Happiness Archives

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

February 27, 2020September 25, 2012 by H H

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.

6 Uncomfortable Truths about Happiness

February 19, 2019August 17, 2012 by H H

The Great American Dream – anyone can rise up from poverty to become rich and beautiful. These dreams come from our culture – work hard, get a great education, work even harder, make lots of money, become attractive, marry a beautiful spouse, have kids, retire in a beach house. Generally, our culture is good. It … Read more

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

June 10, 2020July 23, 2012 by H H

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

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Happiness and Religion- Getting the Benefits Outside the Cathedral

March 27, 2020June 28, 2012 by H H

Fact: religion increases happiness. But if you are not a religious person, can you get the positive benefits of religion? Read on to find out more… If you are interested in learning in positive psychology the way that I am you may wonder if gratitude, happiness, and wellbeing are more likely for people who are … Read more

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Positive Psychology Progress A breakdown of the 2005 paper.

March 27, 2020June 26, 2012 by H H

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

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The Sweet Tune of June: a month of happiness

April 5, 2020June 4, 2012 by H H

I have this problem. I’m interested in EVERYTHING. That’s bad – because want to provide YOU with value. I can’t do that unless I focus on a few things, one at a time. So I’ve declared June the Month of Happiness. Every weekday, I’m going to post one idea for making you a Happier Human. … Read more

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The Startling Truth about How Psychostimulants Effect your Body and Mind (and a Better Way)

November 29, 2018June 4, 2012 by H H

What is a psychostimulant? How can it affect your mood and happiness? What is a common pyschostimulant that most adults consume on a daily basis? How does this stimulant effect your body?

Is there a better way to get the same positive effect as a psycostimulant without any side effects?

This article will answer all ths questions on the effects of pyschostimulants and give you a simple idea to get the same effects with no negative side effects.

Ready? Lets get to it….

The Inside Job: How Happy Happens

April 5, 2020May 22, 2012 by H H

Joy begets joy.

You probably know at least a few people who are eternal, effervescent bundles of bliss: no matter how tiring or challenging their day, they just exude happiness. And whenever they enter a room, every person inside it lights up like a holiday tree, catching some of their pleasure, if only momentarily.

Ever wonder what they’re doing differently?

Here’s their ‘secret’, according to Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis:

They were born lucky. They won the cortical lottery. Digest these quotes from the research article, Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill:

Research has shown over and over again “that one’s level of well-being is reasonably stable over time (Eid & Diener, 2004).”
“Behavioral genetic studies show that well-being is moderately heritable.” Identical twins raised apart “were much more similar in their levels of well-being than were dizygotic [fraternal] twins who were reared apart.” (Tellegen et al. 1988)
“Whereas any single demographic factor typically correlates less than .2 with well-being reports…. personality tends to correlate much more strongly with well-being.” Personality… changes little over a person’s lifetime (Deiner & Lucas, 1999).

Hmmm. That’s great news for those born happy. Kinda sucks for me.

I definitely didn’t win the cortical lottery.

The 5 Excuses You’re Using to Sabotage Your Happiness

February 18, 2019May 5, 2012 by H H

It is easy

Most often people do not realize they are even sabotaging their happiness. They just believe that happiness eludes them. But all too frequently if we step back and look at things from a neutral perspective we can see how we sabotage our own happiness.

Why don’t we more actively pursue happiness?

We think hard work and delayed gratification will get us there.
We believe its selfish.
Cynicism: We think the world is already doomed and it doesn’t matter
Thinking our happiness should come second.
We think we’re already as happy as we’re going to get.

Each of these mentalities impedes or distorts our quest to be as happy as we can and want to be.