The Science of Happiness: How to Find Joy and Fulfillment

Understanding True Happiness

Dr. Laurie Santos, professor of cognitive science and psychology at Yale University, is a world expert on happiness and the science of emotions. In this discussion, she explains that true happiness involves being happy both in your life and with your life:

• Being happy in your life refers to experiencing positive emotions and fewer negative emotions on a day-to-day basis.
• Being happy with your life is about having a sense of purpose and feeling satisfied with how things are going overall.

Importantly, our circumstances don't impact our happiness as much as we tend to think. Beyond having our basic needs met, factors like income, achievements, and life events have a surprisingly small effect on our overall happiness levels. Instead, Dr. Santos explains that our behaviors, thought patterns, and how we relate to others play a much bigger role.

Key Factors That Influence Happiness

Social Connection

One of the most powerful ways to increase happiness is through social connection. Research shows that the two biggest predictors of happiness are:

1. How much time you spend with friends and family
2. How much time you spend physically around other people in general

Even brief social interactions, like chatting with a stranger, can provide a measurable boost in mood and life satisfaction. Dr. Santos recommends making an effort to engage in more real-time, in-person social connection.

Presence and Mindfulness

Being present and mindful in the moment is strongly linked to greater happiness and life satisfaction. However, our smartphones and constant digital distractions make it increasingly difficult to be present.

Dr. Santos cites research showing that even having your phone visible nearby can reduce cognitive performance and social engagement. She recommends creating more phone-free time and spaces to allow for greater presence.

Gratitude and Appreciation

Taking time to notice and appreciate the good things in life is a powerful happiness booster. Dr. Santos recommends keeping a "delight journal" where you write down 3-5 things you're grateful for or that brought you joy each day.

Doing this for just two weeks has been shown to significantly improve overall life satisfaction. The key is training your brain to notice more of the positive things around you.

Helping Others

Engaging in acts of kindness and generosity towards others is strongly linked to greater happiness. Research shows that spending money on others actually makes people happier than spending it on themselves.

Volunteering, donating to charity, and looking for ways to help friends and strangers are all associated with increased happiness and life satisfaction.

Using Your Signature Strengths

Identifying your core character strengths and finding ways to use them more in your daily life can increase your sense of meaning and purpose. Dr. Santos recommends taking the free VIA Character Strengths assessment online to identify your top strengths.

Then look for ways to incorporate those strengths more into your work and leisure time. This could mean volunteering in a way that uses your strengths or picking up a new hobby aligned with them.

Common Happiness Myths and Misconceptions

Money Buys Happiness

While having enough money to meet your basic needs is important for happiness, beyond that point more money has diminishing returns. Research shows that in the US, happiness levels off around $75,000 per year (in 2010 dollars).

Beyond that, additional income doesn't seem to increase happiness much, if at all. Dr. Santos explains this is likely because we quickly adapt to higher income levels and start comparing ourselves to new reference points.

Achieving Goals Will Make Us Happy

Many people fall into the trap of thinking "I'll be happy when..." - when I get that promotion, when I'm in a relationship, etc. However, research on "hedonic adaptation" shows we quickly get used to positive changes and return to our happiness baseline.

Dr. Santos recommends focusing more on enjoying the journey and process of working towards goals, rather than expecting the achievement itself to bring lasting happiness.

Negative Emotions Are Bad

While we shouldn't wallow in negativity, some negative emotions serve an important purpose. Dr. Santos explains that emotions like sadness, frustration, and even anger can provide useful signals about changes we may need to make in our lives.

Rather than trying to eliminate all negative emotions, we should aim for an overall positive balance while still allowing ourselves to experience and learn from difficult emotions at times.

We Should Always Be Happy

Constant happiness is neither realistic nor desirable. Our brains are wired to experience a range of emotions. Some amount of contrast between positive and negative states allows us to more fully appreciate the good times.

Dr. Santos recommends aiming for an overall positive balance of emotions while accepting that some negative experiences are a normal part of life.

Practical Tips for Increasing Happiness

• Schedule more in-person social time, even brief interactions
• Create phone-free times and spaces to increase presence
• Keep a gratitude or "delight" journal
• Look for ways to help others and engage in acts of kindness
• Identify your character strengths and use them more
• Focus on enjoying the process/journey, not just achieving goals
• Allow yourself to experience a range of emotions
• Use "negative visualization" to increase appreciation for what you have
• Ask others for help - it benefits both parties
• Go on "strength dates" with friends/partners to engage your shared strengths

Conclusion

While our circumstances play a role, much of our happiness is within our control through our daily choices and mental habits. By understanding the science of happiness and implementing evidence-based practices, we can significantly increase our joy, life satisfaction, and sense of meaning.

The key is to focus on behaviors like social connection, presence, gratitude, and helping others - while cultivating thought patterns that allow us to more fully appreciate the good in our lives. With consistent effort, we can raise our happiness setpoint and experience more moments of joy and fulfillment.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phm-Alz1Zjo