Here Are 7 Things That Will Make You Happier In 7 Seconds, According To Research
ink about something you love. Imagine how you would feel if you lost it. Now be happy you have it. Research shows savoring has powerful affects on well-being. Take a nap. Studies show we can process negative thoughts just fine when we're exhausted -- but not the happy ones. Smile. Happy or not, just smile. Studies show it can trick your mind into thinking you feel good. And it has plenty of other benefits. Hug someone. Corny? Maybe. But it…
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How To Be A Better Person: 7 Steps Backed By Research
all want to know how to be a better person. The science can be surprising. First, remember context, context, context. Your context dramatically affects your behavior, so manipulating it is the easiest, most painless way to change yourself. This is why the religious are nicer on Sundays and mentioning God makes people clean up their act. Thinking about your childhood (seriously, get a teddy bear) and seeing others do nice things can make you act more ethically. Our circumstances…
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5 Secrets To Dealing With Regret, According To Research
We regret things we should have done but didn't do. The areas that top the list are education, career and romance. Not spending enough time with friends and family is up there too. The dying had these regrets: - I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. - I wish I didn't work so hard. - I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. -…
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Does any of this make-yourself-happier stuff actually work?
s, the effectiveness of "counting your blessings" and "using signature strengths" has been independently replicated. Objectives The current work replicated a landmark study conducted by Seligman and colleagues (2005) that demonstrated the long-term benefits of positive psychology exercises (PPEs). In the original study, two exercises administered over 1 week (“Three Good Things” and “Using your Signature Strengths in a New Way”) were found to have long-lasting effects on depression and happiness (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). Design These exercises…
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Can thinking about death lead to a good life?
minutes in to his famous Stanford commencement speech Steve Jobs discusses the importance he placed on thinking about death during life: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life." Scientists now agree he was on to something. Via Science Daily: Thinking about death can actually be a good thing. An awareness of mortality can improve physical health and help us re-prioritize our goals and…
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How can you best savor good feelings and dismiss bad ones?
r positive emotional experiences, don't try to explain them. For negative emotional experience, definitely explain them. Analyzing feelings reduces emotion. Via Science Daily: Moore researches how word-of-mouth stories affect our feelings about our experiences, and she has found that our feelings change when we share them. She says that when the storyteller analyzes or thinks about an emotional experience like a family vacation, it reduces the emotions, positive or negative, about the event. However, she notes that for practical experiences,…
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The Fast Way To Make Better Decisions, Backed By Research
ke the perspective of someone else. Think about what your smartest friend might do in that situation. We investigated how perspective-taking might be used to overcome bias and improve advice-based judgments. Decision makers often tend to underweight the opinions of others relative to their own, and thus fail to exploit the wisdom of others. We tested the idea that decision makers taking the perspective of another person engage a less egocentric mode of processing of advisory opinions and thereby improve their…
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How To Stay Motivated With Difficult Goals, Backed By Research
u can measure progress by how much you've completed or how much you have left to do. Research says you'll be more motivated if you focus on whichever of those two is smaller: Via Eurekalert: "We predict that individuals will express greater motivation to pursue actions when they focus on whichever is smaller in size—the area of their completed actions or of their remaining actions—because motivation increases with the perceived impact of each new step, and each new step will…
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