Yale's Science of Well-Being course, which became the most popular in the university's history, is now available online. The course teaches that happiness can be learned and provides practical exercises to increase happiness.
‘We think more money, the good job, dream house or perfect looks will make our life better, but the science shows they just don’t,’ says Anna Bonet who tried Yale’s happiness course On a scale of one to 10, how happy would you say you are? If you’re anything like me, when confronted with this question you may not find it exactly easy to answer. It depends on the day, the hour, the minute;, how long it has been since I’ve eaten, what the weather is like, how stressful work is – the list goes on.
At the end of the 10 weeks, students are encouraged to retake the same survey which measures baseline happiness, and the data shows the average scores increasing. My own rises by a full point. Here are the eight key lessons which helped me get there.In the second week, Dr Santos introduces us to the concept of “miswanting”.
We probably all know about the perils of social comparison, but it’s the irrelevance which is the sticking point: our minds don’t even use reasonable reference points ; they soak anything and everything up as a reference point . There is research to show, for example, that the more TV you watch, the less satisfied you are with your income.
Perhaps that is the tiny, mouldy flat you used to live in before your current home, or the time you had a job you truly hated or were unemployed. Taking a few minutes to really visualise what it was like – they advise replaying it in your mind like a video – really helps. “All of a sudden, that will switch your reference point,” says Dr Santos.When we think of affluence, we think of money. But research consistently shows that time affluence is the one which makes us happy.
Herein lies the fallacy: knowing is actually not half the battle. So how do we make sure we implement these practices into our life?
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I took Yale’s famous science of happiness course. These eight key lessons changed my lifeCan you learn the art of contentment? Anna Bonet signs up to find out
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