the science of well being
A short summary and cheet-sheet on the course "the science of well being" from coursera. Provided by Laurie Santos, Professor from Yale University.
People are quite adaptable things and our evolution made us to be happy if we have more connections with the other people. It's on average, maybe there are some people who are not like this, but most of us are.
Contributions to happines
genetics 50%
actions 40%
life happens 10%
do to feel happier
Non-material things make us happier than material.
stop using social media
practicing signature strengths
savoring
slow down hedonic adaptation
good social interactions/connections. Even with the strangers
pick the job that supports your signature strengths
believe that outcome depends on how much effort you put into work(growth mindset) not depends on your intellect(fixed mindset)
the more you mind-wander in particular activities the more you dislike them
design your environment. It's important
social media
On social media you compare yourself with what you "potentially" can have. That makes you feel worse. It's relevant not only to social media, we always compare ourself. Choose the right reference points!
Few study examples:
as you go up in TV watching you're going to estimate higher other people's wealth => you'll estimate your own wealth less
we don't think in absolute numbers. Our minds don't work that way. Instead we think in relative numbers
interesting that if men look at pretty women(models), they start to rate their wifes lower => start to feel less happy
savoring
stepping outside of an experience and appreciate it
it helps to prolong the joy and slow down hedonic adaptation
activities that enhance savoring
share the experience with another people
share the action/thing/taste itself with another people
think about how lucky I'm to enjoy such an amazing moment
laugh or giggle
tell myself how proud I am
during the action I thought only about the present, was absorbed
showed physical expressions of energy
if you make photos and use them as a reminder for the positive experience it can help. But of course if you start using them in a negative instagram-like way. It might hurt.
activities that hurt savoring
focused on the future, when it was over
remind myself it would be over soon
telling myself it wasn't as good as I hoped
remind that it would never "last forever"/"be this good again"
"it could be better"
tell myself "I didn't deserve this good thing"
hedonic adaptation
Keep in mind that hedonic adaptation can actually be good. Because it helps you to get used to bad things as well
If you want to slow down hedonic adaptation, do:
savoring
negative visualization(what if I have never had/experienced/been here/this/etc.)
imagine this day your last day. Of things you love, value, etc.
gratitude(write 5 things you've received in your life)
also sharing it with the other people, why you're grateful towards them for the good things they've done to you
mind-wandering
when thoughts are drifting away from the task i'm working on right now
meditation can curb mind-wandering
not only during the meditation. They showed that the brain structure is changing and the mind become more "resilient" to mind-wandering
will not really lead to feel happier
So things that we think will make us feel better:
cool things
lots of money
good job
"true love"
perfect body/face
good grades
chasing grades kills the internal motivation
Can improve our happiness but not for long. That's because of hedonic adaptation, we always need to get a bigger dose to be happy and excited.
It also seems like on a scale from 1 to 10 you can't always be at 10, because of hedonic adaptation. So you'd probably stick around 6-7 and will go up and down all the time.
And usually good things that happen don't make us as happy as we thought they would but at the same time bad things hit us less harder than we thought they would
tools to track happiness
There are few tools that can help to track your happiness. I'm a bit skeptical about the idea that these tools can measure it precisely and adequately but it will give you at lest some references:
PERMA - https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmWAB2LoFzOk25n
AH - https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3sHNmRsXIeYAZCJ
They are +- the same
How to reveal your signature strengths
https://www.viacharacter.org/surveys/takesurvey
effective habit inception
WOOP technique - https://woopmylife.org/en/practice