Keys for Skilled Happiness

I wrote a post, Keys for Skilled Happiness, on Sources of Insight.  Some people are born with a better disposition, while others have to work at it.  You don't have to work harder, you have to work smarter.  Luckily, we have a great body of knowledge on happiness to draw from now.  My notes are based on Carlin Flora's article, The Pursuit of Happiness in Psychology Today.   Some insights are obvious, while others are surprising.

Here's a summary of the keys:

  • We're lousy at predicting what makes us happy.
  • Improve your self-talk.
  • Find engaging activities.
  • Feel your full range of emotions.
  • Practice mindfulness.
  • Work towards goals.
  • Be generous.
  • Be careful who you hang with.
  • Limit your choices.
  • Build your relationships.
  • Evaluate your well-being at the macro as well as the micro level.
  • Leverage your natural coping style.
Published 19 February 09 06:18 by J.D. Meier
Filed under:

Comments

# Anith » Keys for Skilled Happiness said on February 19, 2009 6:54 PM:

PingBack from http://www.anith.com/?p=11697

# The Dnaish Dynamo said on February 24, 2009 9:41 AM:

Uhm - what about the most important thing - get rid of the things that make you unhappy....

# The Danish Dynamo said on February 24, 2009 9:42 AM:

What about the most important thing - get rid of things that make you unhappy.

# RhinoBob said on February 26, 2009 8:52 AM:

Do all that stuff. Then die. Perfection!

# Jimmy May said on February 26, 2009 2:29 PM:

Stuck at an airport, I serendipitously found--stumbled on--a book by Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, "Stumbling on Happiness".  I'm rarely fond of books which are products of the ivory tower, yet this one is different.  Whether you're interested in happiness or simply enjoy good laughs, this book is for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/1400042666

# J.D. Meier said on March 1, 2009 7:40 PM:

@ The Dnaish Dynamo

Eliminating stuff that makes you unhappy is a good practice too.  I find it's easier to focus on what you want and the stuff that you don't want fades away.

@ RhinoBob

C'est la vie

@ Jimmy

Good book.  I recommend his video on synthetic happiness too - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7822696446273926158

New Comments to this post are disabled

Search

This Blog

Syndication

Page view tracker