too, making us throw our hands in the air. We accept that technology will always be a mixed bag and we have to take the bad with the good. "I worry that maybe our happiness is getting left behind." According to Amy Blankson, author of the new book The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity a... posted on Jun 25 2017 (12,126 reads)

and from our own small vantage point, we are interested in allowing people to see the images, to get inspired, and to respond in whatever pro-social, positive ways that are unique to them.  The relationship to connecting to othersall bubbled up for me in a conversation I had with Lionel Ketchian, who founded the framework for people to form “Happiness Clubs” to help people to have happier lives. In one conversation we discussed what comes first: Is it kindness that drives happiness? Because people who are kinder tend to be more happy. Or is it happiness that allows people to be kind? It occurred to me that that there actually isn’t a straight line here. Rather, i... posted on Feb 27 2018 (14,608 reads)

window into people’s greatest aspirations for their life, the researchers surveyed people from the United States and Korea about their biggest regret. Here, 28% of Americans and 35% of Koreans said their lives would be psychologically richer (rather than happier or more meaningful) if they could undo this regret, suggesting that psychological richness is a dominant life goal for them. These studies offer clues about a key value we hold that may not be captured by common conceptions of happiness or meaning—it has more to do with adventurous and thrilling experiences. “Taking the psychologically rich life seriously will deepen, broaden, and, yes, enrichen our un... posted on Dec 24 2020 (8,819 reads)

for Happiness has developed the 10 Keys to Happier Living based on a review of the latest scientific research relating to happiness. Everyone’s path to happiness is different, but the research suggests these Ten Keys consistently tend to have a positive impact on people’s overall happiness and well-being. The first five (GREAT) relate to how we interact with the outside world in our daily activities*. The second five (DREAM) come more from inside us and depend on our attitude to life.   1. GIVING: Do things for others   Caring about others is fundamental to our happiness. Helping other people is not only good for them and a g... posted on Apr 14 2012 (91,396 reads)

main thing is to get what little happiness there is out of life in this wartorn world,” Clare Boothe Luce advised her young daughter, “because ‘these are the good old days’ now.” And yet most of us are conditioned to escape into the past, into the future, into our to-do lists — to wander off away from the present, even as we chronicle the moment in real-time on various lifestreaming platforms. If you’ve read any of these seven essential books on happiness or taken the sage advice of Jackson Pollock’s dad, the research findings from his Track Your Happiness project Matt Killingsworth... posted on Apr 4 2013 (27,602 reads)

care of human life and happiness…is the only legitimate object of good government,” —Thomas Jefferson, 1809. Everyone wants to be happy, and increasingly, countries around the world are looking at happiness as an indicator of national well-being and considering happiness in policy making. As this year’s World Happiness Report states, “Happiness is increasingly considered a proper measure of social progress and a goal of public policy.” But what makes people happy, and which countries have the highest levels of happiness? For the World Happiness Report, researchers ranked countries based on factors including healthy life e... posted on Jul 8 2015 (69,865 reads)

by Frank McKenna We long to find more joy in our daily pursuits even though life has taught us it’s not so easy. New discoveries in neuroscience offer insight into how we can develop a brighter state of heart and mind. The First Step on the path to finding happiness is to open the mind to alternative ways of thinking about life. While much of our focus in the West has been toward comfort and the acquisition of worldly goods, in Eastern countries your status as a human being traditionally comes first. So instead of being greeted by “What are you up to these days?” or “How’s it going with your to-do list?” you may be asked in Muslim cou... posted on Aug 29 2017 (19,774 reads)

emotions of others, I’d like to offer another possibility for preserving your well-being: Double down on your capacity for empathy. Instead of trying to become immune to other people’s stress, increase your susceptibility to catch other people’s joy. The benefits of positive empathy While modern psychological science has largely focused on empathy for negative states, a new field of research dubbed “positive empathy” shows that it is also possible to catch happiness. You might have seen studies showing that seeing other people in pain can activate the pain system in your own brain. It turns out your brain will also resonate with positive emotions. Fo... posted on Nov 21 2017 (24,596 reads)

that our psychic lives are richly embroidered with darkness. And living with the inescapability of darkness, meeting the dark on its own terms, acknowledging that darkness has its own prerogatives that are different from illumination, instead of attempting to fix it or look past it or make it a means to light, becomes our fierce focus. That is, opening closures—one of which is the closure of the dark psychic life—can help us understand how, in our modern comings and goings, happiness is so easily fetishized, so passionately pursued, and yet so defiantly in short supply.             A friend of mine, Charles Eisens... posted on Mar 21 2019 (6,793 reads)

much beneficial impact we can make. Secondly, when considering whether to reach out to an acquaintance, we predict that they will appreciate it less than they actually do. These inaccurate assumptions make us less likely to approach and interact with each other to reap the benefits reported in the first two studies: a healthier stress profile and greater sense of meaning in life (among the many other benefits of kindness). The reminder that “happiness springs from doing good and helping others” (Plato) is especially important now because, frankly, we’re a bit out of practice. As we get to gather together through the holidays, ... posted on Feb 4 2023 (7,781 reads)

famous novella is one of the best-selling books of all time. More importantly, it’s one of the most important handbooks to being a thoughtful, introspective and, yes, hopeful human being. LEARNED OPTIMISM Martin Seligman is a Brain Pickings regular — known for his research on learned helplessness and revered as the father of positive psychology, his Authentic Happiness is one of the 7 most essential books on the art and science of happiness, and his Flourish made our 2001 Summer Reading List. But his second book, originally published over 20 years ago, remains one of his most influential. Learned Optimism: H... posted on Jun 5 2012 (39,958 reads)

25 years of research reveal about the cognitive skills of happiness and finding life’s greater purpose. “The illiterate of the 21st century,” Alvin Toffler famously said, “will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Our outlook on the world and our daily choices of disposition and behavior are in many ways learned patterns to which Toffler’s insight applies with all the greater urgency — the capacity to “learn, unlearn, and relearn” emotional behaviors and psychological patterns is, indeed, a form of existential literacy. Last week, Oliver Burkeman’s ... posted on Jul 9 2012 (18,033 reads)

spark behind creating SIY was my desire for world peace. I have been a long-time engineer at Google. We can spend 20% of our time working on whatever we want. I figured, I might as well try to solve the toughest problem I know, which is bringing about world peace. I started thinking about the necessary and sufficient conditions for world peace and one thought led to another. I came to the conclusion that a very important condition for world peace is to create conditions for inner peace, inner happiness and compassion on a global scale. The way I want to do that is to make those qualities profitable for businesses and to help people succeed. If we have a program that helps people and compan... posted on Jul 11 2012 (21,300 reads)

month ago, I was invited to speak at TEDx, and on the same day of the event, some of my friends had agreed to organize a sprinkling close to where the event was going. So they did the sprinkling, and when I was getting ready—I was to close the TEDx conference, so right before, at our last break—I went outside to get some fresh air. And I was very focused, I had been rehearsing my talk for weeks. And I walked outside—oh my gosh! These guys arrived. They were post-sprinkling happiness high. They had boas on, were laughing, and just so full of joy. We took pictures, and by the time I walked back into the conference, my concentration was completely gone. All I could feel wa... posted on Jan 11 2014 (28,317 reads)

life. But this is the wrong habit. It leads to a feeling that your life isn’t good enough, that you aren’t good enough. And the habit doesn’t end: if you pursue a better life, you will always feel that you should be doing more, partying more, creating more, learning more, reading more, traveling more. You can’t possibly do it all, but you’ll always wish you were. So what’s a better habit? The contentment habit. What I’ve been learning is that happiness and contentment and greatness isn’t out there. It’s not where everyone else is, even if it seems like it. You can spend your whole life chasing this happiness, contentment, dream... posted on Mar 9 2015 (40,262 reads)

joy be cultivated? And, if so, can we teach our kids how to be more joyful in their lives? In our experience, the answer to both of these questions is yes. But it takes knowing what kinds of practices bring true happiness—and not just momentary pleasure—to your life. Once you’ve mastered that, it’s not too hard to introduce those practices to kids in a way that they can understand and appreciate. This essay is dapted from Awakening Joy for Kids by James Baraz and Michele Lilyanna ©2016. Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press. Our new book, Awakening Joy for Kids, is a resource for parents, teachers, and caregivers who want to give... posted on Oct 22 2016 (20,908 reads)