![]() This is consistent with the research showing that regular exercise of all different types enhances mood and social functioning. 3 above: Your daily walk should be supplemented with a purposive exercise plan. This is a slightly souped-up version of No. Search for transcendent truths beyond your narrow day-to-day life.ĥ. However, for the purposes of happiness, religion can be understood more broadly, as a spiritual or philosophical path in life. This might sound impractical if you don’t have a traditional faith or practice it traditionally. But if you like to keep things simple, just try to walk for an hour and read for an hour (not for work!) each day.Ĥ. You can make this advice as complicated and expensive as you want. The “social capital” you get from voluntarily and regularly associating with other people, whether or not you do so through a formal club, has long been known to foster a sense of belonging and protect against loneliness and isolation.ģ. The research is clear that though our natural impulse may be to buy stuff, we should invest instead in improving our closest relationships by sharing experiences and freeing up time to spend together.Ģ. Here are the top 10, in order, with my own assessments as a happiness researcher added in for good measure.ġ. In other words, according to the experts, these ways to get happier both work and are workable. They came up with 68 ways that people are commonly counseled to raise their own happiness, then asked 18 of the most distinguished and prolific academic experts on the science of happiness to rate them in terms of effectiveness and feasibility. I n 2020, an international team of scholars tried to find out. Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. Based on what they see in the data from experiments and surveys, what should we do that is both effective and feasible for increasing our happiness, starting today? I am very unlikely to become a Dane, for example (although my grandfather was one, so maybe I have a little hygge sitting somewhere in my genome).Įvery once in a while, people in my profession need to get practical. It can even drag us down when the secret to happiness is unattainable. Much of it is descriptive and explanatory, but doesn’t necessarily help us live better lives. This is the big weakness of a lot of the social-science research to which I have dedicated my academic life. Very few people slap their foreheads and say, “It all makes sense now-I thought a tense, angry marriage was the secret to happiness, but it isn’t!” But they’re unhelpful because they are not actionable in any practical way. Be Danish.ĭepending on how happiness is measured, all of these things really are associated with a happier life. H ere’s some very bad happiness advice based on very solid happiness research: Feel important. ![]() Click here to listen to his podcast series on all things happiness, How to Build a Happy Life. “ How to Build a Life ” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness. ![]()
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