How to be happy?

 

Today is the UN International Day of Happiness! That's right, 20th March is a day on which you are 'officially' encouraged to pursue happiness. You might not think you need the encouragement of an 'official' day to help you prioritise your own happiness, even for just one day, but many of us don't actually do this. Surprising, seeing as the one thing we would most want for our children is for them to 'be happy'!

With this in mind, it gives me great pleasure (dare I say it makes me happy!) on this day to tell you about 'positive psychology', a fast-growing sub-discipline within academic psychology dedicated to the study of what makes life worth living, optimal human functioning, and within this: happiness. I feel very fortunate to be involved with one of the few MSc Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) courses in which students can study this subject at university at a postgraduate level. In fact, the course is one of only two MAPP courses in the UK, and one of only around ten in the world!  The students this course attracts are an impressive and diverse group who travel far and wide to take the course with a view to applying what they learn in their own personal and working lives. In fact, the 'word-cloud' above represents the 'language of positive psychology' as expressed by our students over the past week when capturing their thoughts in relation to the course.

One way in which we are marking the International Day of Happiness is through one of our MAPP students, Lesley Lyle, who (amongst other things) is the author of a new book Laugh Your Way to Happiness (published by Watkins books). Over the last year or so, Lesley has been sending out 'Laughter Buddies' (see picture) to encourage people to spend more time doing things they enjoy (with their Laughter Buddy or LB), photographing their LB mid-activity, and sharing these through a dedicated Laughter Buddies Facebook page.

On 20th March 2014, we are sending 10 extra special Laughter Buddies out into the world (well, High Wycombe...) with the instructions to their initial owners to do something fun (they love to have fun!), take a photo, post it on the Facebook page, and then pass their LB on to a friend they can trust to do the same. We will follow the travels of these Laughter Buddies over the coming year via the Facebook page until next year's International Day of Happiness. How far will they travel? And who will be touched by their uncanny ability to bring a little joy and laughter into people's lives?  In the meantime, if you would like to find out how you can get involved (of course you do!), then you can contact Lesley via the Laughter Buddies Facebook page.

Even without a Laughter Buddy by your side, there is plenty you can do on this Day of Happiness (or any day) to boost your own wellbeing. So, with thanks to leading positive psychologist and author of The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky, I'll leave you with some quick tips on how to increase your happiness, all of which have been shown to have lasting effects upon levels of personal happiness:

1. Express gratitude: Encourage yourself to stop and think of three things for which you are grateful. Gives an immediate boost to your wellbeing! 

2. Practice acts of kindness: Go and do something nice for someone. It will make you both happier. 

3. Nurture social relationships: Connect with a friend. Phone one you haven't spoken to in a while and wish them a happy day of happiness! 

4. Increase 'Flow': Do something you love doing, where you lose all sense of time. Do it more often. 

5. Get yourself a Laughter Buddy: OK, I added this one and the evidence may not be there yet. But having a good laugh does release oxytocin in the brain, a neurochemical associated with trust and empathy. i.e., laughing is good for the soul.

Happy memories

Some initial results from Prof Wiseman's happiness experiment were announced yesterday. It seems that on average we, as a nation, were about 7% more cheerful at the end of last week compared to the beginning of the week. So there. This was determined by way of a couple of polls undertaken at the start and end of the week. Of course, it's not possible to determine how much, if any, of this increase in the nation's happiness might be attributed to the science of happiness experiment.

Participants in the study were assigned to one of five conditions. Four of these groups were asked to spend a few moments each day engaged in an exercise that previous research had indicated might influence feelings of happiness. One group was asked to use those moments to focus on expressing gratitude for one thing in their lives (this is the group I was assigned to) while a second group spent the time simply smiling. A third group was asked to carry out an act of kindness and the fourth group was instructed to recall a pleasant event from the day before. The remaining participants were in a 'control' group in which they were asked to just think about the previous day's events.

More than 26,000 people took part and it would seem that reported levels of happiness in all groups, including the control group, increased over the course of the week. So everyone's a winner! The biggest increase was seen in the group asked to recall a pleasant event from the day before. They showed a 15% rise in reported happiness over and above the folks in the control condition.

The difficulty is that even if these kinds of exercises do have an impact upon perceived happiness, and the initial results from this study seem to suggest they do, then the effects are likely to be rather transient and so many other things will have a far greater impact on our how we feel on a particular day. And are we dealing with underlying 'happiness' or whether we're in a good mood?

Still hats off to Richard for attempting such an ambitious project!

Happy now?

Compared to this time last week, are you more or less happy than you were? It's hard to tell isn't it? Unless, of course, you've taken part in a scientific experiment to measure just how happy you are. Well, I have. And I'm, er, still not sure if I'm any happier or not. I may have a better idea on Wednesday when some initial results from the study are to be announced.

Did you take part? Do you feel any happier?

The study was being conducted by Professor Richard Wiseman, Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. I know Richard well having worked as his Research Assistant a little over ten years ago and I have always been amazed at the way his research captures the public's imagination. This particular project is linked to his latest book 59 Seconds, which is "a triumph of scientifically proven advice over misleading myths of self-help" (not my words, the words of Derren Brown).

My copy of the book arrived from Amazon this morning. I'll let you know if it's as good as Derren thinks it is.

Joy to the World

How are you feeling this Monday morning? However you're feeling, my old friend Prof Richard Wiseman is up to his old tricks again and conducting an experiment for us all to take part in. This time he's trying to make the world a happier place. No he's not campaigning for all tapes of The Vicar of Dibley to be burned (though there's an idea...). He is simply wanting as many people as possible to take part in a week long happiness project at www.scienceofhappiness.co.uk.

It will take less than a minute a day to take part and, who knows, this time next week you may be as happy as, or even happier than, Larry.