Positive Psychology Tips

One of the most popular classes at Harvard University is a course called Positive Psychology, taught by Tal Ben-Shahar, which focuses on topics such as "happiness, self-esteem, empathy, friendship, love, achievement, creativity, music, spirituality, and humor". Last September I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Ben-Shahar at a conference where he summarized some of the current research on how to be happy. I wrote a Provision about that myself a couple of years ago that continues to be quite popular.

So what does current research recommend? Here's a quick summary as reported in the June 2009 issue of Consumer Reports on Health:

1. Count the positive. People who literally counted their blessings had a greater sense of well-being in several studies conducted by researchers at the University of Miami and the University of California, Davis.
   
2. Be thankful. People experience a better mood for up to a month after they gave a letter of gratitude to someone who had been kind to them.
   
3. Make friends. Chronic loneliness is associated with higher rates of high blood pressure, inactivity, smoking, and stress, according to several studies.
   
4. Volunteer. People who donated an average of four hours a week to good causes reported a greater sense of optimism, self-esteem, and sociability, a February 2009 Australian study found.
   
5. Focus on the present. Employees who participated in an eight-week meditation course based on mindfulness, or focusing on the here and now, reported less anxiety -- and brain scans showed greater activity in the region associated with happiness even four months after the course ended.
   
6. Follow your passion. Too often we "give up the things we enjoy and end up with a very thin life," says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., a psychology professor a Claremont on Graduate University in California. So identify what you love doing, or want to try, then do it.
   
7. Move. Exercise helps give you a sense of control and can ease depression as effectively as medication.
   
8. Laugh. That may reduce stress, help maintain a healthy immune system, and improve arterial blood flow.

Coaching Inquiries: How many of these eight are part of your life on a regular basis? Which ones would you like to pay more attention to? How could you develop some daily happiness habits? Who could you talk to clarify your thinking and make some commitments for moving forward?

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