H H

The owner of Happier Human is Steve Scott. Steve is an author who is also the owner of the popular blog DevelopGoodHabits.com. Steve has long been interested in positive psychology and specifically its applications to increase happiness.

Self Compassion – How Caring for Others can Bring you Success and Happiness

by

Afraid of public speaking? You're not alone – more than 70% of Americans suffer from speech anxiety.

The butterflies, light-headedness, sweaty palms, fidgety legs, shaky knees, and incoherent mumbling? All normal.

But accepting that it's normal? Not so normal.

By skipping, ignoring, and even resisting the truth that failure is normal, we're losing out on a powerful tool for change – for getting over speech anxiety or for finally losing weight.

Don't worry, this isn't another post about the dangers of optimism.

This is a lighthearted story of defeat, inspiration, and redemption. Of what a person can accomplish when they have the courage to look bleak reality in its face.

Or something like that.

Read more

The Science of Compassion

by

The Science of Compassion See the studies behind compassion. Why does compassion help? What can it do? Why does it matter? Discover the science of compassion and how it can make a difference in your life. Many studies are beginning to show not only the positive impact of having more compassion but the effectiveness of techniques to … Read more

How Grateful Are You? Interactive Quiz + Seven Strategies for Cultivating Gratitude

by

Gratitude increases our happiness, improves our relationships, and makes us healthier. And it does so reliably. Over 40 research studies have shown the same thing – gratitude rocks. So how can we get more of it? It depends. How grateful are you already? Let’s figure that out. The quiz below only takes 30 seconds. (Side … Read more

Science of Exercise and Happiness

by

The relationship is strong but complicated – it’s not as simple as exercise = happiness. The Role of Depression in Short-Term Mood and Fatigue Responses to Acute Exercise Authors explored the differing impact of one-time, high-intensity exercise on sedentary exercisers and sedentary, depressed exercisers. Acute high intensity exercise resulted in transient immediate improvements in depressed mood among individuals … Read more

The Science of Gratitude: More Benefits Than Expected; 26 Studies and Counting

by

Gratitude has for most of its history remained a discussion topics of pastors. As a growing field of science is starting to show, the benefits of cultivating an attitude of gratitude are very real and can be enjoyed outside a religious context. This page summarizes at a high level the prominent research in the field, and provides a link … Read more

Relaxation: It Cures Headaches & Relieves Indigestion

by

Do you have a hobby or activity that relaxes you?  I’m not talking TV relax – I’m talking dissolving muscle aches and destroying headaches relax. I’m not talking unwind or vegetate – I’m talking parasympathetic nervous system activation, slower breathing, and alpha waves. For the past eight years, I didn’t – I suffered from untreatable headaches. They were a constant companion. … Read more

Positive Psychology Progress A breakdown of the 2005 paper.

by

Using a sample recruited through the Authentic Happiness website, the authors of the study wanted to compare the effectiveness of five different happiness techniques, each delivered via the internet. The five techniques chosen were: gratitude visit, three good things in life, you at your best, using signature strengths in a new way, and identifying signature strengths. The Steen Happiness Index … Read more

Zest, The Spice of Life… or is it?

by

Are you full of zest? I hope so – it’s the character strength second most correlated with well-being. (Hope is #1). Positive psychologists use the following 3 survey questions to estimate a person’s level of zest. For each question, a 1-5 scale is used, where 1 = strongly agree, 3 = neutral, and 5 = … Read more

Top 5 Willpower Techniques That Create Action

by

In the past two weeks I’ve made a number of changes that I’ve been putting off for years. The biggest change is that I exercise my willpower to failure every day. As I talked about yesterday, I didn’t suddenly discover a willpower secret or lasting source of inspiration. Over the past three months, I have … Read more