Over the years I have had the opportunity to study leadership and success. I am struck by the connections between each area and how those connections are similar for happiness as well. Your first test on happiness: Do you want to: Receive happiness like winning the lottery or receiving a gift? Experience happiness as a state of mind? If you choose A, then you may be waiting for a while, possibly forever. However, if you choose B, then we, the team at … [Read more...]
Finding Happiness through Written Expression
April 9, 2013 by
Two important things help us achieve our goals: letting go of past mistakes and envisioning future success. Psychology research supports that expressive writing about one’s goals has numerous benefits for health, emotional adjustment, and well-being (Smyth, 1998), while also increasing the likelihood that the goals will be achieved. How does expressive writing help people overcome emotional baggage and take hold of a more empowering future? First, the creative writing process … [Read more...]
Online Course: The Psychology and Philosophy of Happiness
May 28, 2012 by
We are offering an online course on the "Psychology and Philosophy of Happiness." If you are interested in joining us please register on the course page. … [Read more...]
Objective Happiness Quiz
April 7, 2012 by
Thousands of visitors have taken the Objective Happiness Quiz, which asks respondents about various aspects of their lifestyle, and projects how happy they are (not taking into account genetic factors) based on the results. It's meant to be educational, as after the quiz respondents are invited to click a link to our "Science of Happiness" pages, to see how they can become happier and improve their score. … [Read more...]
Flow Diagram Speaks a Thousand (Funny) Words
March 27, 2012 by
This flow diagram "Are You Happy" went viral recently. Author unknown. Lao Tzu? Humor and philosophy is a wonderful combination. … [Read more...]
Does Technology affect Happiness?
February 22, 2012 by
A revealing study on this topic came out recently on the NYT. This is something I have been wondering about for years. Why are rates of depression soaring among young people? Face to face human communication, as opposed to communication with pixels (not communication with pixies, you could get in bigger trouble with that), seem to involve many dimensions (body language etc) that makes the communication much more profound. But we still don't know if depressed people spend too many hours on … [Read more...]
Measuring Happiness: The Top Questionnaires
February 4, 2012 by
Measuring happiness is at least as difficult as catching rare and elusive butterflies. What kind of net should we use? We include a list of some of the most well known measures such as the Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyle and Hill), the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Deiner, Emmons, Larsen and Griffin), the Panas Scale (Watson, Clark, Tellegen), and the OECD report on Subjective Well Being. Which is your favorite? See our latest … [Read more...]
Pursuit of Happiness Project takes off in China
December 21, 2011 by
With three days of presentations and intensive discussions, attended by an excited crowd of 500 educators, the Pursuit of Happiness Project took off in China on Dec 5-8. Thanks to the invitation of Dr. Xie Chunfeng, the Director of the Research Center for Moral Education at the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences (BAES), as well as Ms. Wu Yinghui, the Director of the Haidian Center for Educational Research in Beijing, we were able to share many ideas with educational leaders and … [Read more...]