The Science of Happiness
Last fall I was in the market for a new uplifting podcast. I went to my app and perused the “Top Shows” and “New & Noteworthy” sections and noticed they had a common denominator: The Happiness Lab by Laurie Santos.
A little background, Dr. Santos is a professor at Yale University and her course, “Psychology and the Good Life,” teaches students how the science of psychology can provide important hints about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. It recently became Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years, and has been featured in numerous news outlets including the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, GQ Magazine, Slate and O! Magazine.
Dr. Santos created the course because she was becoming increasingly concerned about the anxiety and levels of happiness in the students at Yale. Couple of quick statistics, [according to Santos] we prescribe antidepressants at 400 times the rate that we did 20 years ago, 400 times the rate than 20 years ago. Most surveys show that Americans and a lot of people in general are not getting happier.
When I first found the podcast she was only up to episode 3 and I have to admit, the title “The Unhappy Millionaire” was intriguing. I wanted to know more. I found the podcast to be very insightful and thought provoking and continue to listen however it wasn’t until the corona virus mayhem hit that I ever thought I would have time to embark on the free online course. Yes, you read that correctly! FREE! The course is so successful and in such high demand that it’s being offered for free online via coursera.com.
Side Note: There is a special Coronavirus Bonus available on the podcast. It includes 5 episodes on coronavirus strategies. Click here for the first episode in the series. You can never have too many tools to beat isolation and anxiety!
So last week I took the step of signing up for the course online. In an effort to normalize and create a routine for myself I put the first lesson on my calendar and logged in for my first “class”. Admittedly I’ve always loved school so having this time to fill my brain with the things I’m interested in and want to learn about is so intoxicating! A FREE course on happiness? Sign. Me. UP.
If you’d like to learn along with me please click the link below and sign up! Keep me posted on your thoughts and progress!
Things I’ve learned so far:
Misconception about Happiness: Knowing is NOT 1/2 the battle (GI Joe Fallacy)
Merely knowing it doesn’t make it better. We actually have to do all kinds of stuff other than just knowing stuff to change our behavior. If we really want to change our behavior, we have to change habits. We can’t just learn the stuff.
Happy learning and rewiring, cheers!