The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It

The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It

Language: English

Pages: 208

ISBN: 0061157910

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Scientists and academics have spent entire careers investigating what makes people happy. But hidden in obscure scholarly journals and reports, their research is all too often inaccessible to ordinary people. Now the bestselling author of the 100 Simple Secrets series distills the scientific findings of over a thousand of the most important studies on happiness into easy-to-digest nuggets of advice. Each of the hundred practices is illustrated with a clear example and illuminated by a straightforward explanation of the science behind it to show you how to transform a ho-hum existence into a full and happy life.

  • Believe in yourself: Across all ages, and all groups, a solid belief in one's own abilities increases life satisfaction by about 40 percent, and makes us happier both in our home lives and in our work lives.
  • Turn off your TV: Watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, while reducing our personal contentment by about 5 percent for every hour a day we watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all her high school courses, then to college, on her way to a goal of becoming a teacher. Often it took her longer than any her classmates to finish readings and assignments, and every step along the way was arduous. Her friends spent many days helping Sarah, especially with her readings. On graduation night Sarah, soon bound for an Ivy League school, thanked those friends for their help, faith, and support. She spoke to her classmates as the first blind valedictorian in school history. The

with life is not in replicating what someone else has. Instead, build a support system that you draw from and give to, regardless of whether it is made up primarily of friends or family. A group of philosophers and historians gathered a few years back to study the advantages of family life two centuries ago. They were concerned about the instability in our current family situations and the widespread fear that our society is suffering from the lack of traditional family relationships. The

Counterfactual Determinants of Satisfaction and Regret.” In What Might Have Been. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Glass, J. C., and G. Jolly. 1997. “Satisfaction in Later Life.” Educational Gerontology 23:297. Grove, K. 1987. “The Paradox of Happiness.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, San Diego. Hagedorn, J. 1996. “Happiness and Self-Deception: An Old Question Examined by a New Measure of Subjective Well-Being.” Social Indicators Research 38:139. Hakanen, E. 1995. “Emotional Use of Music by

his neighbors. He would wave if he saw them in the yard, but mainly what he saw were tall fences and closed doors. Andy had bought himself a computer a few years ago, intending to use it for his job. Goofing off one day, he found himself exploring the Internet. Andy visited various sites where people with common interests in books or sports or art gathered online to discuss their hobbies. He fell into conversation with one particular person during his computer journey and soon found that they

newly liberated hours can be spent doing something with your family or your friends or finding a rare quiet moment for yourself. Without TV, you can do something actively fun instead of passively distracting. Watching too much TV can triple our hunger for more possessions, while reducing our personal contentment by about 5 percent for every hour a day we watch. Wu 1998 8 Accept yourself—unconditionally. You are not just the size of your bank account, the neighborhood you

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