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‎Boost your happiness and create a kinder world while doing it with the Action for Happiness app. You’ll receive simple, daily action ideas designed to help you support your own mental health and wellbeing and spread more happiness to others around you too. Join a community of positivity and self c…

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Happify: Science-Based Activities and Games

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Build skills for lasting happiness: Happify turns the latest innovations in positive psychology, CBT, and mindfulness into activities and games that help you lead a more fulfilling life.

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Anorak: the Happy Podcast for Kids invites children to voice the burning questions that they have about the world around them such as 'how do whales pee?" and "should every house have a jetpack?". These are answered by a global cast of guests ranging from rock stars to scientists, architects to ice cream makers. And there are jokes too!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anorak: the Happy Podcast for Kids invites children to voice the burning questions that they have about the world around them such as 'how do whales pee?" and "should every house have a jetpack?". These are answered by a global cast of guests ranging from rock stars to scientists, architects to ice cream makers. And there are jokes too!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Something we can all listen to!

A fun and interesting podcast that our whole family can listen to. It features cool guests, questions from 'real kids', and the occasional joke our child will try memorising to use at any opportunity. Feel-good and high quality... thanks, Anorak!

Love this podcast!

Super sweet. Lots of fun and seriously interesting facts which made them just as enjoyable for the adults on our car journey as the kids! Always a bonus!

Amazing podcast

Amazing podcast

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‎Anorak: The Happy Podcast For Kids on Apple Podcasts

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Anorak: the Happy Podcast for Kids invites children to voice the burning questions that they have about the world around them such as 'how do whales pee?" and "should every house have a jetpack?". These are answered by a global cast of guests ranging from rock stars to scientists, architects to ice...

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Learn research-tested strategies for a happier, more meaningful life, drawing on the science of compassion, gratitude, mindfulness, and awe. Hosted by award-winning psychologist Dacher Keltner. Co-produced by PRX and UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.

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You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type

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You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type - Kindle edition by Amen, Daniel G. . Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type.

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Today Will Be a Great Day!: Slimy Oddity’s Guide to Happiness

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Amazon.com: Today Will Be a Great Day!: Slimy Oddity’s Guide to Happiness eBook : Oddity, Slimy: Kindle Store

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How to be happier: 15 tips for a more fulfilling life

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Are you feeling a little overwhelmed? Stressed? Lost in the madness of life and looking for some ways that you can bring more happiness into your life? Do

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Simple things kids can do to feel happier

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Museum of Happiness - Cultivating Happiness Toolkit

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How to get rid of loneliness and become happy | Olivia Remes | TEDxNewcastle

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6 Habits That Will Make Your Life Happier

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The Link Between Mental Stability & Happiness

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Your mental stability and happiness are more interconnected than you think. It’s not uncommon to hear people who have lots of material possessions, supporters, and established careers, say that...

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In this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS, a sphinx gives three children free rein in a toy store for 60 seconds, telling them to take whatever makes them happy. Brad and Oliver collect shopping carts full of toys, but are only mildly happy and can't recall exactly what toys they chose. Clementine, on the other hand, selects only one small toy but is thrilled with her choice.

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In this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS, a sphinx gives three children free rein in a toy store for 60 seconds, telling them to take whatever makes them happy. Brad and Oliver collect shopping carts full of toys, but are only mildly happy and can't recall exactly what toys they chose.

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100 Kids Tell Us What Makes Them Happy | 100 Kids | HiHo Kids

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★ 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner for Illustration
★ 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Honor for Writing
★ A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of 2020

"Affirmations of black childhood abound, and whimsical wishes float like dandelion fluff. Equally as imaginative as the lyrical text, Corrin's boldly colored, textured illustrations beautifully capture the buoyant spirit of Layla, a brown girl exuding confidence, comfortable in her own skin-indoors and out. Well-illustrated poetry of the best kind that will leave sunshine in its wake." - STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus

Seven-year-old Layla loves life! So she keeps a happiness book. What is happiness for her? For you?

Spirited and observant, Layla is a child who's been given room to grow, making happiness both thoughtful and intimate. It's her dad talking about growing-up in South Carolina; her mom reading poetry; her best friend Juan, the community garden, and so much more. Written by poet Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie and illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin, this is a story of flourishing within family and community.

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Layla's Happiness [Tallie, Mariahadessa Ekere, Corrin, Ashleigh] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Layla's Happiness

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This follow-up to When Sadness Is at Your Door suggests that happiness can always be found by looking within.

This helpful picture book is a great introduction to mindfulness and emotional literacy. A spare text and simple illustrations encourage readers to find happiness even if it feels far away. The book gives it a shape, turning this elusive emotion into something real while acknowledging that you can't be happy all the time. The thoughtful text reassures readers that when happiness is hard to find, they can look for it in many places. Sharing something with a friend or reaching out to someone who needs it can lead to happiness. Recognize and treasure it when you experience it, knowing that happiness begins with you. Perfect for kids and for adult readers tackling these feelings themselves!

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Where Happiness Begins [Eland, Eva] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Where Happiness Begins

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authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment

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psychology / cognitive psychology & cognition

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Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment

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Buy Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

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0:26 / 1:25•Watch full video

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Kids Are Getting the Wrong Message About Happiness. Here's What You Need to Tell Them

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If we truly want our kids to grow into happy, fulfilled adults, we have to tell them the truth.

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1 Huppert, F.A. and Yu, N. (2020) The Rise of Mindfulness and its impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing. In Eds. Kirby, J.N, &amp; Gilbert, P. (2020) Making an Impact on Mental Health: The Applications of Psychological Research. Routledge
2 Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.
3 Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever You Go, There You Are – Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Hyperion. Cited in in Hart, R., Itzivan, I, &amp; Hart, D. (2013) Mind the Gap in Mindfulness Research: A comparative account of the leading schools of thought. Review of General Psychology, 17 (4) 144
4 Reitz, M., &amp; Chaskalson, M. (2016). Mindfulness works but only if you work at it. Harvard Business Review. Retreived from https://hbr.org/2016/11/mindfulness-works-but-only-if-you-work-at-it
5 Huppert, F.A. and Yu, N. (2020) The Rise of Mindfulness and its impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing. In Eds. Kirby, J.N, &amp; Gilbert, P. (2020) Making an Impact on Mental Health: The Applications of Psychological Research. Routledge
6 Huppert,F.A. (2018) Living Life Well: the role of mindfulness and compassion. In Eds Forgas, J. &amp; Baumeister, R. (2018) The Social Psychology of Living Well. Routledge
7 Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M., &amp; Creswell, J. D. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical foundations and evidence for its salutary effects. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), 211-237.; Fredrickson, B.L., Cohn, M.A., Coffey, K.A., Pek, J., &amp; Finkel, S.M. (2008) Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1045–1062; Keng, S. L., Smoski, M. J., &amp; Robins, C. J. (2011). Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6), 1041-1056.; Greeson, J. M. (2009). Mindfulness Research Update: 2008. Complementary Health Practice Review.
8 Huppert,F.A. (2018) Living Life Well: the role of mindfulness and compassion. In Eds Forgas, J. &amp; Baumeister, R. (2018) The Social Psychology of Living Well. Routledge; Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.; Howell, A.J., Digdon,N.L., Buro,K, &amp; Sheptykcki, A.R. (2008). Relations among mindfulness, well-being and sleep. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 773-777.; Brown, K.W., Ryan, R.M. &amp; Cresswell, J.M. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical foundations and evidence for it&#39;s salutary effects. Psychological Inquiry, 18, 211-237.
9 Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.; Shapiro, S.L. (2009) Meditation and Positive Psychology. In Eds: S.J. Lopez &amp; C.R. Snyder, Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press
10 Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.
11 Weinstein, N, Brown, K.W. &amp; Ryan, R.M. (2009). A multi-method examination of the effects of mindfulness on stress attribution, coping and emotional well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 374-385.
12 Shapiro, S.L. (2009) Meditation and Positive Psychology. In Eds: S.J. Lopez &amp; C.R. Snyder, Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press
13 Carsley, D., Khoury, B., &amp; Heath, N. L. (2018). Effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for mental health in schools: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Mindfulness, 9(3), 693-707.; Zenner, C., Herrnleben-Kurz, S., &amp; Walach, H. (2014). Mindfulness-based interventions in schools—a systematic review and meta- analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 603.; Sapthiang, S., Van Gordon, W., &amp; Shonin, E. (2019). Mindfulness in schools: a health promotion approach to improving adolescent mental health. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17(1), 112-119.
14 Huppert, F.A. and Yu, N. (2020) The Rise of Mindfulness and its impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing. In Eds. Kirby, J.N, &amp; Gilbert, P. (2020) Making an Impact on Mental Health: The Applications of Psychological Research. Routledge; Lomas, T., Medina, J. C., Ivtzan, I., Rupprecht, S., &amp; Eiroa-Orosa, F. J. (2019). Mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace: An inclusive systematic review and meta-analysis of their impact upon wellbeing. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 14(5), 625-640. Vonderlin, R., Biermann, M., Bohus, M., &amp; Lyssenko, L. (2020). Mindfulness-based programs in the workplace: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Mindfulness, 11(7), 1579-1598.
15 Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.; Shook, N. J., Ford, C., Strough, J., Delaney, R., &amp; Barker, D. (2017). In the moment and feeling good: Age differences in mindfulness and positive affect. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 3(4), 338.; Alexander, C.N., Langer, E.J., Newman, R.I., Chandler, H.M. &amp; Davies, J.L. (1989). Transcendental meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: An experimental study with the elderly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 950- 964
16 Brown, K. W., Ryan, R. M., &amp; Creswell, J. D. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical foundations and evidence for its salutary effects. Psychological inquiry, 18(4), 211-237.; Fredrickson, B.L., Cohn, M.A., Coffey, K.A., Pek, J., &amp; Finkel, S.M. (2008) Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 1045–1062; Huppert, F.A. and Yu, N. (2020) The Rise of Mindfulness and its impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing. In Eds. Kirby, J.N, &amp; Gilbert, P. (2020) Making an Impact on Mental Health: The Applications of Psychological Research. Routledge
17 Smith, W.P., Compton, W.C. &amp; West, W.B. (1995). Meditation as an adjunct to a happiness enhancement program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 269-273
18 Kuyken W, Warren FC, Taylor RS, et al. Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse: An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis From Randomized Trials. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(6):565–574;Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491-
516.
19 Brown, K.W., Kasser,T., Ryan, R.M., Linley,P.A. &amp; Orzech, K. (2009). When what one has is enough: Mindfulness, financial desire discrepancy and subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 727-736.
20 Killingsworth M. A., Gilbert D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science 330 932–932 10.1126/science.1192439 [PubMed]
21 Huppert, F.A. and Yu, N. (2020) The Rise of Mindfulness and its impact on Mental Health and Wellbeing. In Eds. Kirby, J.N, &amp; Gilbert, P. (2020) Making an Impact on Mental Health: The Applications of Psychological Research. Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.
22 Huppert,F.A. (2018) Living Life Well: the role of mindfulness and compassion. In Eds Forgas, J. &amp; Baumeister, R. (2018) The Social Psychology of Living Well. Routledge; Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 491- 516.
23 Shapiro, S.L. (2009) Meditation and Positive Psychology. In Eds: S.J. Lopez &amp; C.R. Snyder, Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press; Davidson, R.J., &amp; Kabat-Zinn, J. et al. (2003). Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570
24 Gilbert, P. (2013). Mindful compassion: Using the power of mindfulness and compassion to transform our lives. Hachette UK.
25 Roca, P., Vazquez, C., Diez, G., Brito-Pons, G., &amp; McNally, R. J. (2021). Not all types of meditation are the same: Mediators of change in mindfulness and compassion meditation interventions. Journal of Affective Disorders, 283, 354-362. Kirby et al 2017
26 Roca, P., Vazquez, C., Diez, G., Brito-Pons, G., &amp; McNally, R. J. (2021). Not all types of meditation are the same: Mediators of change in mindfulness and compassion meditation interventions. Journal of Affective Disorders, 283, 354-362.; Kirby, J. N., Tellegen, C. L., &amp; Steindl, S. R. (2017). A meta-analysis of compassion- based interventions: Current state of knowledge and future directions. Behavior Therapy, 48(6), 778-792.; Shapiro, S.L. (2009) Meditation and Positive Psychology. In Eds: S.J. Lopez &amp; C.R. Snyder, Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press Kirby et al 2017
27 Condon, P., Desbordes, G., Miller, W. B., &amp; DeSteno, D. (2013). Meditation increases compassionate responses to suffering. Psychological Science,24(10), 2125-2127.
28 Roca, P., Vazquez, C., Diez, G., Brito-Pons, G., &amp; McNally, R. J. (2021). Not all types of meditation are the same: Mediators of change in mindfulness and compassion meditation interventions. Journal of Affective Disorders, 283, 354-362.
29 Shapiro, S.L. (2009) Meditation and Positive Psychology. In Eds: S.J. Lopez &amp; C.R. Snyder, Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press
30 Shaprio, S.L., Oman, D., Thoresen, C.E., Plante, T.G, &amp; Flinders, T. (2008). Cultivating Mindfulness: Effects on Well-being. Journal of Clinical Psychology,64, 840-862.
31 Kang, Y., Gray, J. R., &amp; Dovidio, J. F. (2014). The nondiscriminating heart: Loving kindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1306.
32 Pandey, A., Chandwani, R., &amp; Navare, A. (2018). How can mindfulness enhance moral reasoning? An examination using business school students. Business Ethics: A European Review, 27(1), 56-71.
33 Thiermann, U. B., &amp; Sheate, W. R. (2021). The way forward in mindfulness and sustainability: a critical review and research agenda. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 5(1), 118-139.

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Live life mindfully Ever felt there must be more to life? Well good news - there can be - as long as we learn to be more mindful and aware. Being mindful can be a firm foundation for wellbeing. Studies show the practice of mindfulness can reduce stress levels, help us manage our emotions and react…

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The Science of Happiness in Positive Psychology 101

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This extensive article discusses how the human pursuit of happiness can be measured, studied, and applied to increase world happiness.

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Teach your children to keep a calm headspace by using mindfulness and meditation apps for stress-free health.

It's not uncommon for children to have tantrums because sometimes it's just how they express their emotions. However, when they become uncontrollable and you and your child are at a loss to deal with the situation, some peaceful intervention is needed. These stressful situations may also impede their sleep and their studies.

In an era that is reliant on phones and technology, they offer a solution. There are downloadable apps to teach your kids to be mindful and to meditate. They help build your child's social skills, deal with their anxiety or depression, and may also help them in their studies. They can be available from your mobile phone or on your laptop.

These apps will help your children calm down and cope with high-energy and high-stress activities and situations. If you are dealing with support issues or ADHD, there are apps below that will help guide you and your little one into a mindful and meditative lifestyle.

Why teach your kids to be mindful?

Kids will be subjected to several things for the first time: anxiety over tests and grades or not knowing how to handle new and strange emotions or situations. They might overthink it and stress over these activities.

Your children might be overwhelmed with these activities that they lose track of the task at hand, and act out on this anxiety. Being mindful will help your child focus on the present and to see things in a neutral light.

Mindful kids will have a more productive workflow. They know what's important, so they can focus on the task at hand and concentrate and learn from it. They can keep track of their emotions and know when to mellow down and be calm. This habit can help in the future to balance their emotions and their tasks.

Meditation for Children

Children are always active and on the go. They're constantly thinking a brainstorm creative ideas and doing a ton of things at once. However, in nerve-wracking or stressful situations, they may lose control over their emotions and might not know how to handle them.

Your child might not do good things or might say words he doesn't mean. As a parent, we must prioritize the welfare of our children, and help them calm down and organize their thoughts.

Meditating is a helpful way for your child to calm down and to sort out their feelings and thoughts. Letting them settle and quiet down and being aware of their mind seems such a small step, but does so much for our everyday life.

Meditation helps with anxiety and stress, giving a better sleeping habit. With an aware and calm mind, your child can concentrate on their studies and simple tasks. With this kind of levelheadedness, your child's self-esteem will improve.

How to teach children mindfulness and meditation

Starting the journey on being focused and calm will be rocky, as children don't like to stay at one place at a time and are always imagining. However, they are also very curious creatures that love to try out new things. Keeping an open and positive atmosphere and environment is a good starter to this journey.

However, with so many issues to tackle, it might be confusing to know where to start. Thankfully, there are trusted and dependable apps out there that will further help your child relax and gain control over their emotions and thoughts. Going through these apps together will guide both parent and child to a more happy and open headspace.

Headspace for Kids

This award-winning app is trusted to keep your child calm. They mainly have focus-based meditation activities, visualizations, and breathing exercises to stimulate the mind. They also focus on the five themes of kindness, focus, sleep, calm, and wake up.

This "Editor's Choice" app knows that different activities are appropriate to different age groups, so they created these activities by age groups of ages 5 and under, 6-8, and 9-12-year-olds. They have a free trial available so you can test if this app is the one for your little one.

Mindful Powers

This app knows that the only effective way to entertain your child while building their social-emotional learning is through playing games. They teach kids aged 7-10 how to handle and understand their thoughts through progressive voice-guided stories.

Before each story is played, they must soothe down their agitated virtual friend "Flibbertigibbet" with calm strokes of their finger. This helps them register that a soothing and helpful touch is positive reassurance. The repetitive soothing action helps them focus and relax.

They also have a self-set timer feature that will help your child stay focused on their task under that focus time. They encourage your kids to work towards their goal as they don't allow the use of the device while the timer is set.

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Smiling Mind

This free meditation app is recommended for teachers of kids ages 3-6 and 7-9. This app was developed by dedicated educators and psychiatrists to help children deal with the stress of life, in or out of the classroom.

They're also good for adults in the workplace and have different areas of focus like wellbeing, attention and concentration, and performance.

Stop, Breathe, and Think Kids

This free app is designed to help kids ages 5-10 to discover the rewards of being calm, resolving conflicts, breathing, and sleeping. They make use of familiar and colorful symbols like emojis to take note of their emotions and to complete mindful missions. Completing these missions rewards them with a sticker to keep the child engaged.

Child therapists recommend this app for helping the child learn to deal with over-excitement and stress, even feelings like disappointment and sadness. It also helps teachers educate students to understand deeper awareness and concentration in their classroom.

Mindfulness for Children

If your child is more into quiet and audio learning, this app is the best for you. The app is audio-only and helps your kid to follow breathing exercises whenever they feel stressed.

If they are unable to sleep in silence or just have difficulty doing so, this app also plays ambient nature sounds to help them to sleep. This app is specified for 5 years old and above.

This website-accessed free app has different offers of meditation for ages 3-17. They also have a subscription monthly and annually. They have affirmation exercises, healing activities, issue-based meditations, and lots more to help you and your child. These issue-based meditations are best for those with anxiety problems or ADHD.

They promote that meditation for only 10 minutes will help your child find balance in their young, busy lives. It is best to play this app as they awake or fall asleep. This app is also greatly discounted for professionals that help and guide children.

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Sleep Meditation for Kids

When your child just can't go to sleep, this free app will help lull your child to slumber.

It cultivates stories with meditations to help keep your child entertained. With each meditation story, subtle ambient music and sound effects help enhance your child's experience. This free app can be used for children up to age 12. It is also led by a yoga instructor and teacher to help your child relax.

This app is suited for your child if they have problems sleeping and mindfulness with their cute cartoon characters and audio narrated by many great artists.

This app boasts a wide variety of libraries of music tracks, meditations, and bedtime stories. As it is an audio-only app, your child does not need to look at the bright screen of phones anymore. It has a 7-day trial available for you to try out and see if this is the app for your child.

If it is you and your child's first time trying out meditation and relaxation apps, this trusted app might be for you. With over a million five-star reviews, this number one offers many options for your needs.

It can help improve focus on tasks by using nature scenes and sounds for an ambient working environment. It can also help improve sleep quality. This app also helps reduce stress and anxiety and helps for self-improvement.

Its Calm Kids section in the app focus on ages 3-18 and have a wide variety of activities to choose from. They have focus sessions, study breaks, and emotions series, meditations, and even sleep stories for your child.

With such a wide range of activities for children and adults, it might even benefit the stressed parent.

The Verdict

When children are unable to think properly because of unknown emotions and thought processes, they lose focus on what's important. These apps will help you and your child be guided on how to handle these thoughts and emotions and better understand each other.

From benefits like improved sleep and reduced anxiety, mindful and meditation apps will be a positive change.

Also Read:
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Apps For Teaching Kids Mindfulness & Meditation - Global Green Family

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Teach your children to keep a calm headspace by using mindfulness and meditation apps for stress-free health. It's not uncommon for children to have tantrums because sometimes it's just how they express their emotions. However, when they become uncontrollable and you and your child are at a loss to deal with the situation, some peaceful intervention is needed.

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There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
Looking for the best happiness apps to increase your overall life satisfaction?

Happiness has no universal definition-it varies depending on a person's situation. But generally, it is something that people from all walks of life are entitled to.

In this post, we have gathered the best happiness apps you can use to try to improve your life's potential. These apps can help you track your moods to give you a glimpse of what you need to improve.

( Side note: One proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.).

Let's get to it!

Founded by three serial entrepreneurs (Tomer Ben-Kiki, Ofer Leidner, and Andy Parsons) in New York City in 2012, Happify aims to change people's lives by providing ways to become happier. As stated by its founders, the purpose of the app is to use gaming and technology to build a better life for its users.

After you download the app and create an account, Happify will score your happiness based on a questionnaire. The questions are all about the smallest details in your life, particularly your health. Then, the app provides you with a series of tracks that you can use to start living a healthy, stress-free life.

Every track has a theme that is further divided into parts. Each part is then divided into various sets of activities, including guided meditations, writing assignments, and exciting games. As a basic free user, you are entitled to a few tracks with limited access. If you upgrade to the premium product (Happify Plus), you get to enjoy unlimited access to more than 30 tracks.

Happify is available on desktop, tablet, and mobile. If you want to start increasing your happiness based on scientific evidence-based research, you might want to try this app.

SuperBetter was originally founded and invented by Jane McGonigal, a researcher and game designer. She is also a TED Talker and a bestselling writer.

In 2015, the game was acquired by Keith Wakeman, who turned it into a corporation now known as SuperBetter, LLC. Along with the game, Wakeman also acquired the trust of McGonigal, who is now the company's chief science officer.

The app aims to help people build grit and resilience, and develop the ability to stay strong, persistent, and positive despite all the challenges that life may throw at them. It is based on a framework called Live Gamefully, which brings out your heroic strengths and gives you a better mindset.

SuperBetter works by providing you with daily activities that you can track until you reach your goal. It uses a point system, and you gain points for each step you complete. Such steps include taking a walk or drinking a glass of water.

What's great about this app is that you can actually be a superhero if you like-you can collect power-ups, win against bad guys, and get help from friends and allies.

3. My Gratitude Journal

Gratitude makes people happier. There are a lot of things to be grateful for, and there are a lot of ways to practice being grateful. One of the best amongst these is journaling.

My Gratitude Journal takes journaling to a more advanced level. While some people may enjoy the traditional pen-and-paper method, there are those who would probably prefer to have a diary on their tablets or smartphones.

To use the app, you need to download it and then create an account through Facebook, Twitter, or an email account. For your first journal entry, you have to upload a photo, type a description of the things you are grateful for, and then add your location.

Every day, you keep track of five things you are grateful for. You will be sent notifications and rewards so you can develop the journaling habit. Likewise, you may set daily reminders, search for inspirational quotes, and revisit your past entries through the app.

Note, however, that the app is only available for iOS users. The company behind it has yet to develop an Android version.

Headspace explains its purpose in its very short yet sincere tagline: "Your guide to health and happiness." It aims to help you live a healthier, more rested, and happier life with its mindfulness meditation and exercise guides.
Through its guided meditation techniques, the happiness app has three main goals:

Reduce your daily stress and anxiety.

Help you stay focused and drive away distractions.

Increase your compassion toward other people.

The Headspace app offers a variety of meditation guides -from basic to advanced-for the different aspects of your life. These include sleep, work, happiness, and a lot more. If you feel like you're about to get burned out, the app has you covered-it has a meditation guide for that, too!

Overall, this happiness and meditation app teaches you how to breathe properly, meditate mindfully, and live your life fully. In addition to meditation guidelines, it also has exercise plans that can help you manage your stress, regularize your breathing, and generally make your life happy.

Even if you do not know how to meditate, the app can help you learn to do so. It offers courses that teach meditation, breathing techniques, and even better sleep quality and personal growth.

MoodKit was designed and developed by two clinical psychologists: Dr. Drew Erhardt and Dr. Edrick Dorian (the same creators as Moodnotes). It adheres to the principles and techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is considered to be one of the most effective methods of psychotherapy.

MoodKit is an app that allows you to track your mood and then assess it through journaling. It is like having your own cognitive-behavioral psychologist in your pocket.

Through this app, you can rate and record your mood throughout the day. Likewise, you can take notes of your observations about those moods and assess yourself at the end of the day. Additionally, the app provides a list of daily activities you can do and a number of tips you can follow to increase your life satisfaction and happiness.

MoodKit aims to develop self-awarenes s and healthy attitudes. Moreover, it wishes to change people's lives by changing the way they think and feel.

Invented by Matt Killingsworth during his doctoral research at Harvard University, this app aims to make use of modern technology to answer the age-old question: "What makes people happy?"

Killingsworth believes that the true meaning of happiness is different for everyone. The factors affecting happiness vary depending on what is important for each person, and these factors are exactly what the app wants to discover.

Every day, the app sends you questions about what you are doing and feeling at the moment. For every 50 responses, you will get a happiness report so you can recognize exactly what makes you feel the happiest. Moreover, you will know when and where you are feeling the best.

Track Your Happiness is an app approved by the Harvard University Committee for use with human subjects. If you want to know more, developer Matt Killingsworth has a TED Talk about it.

Brought to you by Gopher Apps LLC, this unique and creative app gives you " unique daily affirmations " to help you face challenges, succeed in your endeavors, and create a positive vibe in your life.

You only get one affirmation per day, which you need to say out loud. The developers recommend speaking the affirmation and repeating it over and over again to stimulate your mind. It has been scientifically proven that the more you repeat information, the more your mind retains it.

Throughout the day, your subconscious mind will preserve the affirmation. As a result, you will have a positive attitude toward whatever comes your way.

To use the app, just press the large gray button to reveal your affirmation for the day. You may share, save, view, or skip the affirmation by tapping the bottom left icon. You may also add your own affirmation by tapping on the bottom left part of the icon that says "Add Your Own."

If you want to try journaling without using too many words, Daylio is perhaps the best app to try. More than a simple happiness app, it is an award-winning, mood-tracking app that allows you to record your emotions by choosing the best videos.

Daylio offers you a variety of videos to choose from. These videos depict your moods, so you only have to select the one that best reflects what you are feeling. As such, the app is best for people who are more visual.

Daylio features a "statistics and calendar" tool that allows you to record what you are feeling. This way, you will be able to determine the patterns in your attitude, behavior, and feelings. You can include additional notes about your moods so you will have a broader view of what the patterns are trying to illustrate.

Other features of the app include reminders, backup entries, PIN locks, monthly and yearly statistics logs, and a lot more.

RealifeChange aims to be a "portable life coach" by tracking your daily moods, activities, and experiences, and then analyzing them to give you feedback. It was designed to help you identify your life stressors and overcome them by:

Living a mindful life

Increasing your confidence

Boosting your overall life satisfaction

The app uses a unique technology called "Life Autofocus®" that helps you build a better version of yourself by helping you scrutinize the insights of your experiences. It tracks your mood and experiences based on type, intensity, and location. You can use hashtags to easily track them.

RealifeChange is designed for busy people who want to improve their happiness and life satisfaction but do not have the time to do so on their own.

Yolife is a relatively new happiness app that aims to increase people's happiness by providing ways for them to live healthily. According to its founders (Tassilo Webber and Roope Kärki), the app's goal is to " add 15 healthy years to 1 million people."

Sign-up is via Facebook or a valid email address. After that, there are three steps to make the most out of this health and happiness app:

Free health consultation - The app will ask you questions about your health, exercise, habits, social life, etc. Your answers will determine the most important health areas that you need to improve. The app will also provide you with an estimate of how long you will live if you are in good health.

Personalized program - You will receive guidelines and instructions based on the answers you provided. The app offers classes on topics such as optimal sleeping conditions, sex habits to help you live longer, the purpose of life, and many more.

Healthy lifetime - This is the maintenance level, where you simply need to apply what is in your personalized program. You will see a track record of the healthy days added to your lifetime.

The founders of Yolife believe that a person's happiness is dependent on two things: purpose and health. If you know your purpose in life and are healthy enough to accomplish it, your happiness and life satisfaction will increase.

A final word on these great happiness apps

Life can be stressful. There are a lot of things to worry about, including work, school, home, and other issues..

But despite all the obstacles and challenges that life may throw at you, remember that there is always a reason to be happy. There is always something to be thankful for.

If you want to live a healthier, happier life, try one of the 10 happiness apps we shared above. Figure out which one best fits your schedule and personality, and then use it to add a dose of happiness to your life.

Finally, one proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.

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Looking for the best happiness apps to increase your overall life satisfaction? Happiness has no universal definition-it varies depending on a person's situation. But generally, it is something that people from all walks of life are entitled to.

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What makes you smile?

That's the question that your kids will contemplate while reading these picture books about the human emotion of happiness.

Here's a list of books sure to put a smile on your face. This latest addition to my series of picture books about emotions will bring you joy. Children's books about happiness may not get as much attention as books about more difficult emotions like anger, fear, and anxiety but they are just as necessary for a good home library.

I selected a variety of children's books about joy. There are board books for babies and toddlers, books for preschoolers, stories that will help older kids contemplate what inner happiness means, quirky tales that will make you laugh and several that will encourage everyone to break into song. (Note: book titles and covers are affiliate links.)

Happy reading!

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Most likely you have heard about this book. A friend and I recently discussed how the book, while being rather (okay, a lot) cheesy, kids can easily relate to the main metaphor. It teaches kids that happiness is not just about themselves, but is intimately connected to the well-being of others. It's a pretty decent book actually, even though I wouldn't put it on a list of "books with subtle messages."

The Three Questions [Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy] by Jon J. Muth. I like to recommend this book as much as possible and it is a good stepping stone for a discussion with your kids about what constitutes inner happiness. They will ask, What is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? and reflect on the importance of doing good deeds and paying attention to the immediate moment.

My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith is a super sweet and wonderful board book perfect for your baby or toddler. It's also one of the few board books featuring a Native American protagonist. The text celebrates finding happiness in the everyday events and joyful, colorful illustrations.

Anna Hibiscus' Song by Atinuke is a wonderful picture book featuring one of my favorite protagonists. Anna Hibiscus also stars in her own chapter book series, which we have read and loved. Anna Hibiscus lives in modern Africa and she is feeling so much happiness she doesn't know what to do with it all! She turns to her family members for advice, and in the end Anna discovers her own personal way to express her joy -- through song.

Augustus and His Smile by Catherine Rayner. Augustus the tiger goes looking for a smile. He sets out on a journey which takes him all around the world. Along the way he encounters beauty and wonderful sights, and at last, when he gazes into a pool of water, he finds his smile. Reflecting (pun!) on his experience he realizes that in order to be happy all he needs is to do is remember all the beautiful things in the world.

Double Happiness. This is a lovely, thoughtful story by poet Nancy Tupper Ling. Verse "chapters" tell a story that conveys the important connection between family history and the future. Two children, Gracie and Jack, are gearing up for a big move. They will have to leave beloved family behind but their Nai Nai ( grandmother) gives them each a special happiness box to fill with important items. Gorgeous, gorgeous illustration complete the book.
Other picture book lists about feelings:
And if you like to laugh, read our favorite funny picture books.

Did you know we publish a new and fabulous book list every Monday? You'll cry tears of disappointment if you miss any of them. Put don't worry, you can subscribe to have our newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.

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Children's Books that Will Make You SMILE

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What makes you smile? That's the question that your kids will contemplate while reading these picture books about the human emotion of happiness. Here's a list of books sure to put a smile on your face. This latest addition to my series of picture books about emotions will bring you joy.

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There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
Have you tried listening to happiness podcasts? Trust me. They will never break your day, they'll only make it.

Happiness is an abstract concept. It could mean different things to different people. What is happiness for me might not be the definition of happiness for you.

But regardless, the feeling it gives to every person in the world is the same-a fleeting and incomparable bliss.

According to an article from Happiness International Organization, being happy means being contented and satisfied with what you have. The true meaning of happiness comes when you find beauty in all the things you possess.

When you're happy, your brain is fueled with positivity. And when you have a positive outlook on life, you become more productive and successful.

There is only one problem: Sometimes, when life decides to throw challenges at us, we forget how simply being happy can somehow alleviate the stress we're feeling. We tend only to see what's there to be lonely and sad about.

Well, that doesn't have to be the case. There is a way to remind yourself that happiness is everywhere and that you just have to find it: happiness podcasts!

( Side note: One proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.).

This article will provide you with the 19 best happiness podcasts that are on the air today. Whatever you're feeling, whether overjoyed or lonely, these podcasts can surely brighten up your day.
Let's get to it.
Gretchen Rubin is an influential and thought-provoking author and podcast host who focuses on happiness and human nature. She is a highly sought-out professional, and you will notice that her name often pops up as a guest host in podcasts on this list. Her podcast updates every Monday with new ideas and conversations surrounding how to live a happier life. Listeners appreciate her ability to simplify and explain complex ideas using humor and clarity, making her work accessible to a large audience.

She has written "New York Times" bestsellers, including " The Four Tendencies" and " The Happiness Project," but she gets more personal in her podcast as she discusses happiness and healthy habits along with her sister, Elizabeth Craft.

Gretchen draws from leading science, age-old wisdom, pop culture, and her personal experiences to examine how people can live their lives with more happiness, productivity, and creativity.

This podcast airs new episodes every Monday and is hosted by Jonathan and Stephanie Fields.

This couple has raw and honest discussions about living life to the fullest and living with a sense of meaning. They share inspiring stories and have open and frank conversations with iconic trailblazers such as Elizabeth Gilbert, Brene Brown, Seth Godin, and Happier with Gretchen Rubin host Gretchen Rubin, as well as with normal, everyday guests.

Every story they tell is candid and fascinating, prompting listeners to tune in every week.

TED talks have become the "go-to" place to hear inspiring and educational speeches from international experts in a wide variety of fields.

This podcast is a co-production of NPR and TED and offers listeners new ideas every Thursday. Each show is based on a TED talk and carries a theme, such as what people believe to be the source of happiness.

The show is hosted by award-winning journalist and correspondent Guy Raz, and listeners get an in-depth look at some of the innovative ideas and new approaches that influential people in the world are bringing to the TED Talk stage. Its guests include professionals such as psychologists, CEOs, neuroscientists, athletes, and journalists.

Some episodes of this podcast include " Why Aren't We More Compassionate?" and " Is It Enough to Be Politically Correct?"

Hosted by Lewis Howes, this podcast encourages people to find their true passion in life and dedicate their time to doing what they love.

Howes, a "NYT" bestselling author, offers his listeners inspiring stories every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from influential people such as world-class athletes, CEOs, and celebrities.

Howes uses his platform to mentor others and spread his positivity to as many people as possible. Some of the episodes include "The Secret to Happiness" and "Happiness Through Hardship," and all aim to give listeners tools and skills to maximize their potential and have the lives that they want.

Some topics that are often covered on this show include inspiration, business, entrepreneurship, health, and relationships. This podcast will help you find your sense of purpose if that is something you struggle with.

Dan Harris, who is an ABC newscaster who suffered from a panic attack live on "Good Morning America," hosts this podcast, where he discusses his newfound appreciation for meditation. He has guests (including neuroscientists, meditation professionals, psychologists, and leading health experts) come on his show to talk about how to train your mind.

Harris wrote the bestselling book " 10% Happier," which led to the creation of an app and eventually this podcast. He explores whether it is possible to go beyond the 10% happiness that he suggests in his title, and questions if people can be ambitious while still striving for enlightenment. New episodes are available every Tuesday morning.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Alix Spiegel and Hanna Rosin, and comes out with updates on an irregular basis. Beginning in early 2015, the hosts explore the intangible elements of life that shape human behavior. Forces such as ideas, beliefs, feelings, and emotions are examined through narrative storytelling that incorporates science and aims to help people see their lives in a new light.

Some of the episodes include " The Secret History of Thoughts," " Future Self," and " True You." The show maintained a consistent Top 10 ranking for several months after its initial episode and has continued to hold a strong following.

This podcast is hosted by award-winning professor Dacher Keltner and co-produced with Public Radio International. It aims to provide listeners with research, tips, and inspiring stories. Guests such as Inside Out director Pete Docter, ABC News's Dan Harris, and author Michael Pollan have been featured on the show to test practices like gratitude, mindfulness, meditation, self-compassion, and forgiveness in their daily lives, and then recap their experiences with well-being researchers.

The hosts also teach their listeners about scientifically researched strategies to live a happier, more meaningful life. The show updates every Thursday, and has produced episodes such as "How to Find Your Best Possible Self" and "Quieting Your Inner Critic."
[Like these podcasts? Check out 17 more motivational podcasts to inspire your day.]
Tony Robbins is considered by many to be the premier voice of the self-help movement.

In his podcast, Robbins shares helpful tips and strategies so his listeners can achieve better results in their personal and professional lives. He updates the podcast every week or two and features notable guests to have an open and honest conversation about self-improvement. Some of his popular guests have included Dana White, Gretchen Rubin, Daniel Pink, and Robyn O' Brien.

Listeners appreciate the motivational truths that can be taken away from the episodes in this podcast. People find Tony's intensity to be inspirational.

Hosted by Dave Asprey, Bulletproof Radio strives to use a wide variety of professionals and technologies and techniques to improve as a human being. Using knowledge from doctors, scientists, Olympic nutritionists, meditation gurus, and over a million dollars worth of personal self-experiments, Asprey aims to explain the simplest things that people can do to improve themselves in every way.

In his ideal world, people can take control of their lives and use their biochemistry, bodies, and minds in unison to be able to work at levels much higher than expected, without becoming sick or stressed out. Follow along every Tuesday and Thursday as Dave Asprey and his guests give you everything you need to improve your physical and mental states.

This podcast is created and produced by longtime friends Eric Zimmer and Chris Forbes. They began this show to discuss the subject of "creating a life worth living"-both for themselves and for their listeners. They believe it takes a conscious and constant effort to create a life that is worth living.

Eric and Chris address how people are able to keep themselves moving in the right direction through open discussions of their habits, motivation, meditation, insight, depression, anxiety, happiness, mental health, and philosophy.

Their approachable conversational style and ability to bring their own life experiences into their discussion makes this podcast a helpful resource for learning life skills. Eric and Chris post updates every Tuesday.

Tim Ferriss, a well-known self-help professional, releases episodes of his podcast every Thursday, where he discusses topics ranging from broad personal development to your specific morning routine.

Tim teaches his listeners the habits of successful people with a wide range of backgrounds, such as investors, celebrities, CEOs, chess players, and sports professionals.

He finds tools and tricks that these world-class performers use that his listeners can adopt to improve their own lives. Some well-known guests he has had on his show include Arnold Schwarzenegger, LeBron James, and Tony Robbins. As of 2018, this podcast had over 300 million downloads.

Stuff You Should Know is an award-winning podcast hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, who are both writers at HowStuffWorks. With new releases every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Josh and Chuck educate their listeners on a large range of topics, with a specific focus on the way things work, and the addition of a comedic twist.

The episodes on this podcast are well-researched and cover a variety of topics in subjects like science, conspiracy theories, history, urban legends, and pop culture. Josh and Chuck discuss a topic in such a way that, by the end of the episode, their listeners walk away with basic working knowledge.

Some of their most popular episodes have been on tipping in restaurants, hangovers, pinball, death, cheese, and Barbie.

The Daily Boost is a motivation podcast that offers a wide variety of personal development strategies and acknowledges common sense logic. Hosted by Scott Smith, this show combines lessons, personal experience, and humor to create a new type of motivation podcast that can fit into listeners' lives.

Scott Smith offers a fresh, funny, and personable dose of motivation to help listeners make their lives more meaningful. This quick, nine-minute podcast is updated every Monday, giving you the perfect boost to start your week. This might be the right podcast for you if you want to get to the next level in your life but are unsure how to get there.

Ziglar, a world-class motivator, releases new episodes of his podcast bi-weekly to inspire people and equip listeners with the tools they need to move ahead of their current realities. Hosted by Kevin Miller and Zig Ziglar, this show addresses the unique things that successful people do in order to achieve greatness that everyday people can learn from and adopt into their own lives.

The hosts ask guests questions regarding how they became successful and how they have overcome challenges. Some of the episodes include "How Self-Aware Are You?" "Habits - Rick Hanson on Being Enough," "How to Gain a Positive Outlook on Life," and "Simply Tracking Your Daily Activities Will Increase Your Results."

Lori Harder is fitness, self-improvement, and mindfulness expert who offers her followers practical tools to encourage sustainable physical health, emotional well-being, and financial freedom. She has helped countless people transform their lives, empower themselves, gain financial independence, and gain a new appreciation for themselves and their lives.

In her podcast, Lori offers all of the inside tips and tools that one may need to break through their fears, connect their mind and body, and get focused so they can improve their life, relationships, and career. This podcast updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and has hosted noteworthy guests such as Aaron Alexander, Olivia June, and Tracy O'Malley.

Kristen Truemph is a positive psychology guru who hopes to make a significant impact on her work by helping people flourish.

In her podcast, Kristen talks about the things in life that truly make people happy, such as the ability to appreciate beauty, gratitude, and positive emotions.

She hosts guests to have discussions about happiness, including doctors, authors, and psychologists. She updates her podcast about once a month.

Join the editors of "Live Happy" magazine every Tuesday to learn about some proven ideas and tips to help you live a life with more meaning and happiness. The hosts conduct interviews with leaders in the positive psychology industry, such as Gretchen Rubin, Dr. Sasha Heinz, and Nick Ortner. Some categories that are often covered in this podcast include home, inspiration, the "Live Happy" magazine, happiness, science, and work.

"New York Times" bestselling author Jessica Ortner is on a mission to help other people be able to uncover their best selves by reducing stress and anxiety. After a successful weight loss journey, Ortner began teaching other people "tapping," which she attributes a lot of her success to.

Some of the episodes on this show include "Eating for Happiness with Julie Daniluk," " How to Live a Good Life When You Feel Like You've Lost Your Spark," and " How to Get Unstuck and Find Your Flow ".

This podcast updates once or twice a month.

Join father and daughter duo Chris and Charlotte on their podcast every Wednesday as they explore how people can be kinder to one another.

Each week, they share stories of kindness and illustrate how being kind to other people can help you live a happier life. The team welcomes stories from listeners to share on their show.

A final word on these happiness podcasts

They say that happiness is a choice, and I can't help but agree. Life is an everyday battle. It's how we fight these battles with a cheerful heart that makes the difference.

To accompany you in being happy while struggling through life, try listening to an episode or two from each of the happiness podcasts above. Each of them has its own style, format, and structure, but they are all excellent sources of happiness.

When you find the best among this list, subscribe to it and enjoy listening to make your life more happy and meaningful.

Finally, one proven way to improve your happiness and life satisfaction is to focus on goals that truly matter. To get started, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.

Was this article helpful to you?

Share the joy these podcasts bring on your social media accounts so your friends can listen to them!

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19 Best Happiness Podcasts (Our Selection for 2022)

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Have you tried listening to happiness podcasts? Trust me. They will never break your day, they'll only make it. Happiness is an abstract concept. It could mean different things to different people. What is happiness for me might not be the definition of happiness for you.

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Happier Podcast - Gretchen Rubin

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The Success Starter Toolkit is your free online resource to help you live your most successful and fulfilling life. With real strategies and tools to implement into your life you can start making positive changes today.

The Success Toolkit is something that will expand over time. When new information, guides and materials are produced, they will be located here for you to have free access to. What better way to create a better life?

At The Start of Happiness, we believe in 3 things:

Making a difference in this world

Making an income doing what you love

Making yourself a high-performer and an expert at what you do

If you can master the 3 behaviours above, then you will start immense, lasting happiness not only in your own life, but in the lives of others surrounding you.

The Success Toolkit

1. The Wheel of Life: A Self-Assessment Tool

Download: Wheel of Life Self-Assessment Supporting Documentation (.pdf)
This document is to support the post on the Wheel of Life, with further detailed information on questions for guidance, templates to print off and an action plan for you to easily print off, complete and reefer to regularly.
Download: Wheel of Life Self-Assessment Supporting Documentation (.docx)
This is the same as the above however in Word format, so you can easily type in your information and actions straight onto the document.

2. The 5 Whys Template
Download the 5 Whys Template:
A quick tool for creating sustained happiness ( full post here).

3. Quick Guides

4. Bonus Free Guide

5. Create Your Own Happiness Manifesto
Download: Create Your Own Happiness Manifesto - Supporting Documentation (.pdf)
To help you with the above in creating your own Happiness Manifesto, use this as guidance and thought prompters to ensure you maximise its value

6. Happiness Manifesto
Download: Happiness Manifesto (.png)
This is a .pdf version of the Happiness Manifesto which you can quickly and easily print off and pin up in a place of importance to you so you can keep it front of mind daily.

7. Recommended Books

Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.

If you ask him if he's happy, even though he's suffered the loss of his country, the Dalai Lama will give you an unconditional yes. What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that the very motion of our life is toward happiness. How to get there has always been the question. He's tried to answer it before, but he's never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand.

Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we'll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work.

In his first comic book, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business; through LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft for $265 million), Zappos (acquired by Amazon for over $1 billion in stock), and more.
Book: Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom
Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and other great teachers were born with brains built essentially like anyone else's. Then they used their minds to change their brains in ways that changed history.

With the new breakthroughs in neuroscience, combined with the insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you, too, can shape your own brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.

Buddha's Brain joins the forces of modern science with ancient teachings to show readers how to have greater emotional balance in turbulent times, as well as healthier relationships, more effective actions, and a deeper religious or spiritual practice.

Well-referenced and grounded in science, the book is full of practical tools and skills readers can use in daily life to tap the unused potential of the brain and rewire it over time for greater peace and well-being.

If you can change your brain, you can change your life.

Being fully in each moment leads to peace and well-being - but it's harder than it sounds, especially in a world with constant demands on our time and attention. How do you practice mindfulness when you're faced with difficult coworkers, overwhelming schedules, or stubborn kids? In this book, Donald Altman brings the benefits of mindfulness down to earth and into everyday life. With fifty exercises and practices to build awareness and center attention, you will discover how to savor routine pleasures, build fulfillment in your work, enhance and heal relationships, change unhealthy habits, and connect to peace even in the midst of chaos or uncertainty.

One of the best known motivational books in history: Since it was released in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Carnegie's first book is timeless and appeals equally to business audiences, self-help audiences, and general readers alike..

Proven advice for success in life: Carnegie believed that most successes come from an ability to communicate effectively rather than from brilliant insights. His book teaches these skills by showing readers how to value others and make them feel appreciated rather than manipulated.

With Dale Carnegie's timeless advice in hand, more than six million people have learned how to eliminate debilitating fear and worry from their lives and to embrace a worry-free future. In this classic work, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas that you can put to work today. It is a book packed with lessons that will last a lifetime and make that lifetime happier!

Discover how to:

Eliminate fifty percent of business worries immediatel

Reduce financial worry

Avoid fatigue - and keep looking young

Add one hour a day to your waking life

Find yourself and be yourself - remember there is no one else on earth like you!

Book: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty?

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way-and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why.
Book: thxthxthx: Thank Goodness for Everything
Based on the website above and after years of being encouraged (okay, nagged) by her Mother to write thank-you notes, Dieterich began writing one thank-you note a day to whatever thing, no matter how small or odd, she was thankful for. From important gestures, like a Partner's Understanding, to simple, soulful, and quirky things like Songs You're Embarrassed to Like, thxthxthx features 200 of Dieterich's original, handwritten thank-you notes that collectively convey the look and feel of handwritten notes from a close friend.

Do you have something awesome to share? Please let me know!

Thanks for being part of something awesome! Keep Starting the Happiness not only in your life, but in the lives of others around you. You guys rock!

Start the Happiness!

Brendan

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Happiness Toolkit Backup - The Start of Happiness

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The Success Starter Toolkit is your free online resource to help you live your most successful and fulfilling life. With real strategies and tools to implement into your life you can start making positive changes today . The Success Toolkit is something that will expand over time.

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About a year and a half ago, I began designing inspirational posters-which work like a "pattern interrupt" to help stop a moving train of negative thoughts in its track. Many of my posters, to my surprise and delight, wound up going incredibly viral, being shared literally millions of times.

My belief? In today's time-challenged, coffee-chugging world, it's often hard to find time to read an inspirational self-help book. But you can always find time to read an inspiring poster.

I began wondering: What are other "instant happy" tools-to help people swiftly bounce back to a happier frame of mind? Below are my top 15 happiness power tools.

1. Do a shower power meditation. Take a shower and multitask washing away your stress and anxiety. Concentrate on the feel of the water upon your skin. Envision the power of the shower washing away your negative thoughts. Whoosh! Envision fear, regret, and anger soaping off you and swirling down the drain.

2. Get lit. Studies show that sitting in dark rooms can lead to darker thoughts and that, alternatively, spending time in bright light (from being outside in the sun or inside in very well-lit rooms) can create happier brain chemistry. With this in mind, the Princeton Theological Seminary recommends something called "happy light bulbs," which are either 60- or 100-watt daylight bulbs.

3. Stare at something yellow. Put on a yellow shirt. Buy some yellow flowers. "Yellow can lift your spirits and self-esteem," says color psychologist Angela Wright.

4. Walk on something green. Being surrounded by nature is good for human nature. Go take a hike-or go for a stroll in the park.

5. Say, "ohm." Give yourself the gift of five minutes of quiet time, sitting in a comfortable position, humming "ohm." Studies show the sound of "ohm" vibrating in your throat relaxes your body-even warming up the skin a bit.

6. Organize your home or office-and clean up messy thoughts in the process. It's a funny thing how the less clutter you have all around you, the calmer your mind becomes.

7. Give yourself a helpful hand-with some hand reflexology. Massage the chakra points on your palms-right at the base of each thumb. They match up with your adrenal glands, which need a little loving attention when you're stressed or depressed. Hold one hand in the other; then, use the pad of your thumb to gently but firmly massage this zone.

8. Send the universe some "muah!" Gratitude is often the antidote to depression. And that's a researched fact. A study done by the University of California showed that when people took time each day to think about five things that made them happy, they increased their overall joy and improved some health issues as well.

With this in mind, send five "muahs!" to the universe. Literally. Think up something you're grateful about, then pucker up, and blow the universe a kiss! Then do it again! Appreciate. Blow a kiss. Repeat. Appreciate. Blow a kiss. Repeat.

9. Sniff your way to a happier mood. Studies from the University of Miami School of Medicine report that lavender is a major olfactory happiness tool-shown to improve mood, soothe anxiety, and even help to reduce some physical pains. If you don't have lavender around your home, grab a bottle of Vanilla Extract from your kitchen cabinet. This yummy scent is also considered a powerful aromatherapy happiness booster. Added bonus: Studies also show the scent of vanilla arouses men, so consider yourself forewarned!

10. Have some punch. Punch a pillow. Punch a teddy bear. Punch some dough. Get the negative energy out of your system through energetic action.

11. Do some heavy petting-with a dog or cat. Lots of studies repeatedly show how pets are a powerful, furry form of stress relief. They lower blood pressure and reduce harmful stress hormones like cortisol.

Plus, hugging and playing with pets has been shown to increase happiness-inducing oxytocin. One Grimshaw study specifically showed that patients who spent a short amount of time with a dog right before undergoing an operation experienced a 37 percent reduction in their anxiety levels.

12. Go fish. A Duncan study showed that watching a fish tank for 30 minutes lowered blood pressure significantly.

13. See your problems from a headstand position. Many yoga passionistas (including celebrity yoga guru and fellow Positively Positive contributor Jennifer Pastiloff) recommend doing headstands to release stress. MRI studies even back up a headstand's mood-boosting benefit-showing how regular headstands literally improve brain function.

14. Get doodle happy. Grab some magic markers and doodle lots of heart icons. Big heart doodles. Small heart doodles. Give some of the heart doodles smiley faces.

The silliness of this doodling action, combined with the repeated visual stimuli of seeing icons representing love, will cheer you up. Extra feel-good bonus: Doodle your heart icons on a plain white card and mail it to a friend or loved one with a note expressing your adoration of them.

15. Read your way to a happier you. Read through my newest book Instant Happy-overflowing with my viral posters, which work as "Negative Thought Interventions" (because they help stop and swap negative beliefs for positive ones) and "Inspirational Flashcards" (because they remind you of tools and beliefs which best support your happiness). Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I fully believe in the power of inspirational posters to create a quick attitude shift to a happier frame of mind.

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About a year and a half ago, I began designing inspirational posters-which work like a "pattern interrupt" to help stop a moving train of negative thoughts in its track. Many of my posters, to my surprise and delight, wound up going incredibly viral, being shared literally millions of times. My belief?

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Happiness is my favorite DIY project.

I believe we have the power to make ourselves happy. I have my own ongoing happiness project in the form of this jar - which I started with my family years ago. We fill it with notes where we write down things that make us happy - and enjoy reading the notes every once in a while. Oh, watching that jar fill up is a joy all its own.

Today, I am sharing a fantastic happiness toolkit idea. Make it for yourself, or put one together for a friend as a gift.

The unique thing about this toolkit is the symbolism attached to each item. The items themselves are pretty simple, things we have around our house. Each item has a metaphorical meaning attached to it, while being useful and serves as a wonderful reminder of happiness in the hectic and crazy world we live in!

So let us start gathering happiness in a bag, shall we?

Here are 21 items to put in your happiness toolkit

1. A rubber band

To remind you not to stretch yourself too thin. Have the courage to say NO without feeling guilty. Set boundaries. Elastic is similar to stress: we need to stretch to thrive, but not too much or we'll snap!

To add color to your world. Don't view things only in black and white.

3. A stress ball

To nudge you to be resilient, soft and flexible, just like the stress ball that bounces back, floats, and keeps its shape no matter what.

4. A kaleidoscope

To remind you to embrace change. A kaleidoscope is constantly changing, transforming into different beautiful designs.

5. A toy fire fighter

To remind you to avoid being the one that starts the fires in your relationships; instead, put them out. When you see a fire, you have the power to stop it.

To remind you that you can write your own destiny with a happy ending. You have the power to steer your story in the direction you want.

To tell you that it is okay to make mistakes and it is okay to be imperfect. You just have to be human, not perfect. Don't feel the pressure to be right.

To remind you that play is important to be you sane and feeling light. You don't have to be a child to play! Blow some bubbles and enjoy the joy!

9. A deck of cards

No matter what cards life deals you, it is how you play your hand. Like people, we need all kinds of cards in the game of life. Sometimes the lowest card is the best; point is, we need all 52. Feel free to add just your favorite card in your happiness toolkit rather than all 52.

10. A magnifying glass

To help you view your thoughts, differentiating between irrational and negative thoughts, and eliminate negative thinking.

11. Hershey Kisses

Keep one for yourself, because self love comes first. Give away the rest in gratitude. I like to add some hugs too!

12. Paper Clips

To remind you to keep positive people in your life.

To remind you that life is uncertain and full of chances. You can't control the number you will get; you can only roll with it and play!

To remind you to set aside time to relax, take a mental vacation, or assign a pocket of time to worry rather than carry it with you throughout the day.

15. A bouncing ball

To remind you that you can bounce back from just about anything so long as you have a positive attitude and keep an open mind, learning you're your experiences.

16. Finger trap

To remind you that you could get caught in the trap if you focus on proving yourself right just to win over someone. Instead, seek a win-win outcome. Avoid conflict.

17. A flexible figure

To remind you that happiness is being flexible and open to change and growth.

Don't be rigid.

18. Some marbles

When you feel as though you're losing your marbles, grab these to hang in there.

19. A toy Soldier

To remind you to be strong and smile even when life throws you those zingers. Stand tall, fight for what you believe in.

20. Sticky Notes

Carry reminders and affirmations to stay focused on your goals and remember to be positive.

Yes, sprinkle the contents of your happiness toolkit generously with love. Self-love is good too!
There you go! Use the toolkit to make happiness a habit!
What other objects can you think of? What do they signify for you?
Do you have a happiness toolkit? Do share in the comments.
♥
This post is inspired by Belmont Wellness's newsletter which I enjoy tremendously. You should check out Judith's book The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life.

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How to make your own Happiness Toolkit | Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles

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Happiness is my favorite DIY project . I believe we have the power to make ourselves happy. I have my own ongoing happiness project in the form of this jar - which I started with my family years ago.

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The Keys to Happier Living Toolkit is an engaging, accessible and evidence-based programme to promote the emotional wellbeing and resilience of children aged 5-11
There are two versions of the Toolkit, one for ages 5-7 and the other for ages 7-11. You can use the form below to find out more and access the online ordering system.

Both versions are based on the Action for Happiness Ten Keys to Happier Living framework and have been piloted in primary schools with appropriate age groups. Qualitative feedback was very positive and quantiative analysis showed significant improvements in wellbeing and other areas. The toolkit for ages 7-11 was also previously awarded the PSHE Association Quality Mark.

The Toolkits are available to order online and cost £80 each for unlimited access to all resources for a full academic year. They consist of a set of downloadable digital resources which can be used/printed by the school as needed:

Toolkit for Teachers: full teaching materials covering an initial assembly and 11 subsequent lessons, with ideas for ongoing reinforcement

Journal for Children: each child receives their own journal to help embed learning

Journal for Adults: to help staff embed the ideas in their own lives too

Information Leaflet: for Parents and Carers about the Keys to Happier Living

Extensive supporting resources available to download

An Information Leaflet with some general activities has also been developed for teachers to introduce younger children (ages 4-5) to the GREAT DREAM framework. This is included in the downloadable resources for the Toolkit ages 5-7.

"A fantastic toolkit which has been shown to bring considerable benefits. Teachers will especially appreciate the huge array of ideas and creative resources. This program fills a vitally important gap in our schools and I highly recommend it" ~ Sir Anthony Seldon

"I strongly believe that the earlier we teach children how to look after themselves and others, the happier and more successful they will become, and this Toolkit provides the resources to do just that. Highly recommended!" Adrian Bethune (Toolkit 5-7)

"Provides a wide variety of stimulating and creative ideas for developing skills that support happier living and wellbeing in the lives of pupils and parents/carers" ~ PSHE Association (Toolkit 7-11)

The toolkit has been developed by Peter Harper and Val Payne along with Shannon Thorne and Tamarin Butcher for KS1 and with support from Action for Happiness.
Add your details below to find out more: Feedback about the toolkit

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Keys to Happier Living Toolkit for Schools

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The Keys to Happier Living Toolkit is an engaging, accessible and evidence-based programme to promote the emotional wellbeing and resilience of children aged 5-11 There are two versions of the Toolkit, one for ages 5-7 and the other for ages 7-11. You can use the form below to find out more and access the online ordering system.

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How To Rewire Your Brain For Happiness And Success | Science of Human Behavior | zillionist

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The Pursuit of Happiness (Short Animated Movie)

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How to be Happy [Even If You've Forgotten What it Feels Like]

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There are many different types of emotions that have an influence on how we live and interact with others. At times, it may seem like we are ruled by these emotions. The choices we make, the actions we take, and the perceptions we have are all influenced by the emotions we are experiencing at any given moment.

Psychologists have also tried to identify the different types of emotions that people experience. A few different theories have emerged to categorize and explain the emotions that people feel.

Basic Emotions

During the 1970s, psychologist Paul Eckman identified six basic emotions that he suggested were universally experienced in all human cultures. The emotions he identified were happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger. He later expanded his list of basic emotions to include such things as pride, shame, embarrassment, and excitement.

Combining Emotions

Psychologist Robert Plutchik put forth a "wheel of emotions" that worked something like the color wheel. Emotions can be combined to form different feelings, much like colors can be mixed to create other shades.

According to this theory, the more basic emotions act something like building blocks. More complex, sometimes mixed emotions, are blendings of these more basic ones. For example, basic emotions such as joy and trust can be combined to create love.

A 2017 study suggests that there are far more basic emotions than previously believed.﻿﻿ In the study published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, researchers identified 27 different categories of emotion.

Rather than being entirely distinct, however, the researchers found that people experience these emotions along a gradient.﻿﻿ Let's take a closer look at some of the basic types of emotions and explore the impact they have on human behavior.

Of all the different types of emotions, happiness tends to be the one that people strive for the most. Happiness is often defined as a pleasant emotional state that is characterized by feelings of contentment, joy, gratification, satisfaction, and well-being.

Research on happiness has increased significantly since the 1960s within a number of disciplines, including the branch of psychology known as positive psychology. This type of emotion is sometimes expressed through:

While happiness is considered one of the basic human emotions, the things we think will create happiness tend to be heavily influenced by culture. For example, pop culture influences tend to emphasize that attaining certain things such as buying a home or having a high-paying job will result in happiness.

The realities of what actually contributes to happiness are often much more complex and more highly individualized.﻿﻿ People have long believed that happiness and health were connected, and research has supported the idea that happiness can play a role in both physical and mental health.

Happiness has been linked to a variety of outcomes including increased longevity and increased marital satisfaction.﻿﻿ Conversely, unhappiness has been linked to a variety of poor health outcomes.

Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness, for example, have been linked to things such as lowered immunity, increased inflammation, and decreased life expectancy.﻿﻿

Sadness is another type of emotion often defined as a transient emotional state characterized by feelings of disappointment, grief, hopelessness, disinterest, and dampened mood.

Like other emotions, sadness is something that all people experience from time to time. In some cases, people can experience prolonged and severe periods of sadness that can turn into depression. Sadness can be expressed in a number of ways including:

The type and severity of sadness can vary depending upon the root cause, and how people cope with such feelings can also differ.

Sadness can often lead people to engage in coping mechanisms such as avoiding other people, self-medicating, and ruminating on negative thoughts. Such behaviors can actually exacerbate feelings of sadness and prolong the duration of the emotion.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can also play an important role in survival. When you face some sort of danger and experience fear, you go through what is known as the fight or flight response.

Your muscles become tense, your heart rate and respiration increase, and your mind becomes more alert, priming your body to either run from the danger or stand and fight.

This response helps ensure that you are prepared to effectively deal with threats in your environment. Expressions of this type of emotion can include:

Of course, not everyone experiences fear in the same way. Some people may be more sensitive to fear and certain situations or objects may be more likely to trigger this emotion.

Fear is the emotional response to an immediate threat. We can also develop a similar reaction to anticipated threats or even our thoughts about potential dangers, and this is what we generally think of as anxiety. Social anxiety, for example, involves an anticipated fear of social situations.

Some people, on the other hand, actually seek out fear-provoking situations. Extreme sports and other thrills can be fear-inducing, but some people seem to thrive and even enjoy such feelings.

Repeated exposure to a fear object or situation can lead to familiarity and acclimation, which can reduce feelings of fear and anxiety.﻿﻿

This is the idea behind exposure therapy, in which people are gradually exposed to the things that frighten them in a controlled and safe manner. Eventually, feelings of fear begin to decrease.

Disgust is another of the original six basic emotions described by Eckman. Disgust can be displayed in a number of ways including:

This sense of revulsion can originate from a number of things, including an unpleasant taste, sight, or smell. Researchers believe that this emotion evolved as a reaction to foods that might be harmful or fatal. When people smell or taste foods that have gone bad, for example, disgust is a typical reaction.

Poor hygiene, infection, blood, rot, and death can also trigger a disgust response. This may be the body's way of avoiding things that may carry transmittable diseases.﻿﻿

People can also experience moral disgust when they observe others engaging in behaviors that they find distasteful, immoral, or evil.

Anger can be a particularly powerful emotion characterized by feelings of hostility, agitation, frustration, and antagonism towards others. Like fear, anger can play a part in your body's fight or flight response.

When a threat generates feelings of anger, you may be inclined to fend off the danger and protect yourself. Anger is often displayed through:

Facial expressions: such as frowning or glaring

Body language: such as taking a strong stance or turning away

Tone of voice: such as speaking gruffly or yelling

Physiological responses: such as sweating or turning red

Aggressive behaviors: such as hitting, kicking, or throwing objects

While anger is often thought of as a negative emotion, it can sometimes be a good thing. It can be constructive in helping clarify your needs in a relationship, and it can also motivate you to take action and find solutions to things that are bothering you.

Anger can become a problem, however, when it is excessive or expressed in ways that are unhealthy, dangerous, or harmful to others. Uncontrolled anger can quickly turn to aggression, abuse, or violence.

This type of emotion can have both mental and physical consequences. Unchecked anger can make it difficult to make rational decisions and can even have an impact on your physical health.﻿﻿

Anger has been linked to coronary heart diseases and diabetes. It has also been linked to behaviors that pose health risks such as aggressive driving, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

Surprise is another one of the six basic types of human emotions originally described by Eckman. Surprise is usually quite brief and is characterized by a physiological startle response following something unexpected.

This type of emotion can be positive, negative, or neutral. An unpleasant surprise, for example, might involve someone jumping out from behind a tree and scaring you as you walk to your car at night.

An example of a pleasant surprise would be arriving home to find that your closest friends have gathered to celebrate your birthday. Surprise is often characterized by:

Surprise is another type of emotion that can trigger the fight or flight response. When startled, people may experience a burst of adrenaline that helps prepare the body to either fight or flee.﻿﻿

Surprise can have important effects on human behavior. For example, research has shown that people tend to disproportionately notice surprising events.

This is why surprising and unusual events in the news tend to stand out in memory more than others. Research has also found that people tend to be more swayed by surprising arguments and learn more from surprising information.

Other Types of Emotions

The six basic emotions described by Eckman are just a portion of the many different types of emotions that people are capable of experiencing. Eckman's theory suggests that these core emotions are universal throughout cultures all over the world.

However, other theories and new research continue to explore the many different types of emotions and how they are classified. Eckman later added a number of other emotions to his list but suggested that unlike his original six emotions, not all of these could necessarily be encoded through facial expressions. Some of the emotions he later identified included:

Other Theories of Emotion

As with many concepts in psychology, not all theorists agree on how to classify emotions or what the basic emotions actually are. While Eckman's theory is one of the best known, other theorists have proposed their own ideas about what emotions make up the core of the human experience.

For example, some researchers have suggested that there are only two or three basic emotions. Others have suggested that emotions exist in something of a hierarchy. Primary emotions such as love, joy, surprise, anger, and sadness can then be further broken down into secondary emotions. Love, for example, consists of secondary emotions, such as affection and longing.

These secondary emotions might then be broken down still further into what are known as tertiary emotions. The secondary emotion of affection includes tertiary emotions, such as liking, caring, compassion, and tenderness.

A more recent study suggests that there are at least 27 distinct emotions, all of which are highly interconnected. After analyzing the responses of more than 800 men to more than 2,000 video clips, researchers created an interactive map to demonstrate how these emotions are related to one another.

"We found that 27 distinct dimensions, not six, were necessary to account for the way hundreds of people reliably reported feeling in response to each video," explained the senior researcher Dacher Keltner, faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center.

In other words, emotions are not states that occur in isolation. Instead, the study suggests that there are gradients of emotion and that these different feelings are deeply inter-related.

Alan Cowen, the study's lead author and doctoral student in neuroscience at UC Berkeley, suggests that better clarifying the nature of our emotions can play an important role in helping scientists, psychologists, and physicians learn more about how emotions underlie brain activity, behavior, and mood. By building a better understanding of these states, he hopes that researchers can develop improved treatments for psychiatric conditions.

A Word From Verywell

Emotions play a critical role in how we live our lives, from influencing how we engage with others in our day to day lives to affecting the decisions we make. By understanding some of the different types of emotions, you can gain a deeper understanding of how these emotions are expressed and the impact they have on your behavior.

It is important to remember, however, that no emotion is an island. Instead, the many emotions you experience are nuanced and complex, working together to create the rich and varied fabric of your emotional life.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Cowen AS, Keltner D. Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2017;114(38):E7900-E7909. doi:10.1073/pnas.1702247114

Gruber J, Moskowitz JT, eds. Positive Emotion, Integrating the Light Sides and Dark Sides. OUP USA; 2014. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926725.001.0001

Gottlieb MM. The Angry Self: a Comprehensive Approach to Anger Management. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co.; 1999.

Anwar Y. Emoji fans take heart: Scientists pinpoint 27 states of emotion. Berkeley News. 2017.

Additional Reading

Cowen, AS & Keltner, D. Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. 2017. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702247114.

Mellers, B, Fincher, K, Drummond, C, Bigony, M. Surprise: A belief or an emotion? In V.S. Chandrasekhar Pammi and Narayanan Srinivasan (Eds.)., Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 202, Amsterdam: The Netherlands, 2013, pp. 3-19.

Shirai, M & Suzuki, N. Is sadness only one emotion? Psychological and physiological responses to sadnesss induced by two different situations: "Loss of someone" and "failure to achieve a goal." Frontiers in Psychology. 2017;8:288. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00288.

Staicu, ML & Cutov, M. Anger and health risk behaviors. Journal of Medicine and Life. 2010;3(4):372-375.

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The 6 Types of Basic Emotions and Their Effect on Human Behavior

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Learn about six types of basic human emotions, plus find out how emotions influence our behavior and reactions.

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An instant New York Times bestseller

Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships-or, as they would say, because of them-they are two of the most joyful people on the planet.

In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering?

They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy.

This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecendented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye.

We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy-from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives.

The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives.

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The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World

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Amazon.com: The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World: 9780399185045: Lama, Dalai, Tutu, Desmond, Abrams, Douglas Carlton: Books

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The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life

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The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life [Achor, Shawn] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life

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Sometimes when we pick up a newspaper or see the news on television, it seems as though the world is filled with doom and gloom and, even in our own hectic lives, it would be foolish to think that we could feel happy every moment of our waking lives. But is a state of being happy that far from being attained by us all? The answer is no - it is within our own grasp.

We tend to forget how important happiness is and get consumed with our own negative feelings of doom and gloom from time to time too. Furthermore, we sometimes don't consciously realise we are doing this to ourselves.

Why Happiness is Important

Although we may sometimes neglect to cultivate our own happiness, feeling happy is intrinsically important. If we are happy it has added knock on effects and benefits. These include us becoming more compassionate and feeling healthier both physically and emotionally. We become more creative, witty, energetic and fun to be around and it can also lead us to become more financially successful.

Very few of us live our lives in complete isolation. We will have partners, families, friends and work colleagues with whom we interact on a daily basis so if we're happy, then it's likely to mean that they'll feel happier too. Therefore, through our own happiness, we are actually giving something to other people too and enabling them to feel happy as well.

Now, if we open that up and take it to a global level, it can make a massive impact. For example, unhappiness is at the core of all the breeding grounds of war and terrorist activity. Countries only attack other countries if they're feeling unhappy about certain realities and we're all only too aware how terrorist ideals come about as a result of their real or perceived injustice and unhappiness about various religious, social, political or economic realities.

The fundamental reason why happiness is so important is that it's extremely vital to our own goals in life and can help us achieve many other cherished personal ambitions and goals. Also, by being happy, we have the potential to change many other lives just by being ourselves.

How often have you been in a place and there's been something about the mood or atmosphere that doesn't quite seem right? When happiness is on board, this not only affects you but it has positive effects on all those with whom you come into contact.

So, it's the 'domino' effect and it all begins with you as an individual. As you spread those feelings they are taken on board by those around you who also spread them in turn. If you can imagine the impact this would create if the feeling was then perpetuated and multiplied by hundreds, then thousands and then millions of people? There would be no use for wars or terrorism in the world which is another example of why happiness is so important.

So how is Happiness Attained?

For happiness to be attained, it's important to be open and willing to the concept that it can be attained. For us to do this, we need to rid ourselves of the negative energies which occur in our lives on a regular basis and which cause us to feel unhappy or at best, make us feel as though we are simply existing or drifting through life.

Remember, it's a natural state to feel happy. We are all programmed to feel happiness as the norm. It's what we let get in the way that alters our programming for the worst. Therefore, by ridding ourselves of negative thoughts, self-doubts, rationalising problems and seeing them as challenges to be overcome, we get rid of feelings such as depression, fear, worry, dissatisfaction, boredom and grief and then, by ridding ourselves of these, all that's left is happiness, contentment and peace of mind.

Some will wonder how we can do this when so many negative things happen to us. In answer to that, it's because we LET these things cause us to have negative reactions. For example, we'll have all gone to work and had a bad day and come away carping to a colleague, "The boss really got my back up today". However, he only did that because YOU let him have that affect on you.

In truth, no one can ever make someone feel anything. Outside behaviours and influences have the power to trigger off negative thoughts but that can only happen if you allow it to. Change the way you respond to those triggers and consequently they can have no effect on inflicting any kind of misery upon you.

This might not come across as being an easy thing to do but if you consciously make the effort and tell yourself that you are going to be happy and that no-one has the right to make you feel unhappy or can take those feelings away, then you are in sole control of your own feelings of happiness and it's a fact that by placing happiness at the cornerstone of your very existence, then you will be much more effective at creating the kind of world you want.

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Sometimes when we pick up a newspaper or see the news on television, it seems as though the world is filled with doom and gloom and, even in our own hectic lives, it would be foolish to think that we could feel happy every moment of our waking lives.

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Science-Backed Links Between Health And Happiness

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Read about how happiness leads to greater health and longevity. See how stress is related and find resources to create more happiness in your life.

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Try our 6 tips to help you be happier, more in control, and able to cope better with life's ups and downs.

Manage your stress levels

If you have a lot of stress in your life, find ways to reduce it, such as learning a few time-management techniques.

Introduce regular exercise and time to yourself. These are positive changes. Taking control of your time in this way can effectively reduce stress.

If you have feelings of anxiety along with your stress, breathing techniques can help. Try this breathing exercise for stress.
Read more about managing stress and building resilience on the Mind website
You can also try some practical self-help cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques on the Every Mind Matters website to help manage stress and anxiety, solve problems and build resilience.

Enjoy yourself

Doing things that you enjoy is good for your emotional wellbeing.

Simple activities like watching sports with a friend, having a soak in the bath, or meeting up with friends for coffee can all improve your day.

Doing something you're good at, such as cooking or dancing, is a good way to enjoy yourself and have a sense of achievement.

Try to avoid things that seem enjoyable at the time but make you feel worse afterwards, such as drinking too much alcohol or eating junk food.

Boost your self-esteem

Self-esteem is the way you feel about yourself.

The best way to improve your self-esteem is to treat yourself as you'd treat a valued friend, in a positive but honest way.

Notice when you're putting yourself down, such as thinking, "You're so stupid for not getting that job", and instead think, "Would I say that to my best friend?". You probably wouldn't.

Tell yourself something positive instead, such as: "You're a bright person, you'll get the next job".

Have a healthy lifestyle

Limit your alcohol intake

When times are hard, it's tempting to drink alcohol because it "numbs" painful feelings.

But it can exaggerate some feelings and make you feel angry or aggressive. It can also make you feel more depressed.
Read some tips on cutting down on alcohol
Choose a well-balanced diet

Making healthy choices about your diet can make you feel emotionally stronger. You're doing something positive for yourself, which lifts your self-esteem.

A good diet helps your brain and body work efficiently, too. Aim to eat a balanced diet that includes all the main food groups.

Do some exercise

Even moderate exercise releases chemicals in your brain that lift your mood.

It can help you sleep better, have more energy and keep your heart healthy.

Choose an exercise that you enjoy. If it helps, do it with a friend or listen to music. Adults should aim for at least 150 minutes a week.
Read about exercise for depression
Get enough sleep

Around 7 to 8 hours is the average amount of sleep an adult needs for their body and mind to fully rest.

Writing a "to do" list for the next day before bed can organise your thoughts and clear your mind of any distractions.

Talk and share

Communication is important, whether it's with a friend, family member or counsellor.

Talking things through helps you to release tension, rather than keeping it inside. It helps strengthen your relationships and connect with people.

Lots of people find talking to a counsellor about things that are troubling them very helpful.

See NHS talking therapies and benefits of talking therapy for more information.
Find out more about depression support groups

Build your resilience

Resilience is what allows you to cope with life's ups and downs.

Making something worthwhile out of painful times helps your resilience grow.

Starting a support group to help others, or making something creative out of bad experiences by, for example, writing, painting or singing, can help you express pain and get through hard times.

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Try our 6 tips to help you be happier, more in control, and able to cope better with life's ups and downs. If you have a lot of stress in your life, find ways to reduce it, such as learning a few time-management techniques. Introduce regular exercise and time to yourself.

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Looking for powerful, practical strategies to help yourself or someone else struggling with depression? This comprehensive guidebook provides a rich supply of resources, insights, and techniques you can use - starting today - to help yourself, or someone you care about.

This is not just another book about depression. This is a book about HEALING from depression - and it is a guidebook for PREVENTING depression in the first place. Brimming with time-tested, highly-customizable techniques, this book will help you build your own individualized toolbox of drug-free strategies to promote healing, resilience, and emotional wellness - from the inside out.
Here in this well-stocked strategy manual, you will find:

16 powerful self-help tools to overcome depression and other emotional challenges - even if you think you've "already tried everything."

5 quick-start Transformational Tools you can use right away to bring relief, rebuild hope, and move in a positive direction.

A 4-point individualized assessment model, to help identify the specific causes of THIS particular depression - and then identify specific healing solutions to address these issues.

Clear understanding about what FEEDS depression, what FIGHTS it, and how you can build and maintain a positive, depression-resistant lifestyle over time.

Valuable insight about why depression has become so common in recent years - and what you and your loved ones can do to live happily in an ever-more challenging world.

Compiled and developed over thirty-plus years by counselor and public health educator Carrie M. Wrigley, LCSW, the healing strategies provided in this book can also help:

relieve anxiety

promote addiction recovery

facilitate healing from abuse, trauma, or grief

resolve conflicts in relationships and families

improve self-confidence and self-esteem

enhance emotional and physical wellness

This book also serves as a valuable resource manual for counselors, educators, healing professionals, chaplains, ministers, parents, caregivers, and others seeking to provide relief and positive guidance to those within their care. it gathers and integrates the best resources from a vast wellspring of well-researched programs such as:

CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy)

Positive Psychology

IPT (Interpersonal Therapy)

MBTI (Meyers-Briggs) personality assessment

Behavior Modification

Nutrition, exercise, and activity

Communication and relationship skills training

A Quick-Access Guide and user-friendly navigation are provided, making it easy for readers (including professional helpers) to find just the resource needed to meet the need at hand. A thorough Bibliography (organized by topic and tools) is also included, making it easy to find additional information regarding strategies you find most useful.

Whether you face your own emotional challenges, seek to extend emotional relief to others, or are simply determined to stay happy and well-balanced in an ever-more challenging world, this well-stocked strategy manual is for YOU -- teaching you, one step at a time, how to build and maintain enduring happiness, vibrant productivity, and rich fulfillment in life.

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your happiness toolkit: 16 strategies for overcoming depression

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books on overcoming depression; depression prevention; resilience thinking; live a fulfilling life; how to be happier; positive thinking; negative thinking and depression; overcoming depression; transform your life; reinvent your life

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Your Happiness Toolkit: 16 Strategies for Overcoming Depression, and Building a Joyful, Fulfilling Life

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Your Happiness Toolkit: 16 Strategies for Overcoming Depression, and Building a Joyful, Fulfilling Life [Wrigley LCSW, Carrie M.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Your Happiness Toolkit: 16 Strategies for Overcoming Depression, and Building a Joyful, Fulfilling Life

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Drop in daily

With the Ten Percent Happier app, you'll access practical teachings alongside guided meditations to make mindfulness into a habit you carry everywhere.

Learn from the best
teachers on the planet

Our meditation teachers are renowned leaders in the field. And because everyone is different, they offer a variety of approaches so you can find the best for you.

"Having permission to sit for what ever time I can has helped me to be more regular."

"Compared to the other meditation apps out there, this one is the Rolls Royce of meditation apps."

"A friend asked me to take a two week challenge with her - now I'm hooked! Just 10 minutes a day & in such a more positive mood."

After a panic attack on live TV, ABC news anchor Dan Harris had to make some changes. Harris recounts his journey from skeptic to meditator.

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Entertaining, insightful articles that will get your synapses firing and help you live a happier, more resilient, and more connected life.

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Ten Percent Happier: Meditation and Mindfulness to Find Happiness

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Ten Percent Happier offers courses, meditations, and expert coaching in our app to help anyone learn meditation and reduce stress. Start your journey today.

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One rainy afternoon, while riding a city bus, Gretchen Rubin asked herself, "What do I want from life, anyway?" She answered, "I want to be happy"-yet she spent no time thinking about her happiness. In a flash, she decided to dedicate a year to a happiness project. The result? One of the most thoughtful and engaging works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject.

The Happiness Project synthesizes the wisdom of the ages with current scientific research, as Rubin brings readers along on her year to greater happiness.

In fact, Rubin's "happiness project" no longer describes just a book or a blog; it's a movement. Happiness Project groups, where people meet to discuss their happiness projects, have sprung up across the country-and across the world. Rights have been sold in more than 35 countries. Hundreds of book groups have discussed the book; professors, teachers, psychiatrists, and clergy assign it. The book has spent more than two years on the bestseller lists, and The Happiness Project was even an answer on the game-show Jeopardy!

The Happiness Project has been a blockbuster bestseller. It spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, including hitting #1, has sold more than 1.5 million copies, and has been published in more than thirty languages.
Download a sample chapter of The Happiness Project here.

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One rainy afternoon, while riding a city bus, Gretchen Rubin asked herself, "What do I want from life, anyway?" She answered, "I want to be happy"-yet she spent no time thinking about her happiness. In a flash, she decided to dedicate a year to a happiness project. The result?

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The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want

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The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want [Lyubomirsky, Sonja] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want

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Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D., author of 13 books, TV show host, Psychology Today blogger, and corporate trainer, has been studying the actions it takes to reach the highest levels of human achievement for decades, and he wants to share what he knows with you.

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oes happiness matter? People react to this question in surprisingly different ways. Some suggest that there are far more significant things to worry about; others see happiness as vitally important and something that every human being ultimately wants in life. To explore this conundrum, we need to start by looking at what happiness actually means.

Happiness relates to how we feel, but it is more than just a passing mood. We are emotional beings and experience a wide range of feelings on a daily basis. Negative emotions - such as fear and anger - help us to get away from danger or defend ourselves. And positive emotions - such as enjoyment and hope - help us to connect with others and build our capacity to cope when things go wrong.

Trying to live a happy life is not about denying negative emotions or pretending to feel joyful all the time. We all encounter adversity and it's completely natural for us to feel anger, sadness, frustration and other negative emotions as a result. To suggest otherwise would be to deny part of the human condition.

Happiness is about being able to make the most of the good times - but also to cope effectively with the inevitable bad times, in order to experience the best possible life overall. Or, in the words of the biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard: "Happiness is a deep sense of flourishing, not a mere pleasurable feeling or fleeting emotion but an optimal state of being."

One popular misconception about happiness is that happy people are somehow more likely to be lazy or ineffective. In fact research shows the opposite is true: happiness doesn't just feel good, it actually leads to a wide range of benefits for our performance, health, relationships and more.

For example, economists at Warwick University showed different groups of people either a positive film clip or a neutral film clip and then asked them to carry out standard workplace tasks under paid conditions. The people who were primed to feel happy were 11% more productive than their peers, even after controlling for age, IQ and other factors. Similarly, researchers at Wharton Business School found that companies with happy employees outperform the stock market year on year and a team at UCL has discovered that people who are happy as young adults go on to earn more than their peers later in life.

Schools that focus on social and emotional wellbeing have better academic results. Photograph: Andrew Fox / Alamy/Alamy

In healthcare, doctors who are happy have been found to make faster and more accurate diagnoses, even when this happiness was induced simply by giving them the small gift of a sugary sweet. In education, schools that focus on children's social and emotional wellbeing experience significant gains in academic attainment as well as improvements in pupil behaviour. Happiness has also been linked to better decision-making and improved creativity.

So, rather than success being the key to happiness, research shows that happiness could in fact be the key to success.

But it doesn't just help us function better: happiness also brings substantial benefits for society as a whole. For example, a review of more than 160 studies found "clear and compelling evidence" that happier people have better overall health and live longer than their less happy peers. They are around half as likely to catch the cold virus and have a 50% lower risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke.

Happier people are also less likely to engage in risky behaviour - for example, they are more likely to wear seat belts and less likely to be involved in road accidents. Happier people are even more financially responsible, tending to save more and have more control over their expenditures.

But perhaps most importantly of all, people who are happier are more likely to make a positive contribution to society. In particular, they are more likely to vote, do voluntary work and participate in public activities. They also have a greater respect for law and order and offer more help to others.

There is even evidence that happiness is contagious, so that happier people help others around them to become happier too. An extensive study in the British Medical Journal followed people over 20 years and found that their happiness affected others in their networks across "three degrees of separation". In other words, how happy we are has a measurable impact on the mood of our friend's friend's friend.

When it comes to the happiness of society as a whole, however, the sad truth is that in recent decades we have become substantially richer but no happier. The positive benefits of higher incomes have been undermined by rising inequality and falling levels of trust and social cohesion. We've also reached the point where mental ill health is one of our greatest social challenges - causing more of the suffering in our society than either unemployment or poverty.

This is why increasing numbers of policymakers and leaders are now calling for measures of progress to be based on human wellbeing and happiness, not just economic factors such as growth in GDP. Here in the UK, the government has introduced a programme to measure national wellbeing, and influential figures - including former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell - are calling for wellbeing to become the overall measure of prosperity and the main guide to public policy.

This shift towards prioritising happiness is important because this also reflects what the majority of people want. In a YouGov poll commissioned by Action for Happiness, a majority (87%) of UK adults said they would prefer a society with the "greatest overall happiness and wellbeing", rather than the "greatest overall wealth" (8%). The findings were consistent across all regions, age groups and social classes.

So happiness does matter - the scientific evidence is compelling. The pursuit of happiness is not some fluffy nice-to-have or middle-class luxury; it's about helping people to live better lives and creating a society that is more productive, healthy and cohesive. As Aristotle said: "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence."

Of course, being happy is not some magical cure-all. Happy people still get sick and lose loved ones - and not all happy people are efficient, creative or generous. But, other things being equal, happiness brings substantial advantages.

Perhaps the most powerful insight of all comes, not from the research, but from the responses I've heard from many hundreds of parents when asking them what they want above all for their children. Nearly all say something like: "I really just want them to be happy."

Happiness is the thing we want most for the people we love the most. That's why it matters so much.
Mark Williamson is director of Action for Happiness. For tips on how to be happier, read his 10 keys to happiness

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oes happiness matter? People react to this question in surprisingly different ways. Some suggest that there are far more significant things to worry about; others see happiness as vitally important and something that every human being ultimately wants in life. To explore this conundrum, we need to start by looking at what happiness actually means.

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The angsty persona has long been the stereotype for teenagers, but research has proven that the mental health of teenagers is an important topic today. According to the Parent Resources site, an average of more than 5,000 US students in grades 7-12 attempt to take their lives each day. The site goes on to say, "More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED."

The importance of ensuring that teenagers are happy is greater than ever, especially as we see rising rates of bullying, increased pressure from society to fit impossible ideals thanks to photoshop and filters, and a world that seems to place greater value on reputation and fitting in than personal satisfaction and individuality. However, not all is lost. Studies suggest that teenagers can be happy... in the right situations.

Although the popular conception of the teenager is of a stormy adolescent in constant conflict with his or her elders, such an image may be more of a myth than a reality. As reported in Psychology Today, a study of 2,700 middle and high school students conducted by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) showed that the majority of teenagers report being happy every day. In addition, the SADD study showed that the majority of respondents reported that they had positive relationships with their parents, and teens' positive relationships with their parents mean that overall they are less likely to drink or use drugs. So, while conventional wisdom holds that teens are disruptive and show risky behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, many teens are acting in positive, connected ways.

So what are some factors that foster happy teens, and how can parents raise happy teenagers?

Unplugging and Avoiding Social Media

Studies have shown that even an hour on social media can negatively impact a teenager's mood, so imagine what an entire day of social media exposure can do. This doesn't mean ban social media completely, but it does mean having conversations with your child about how much time should be spent on social media, and finding ways to get teens to unplug completely and live in the moment, IRL (in real life). Even though they might initially resist, your happy teens may thank you for it in the future.

Reflecting on Gratitude

Grateful teens are happy teens. According to research conducted by Giacomo Bono, Ph.D., a professor at California State University, being grateful reaps many mental health benefits for teens. The most grateful 20 percent of the teens in Dr. Bono's study of 700 people were 15 percent more likely than the least grateful 20 percent to have a sense of meaning in their lives and had a 15 percent lower likelihood of having depressive symptoms. The study concluded that parents and teachers should help teens cultivate gratitude, which may bring with it vital skills such as cooperation and perseverance. Teens who are able to develop gratitude tend to feel better about their lives, and grateful teens are more connected to others.

Live a Healthy Life: Eat Right and Exercise

This should seem like a no-brainer to most of us, as this is important for humans of any age, but helping teens discover the joys of living healthy is an important early life lesson. As reported in Science Daily, teens who cultivate healthy habits tend to be happier. According to Understanding Society, a study of by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) that looked at 5,000 young people in the United Kingdom between the ages of 10-15, teens who had never tried alcohol were four to six times as likely to report high levels of happiness than those who had tried alcohol. Teens who smoked were five times less likely to be happy. In addition, higher consumption of fruits and vegetables and participation in sports were associated with higher levels of happiness. Therefore, raising happy teens means keeping them healthy and active.

According to another study reported in teens who participated in moderate to vigorous outdoor activities were happier than their peers who spent time in front of computer and video screens. While many teens enjoy playing video games and many schools are using iPads in class, parents who are raising teens should take steps to reduce their teenagers' screen time and get them active outdoors. Happy teenagers tend to spend more time with others and spend more time outside than their less happy, sedentary peers. So, make sure your child joins a sports team, club, or other group that gets him or her to unplug and engage with other youth of the same age with similar interests.

The Importance of Happiness in Adolescence

The benefits of a happy adolescence transcend the teenage years. As reported in many recent news articles, studies such as one conducted by University College London and the University of Warwick that looked at a survey of 10,000 Americans have found that happy teens reported higher incomes by the time they reached age 29. In fact, very happy teens earned 30 percent more than their less happy peers, even considering other variables such as IQ and levels of education.

While there is no doubt that adolescence can at times be difficult, there is also ample data that it can be a time of creativity, compassion, and connection to adults and peers. Studies also show that it is vital for teens to experience happiness for their future well-being. Interestingly, income had little effect on teens' happiness. While extreme poverty can affect children's happiness, teenagers do not need to be wealthy to feel happy. Teens tend to value the increased social activities that increased income can afford them rather than valuing the increased income for its own sake. Teens are happiest when connecting to others, not necessarily when purchasing goods.

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The angsty persona has long been the stereotype for teenagers, but research has proven that the mental health of teenagers is an important topic today. According to the Parent Resources site, an average of more than 5,000 US students in grades 7-12 attempt to take their lives each day.

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Happiness and wellbeing for pre-teens and teenagers

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Happy teenagers have warm relationships, try new things, have goals and focus on positive things in life. Get tips to boost teenage wellbeing and happiness.

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Over the past decade, an entire industry has sprouted up promising the secrets to happiness. There are best-selling books like The Happiness Project and The How of Happiness, and happiness programs like Happify and Tal-Ben Shahar's Wholebeing Institute.

Here at the Greater Good Science Center, we offer an online course on "The Science of Happiness" and boast a collection of research-based happiness practices on our new website, Greater Good in Action.

But all of these books and classes raise the question: Why bother? Many of us might prefer to focus on boosting our productivity and success rather than our positive emotions. Or perhaps we've tried to get happier but always seem to get leveled by setbacks. Why keep trying?

Recently, a critical mass of research has provided what might be the most basic and irrefutable argument in favor of happiness: Happiness and good health go hand-in-hand. Indeed, scientific studies have been finding that happiness can make our hearts healthier, our immune systems stronger, and our lives longer.

Several of the studies cited below suggest that happiness causes better health; others suggest only that the two are correlated-perhaps good health causes happiness but not the other way around. Happiness and health may indeed be a virtuous circle, but researchers are still trying to untangle their relationship. In the meantime, if you need some extra motivation to get happier, check out these six ways that happiness has been linked to good health.

1. Happiness protects your heart

Love and happiness may not actually originate in the heart, but they are good for it. For example, a 2005 paper found that happiness predicts lower heart rate and blood pressure. In the study, participants rated their happiness over 30 times in one day and then again three years later. The initially happiest participants had a lower heart rate on follow-up (about six beats slower per minute), and the happiest participants during the follow-up had better blood pressure.

Research has also uncovered a link between happiness and another measure of heart health: heart rate variability, which refers to the time interval between heartbeats and is associated with risk for various diseases. In a 2008 study, researchers monitored 76 patients suspected to have coronary artery disease. Was happiness linked to healthier hearts even among people who might have heart problems? It seemed so: The participants who rated themselves as happiest on the day their hearts were tested had a healthier pattern of heart rate variability on that day.

Over time, these effects can add up to serious differences in heart health. In a 2010 study, researchers invited nearly 2,000 Canadians into the lab to talk about their anger and stress at work. Observers rated them on a scale of one to five for the extent to which they expressed positive emotions like joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, and contentment. Ten years later, the researchers checked in with the participants to see how they were doing-and it turned out that the happier ones were less likely to have developed coronary heart disease. In fact, for each one-point increase in positive emotions they had expressed, their heart disease risk was 22 percent lower.

2. Happiness strengthens your immune system

Do you know a grumpy person who always seems to be getting sick? That may be no coincidence: Research is now finding a link between happiness and a stronger immune system.

In a 2003 experiment, 350 adults volunteered to get exposed to the common cold (don't worry, they were well-compensated). Before exposure, researchers called them six times in two weeks and asked how much they had experienced nine positive emotions-such as feeling energetic, pleased, and calm-that day. After five days in quarantine, the participants with the most positive emotions were less likely to have developed a cold.

Some of the same researchers wanted to investigate why happier people might be less susceptible to sickness, so in a 2006 study they gave 81 graduate students the hepatitis B vaccine. After receiving the first two doses, participants rated themselves on those same nine positive emotions. The ones who were high in positive emotion were nearly twice as likely to have a high antibody response to the vaccine-a sign of a robust immune system. Instead of merely affecting symptoms, happiness seemed to be literally working on a cellular level.

A much earlier experiment found that immune system activity in the same individual goes up and down depending on their happiness. For two months, 30 male dental students took pills containing a harmless blood protein from rabbits, which causes an immune response in humans. They also rated whether they had experienced various positive moods that day. On days when they were happier, participants had a better immune response, as measured by the presence of an antibody in their saliva that defends against foreign substances.

3. Happiness combats stress

Stress is not only upsetting on a psychological level but also triggers biological changes in our hormones and blood pressure. Happiness seems to temper these effects, or at least help us recover more quickly.

In the study mentioned above, where participants rated their happiness more than 30 times in a day, researchers also found associations between happiness and stress. The happiest participants had 23 percent lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than the least happy, and another indicator of stress-the level of a blood-clotting protein that increases after stress-was 12 times lower.

Happiness also seems to carry benefits even when stress is inevitable. In a 2009 study, some diabolically cruel researchers decided to stress out psychology students and see how they reacted. The students were led to a soundproof chamber, where they first answered questions indicating whether they generally felt 10 feelings like enthusiasm or pride. Then came their worst nightmare: They had to answer an exceedingly difficult statistics question while being videotaped, and they were told that their professor would evaluate their response. Throughout the process, their heart was measured with an electrocardiogram (EKG) machine and a blood pressure monitor. In the wake of such stress, the hearts of the happiest students recovered most quickly.

4. Happy people have fewer aches and pains

Unhappiness can be painful-literally.

A 2001 study asked participants to rate their recent experience of positive emotions, then (five weeks later) how much they had experienced negative symptoms like muscle strain, dizziness, and heartburn since the study began. People who reported the highest levels of positive emotion at the beginning actually became healthier over the course of the study, and ended up healthier than their unhappy counterparts. The fact that their health improved over five weeks (and the health of the unhappiest participants declined) suggests that the results aren't merely evidence of people in a good mood giving rosier ratings of their health than people in a bad mood.

A 2005 study suggests that positive emotion also mitigates pain in the context of disease. Women with arthritis and chronic pain rated themselves weekly on positive emotions like interest, enthusiasm, and inspiration for about three months. Over the course of the study, those with higher ratings overall were less likely to experience increases in pain.

5. Happiness combats disease and disability

Happiness is associated with improvements in more severe, long-term conditions as well, not just shorter-term aches and pains.

In a 2008 study of nearly 10,000 Australians, participants who reported being happy and satisfied with life most or all of the time were about 1.5 times less likely to have long-term health conditions (like chronic pain and serious vision problems) two years later. Another study in the same year found that women with breast cancer recalled being less happy and optimistic before their diagnosis than women without breast cancer, suggesting that happiness and optimism may be protective against the disease.

As adults become elderly, another condition that often afflicts them is frailty, which is characterized by impaired strength, endurance, and balance and puts them at risk of disability and death. In a 2004 study, over 1,550 Mexican Americans ages 65 and older rated how much self-esteem, hope, happiness, and enjoyment they felt over the past week. After seven years, the participants with more positive emotion ratings were less likely to be frail. Some of the same researchers also found that happier elderly people (by the same measure of positive emotion) were less likely to have a stroke in the subsequent six years; this was particularly true for men.

6. Happiness lengthens our lives

In the end, the ultimate health indicator might be longevity-and here, especially, happiness comes into play. In perhaps the most famous study of happiness and longevity, the life expectancy of Catholic nuns was linked to the amount of positive emotion they expressed in an autobiographical essay they wrote upon entering their convent decades earlier, typically in their 20s. Researchers combed through these writing samples for expressions of feelings like amusement, contentment, gratitude, and love. In the end, the happiest-seeming nuns lived a whopping 7-10 years longer than the least happy.

You don't have to be a nun to experience the life-extending benefits of happiness, though. In a 2011 study, almost 4,000 English adults ages 52-79 reported how happy, excited, and content they were multiple times in a single day. Here, happier people were 35 percent less likely to die over the course of about five years than their unhappier counterparts.

These two studies both measured specific positive emotions, but overall satisfaction with one's life-another major indicator of happiness-is also linked to longevity. A 2010 study followed almost 7,000 people from California's Alameda County for nearly three decades, finding that the people who were more satisfied with life at the beginning were less likely to die during the course of the study.

While happiness can lengthen our lives, it can't perform miracles. There's some evidence that the link between happiness and longevity doesn't extend to the ill-or at least not to the very ill.

A 2005 meta-analysis, aggregating the results of other studies on health and happiness, speculates that experiencing positive emotion is helpful in diseases with a long timeline but could actually be harmful in late-stage disease. The authors cite studies showing that positive emotion lowers the risk of death in people with diabetes and AIDS, but actually increases the risk in people with metastatic breast cancer, early-stage melanoma, and end-stage kidney disease. That increased risk might be due to the fact that happier people underreport their symptoms and don't get the right treatment, or take worse care of themselves because they are overly optimistic.

As the science of happiness and health matures, researchers are trying to determine what role, if any, happiness actually plays in causing health benefits. They're also trying to distinguish the effects of different forms of happiness (including positive emotions and life satisfaction), the effects of "extreme" happiness, and other factors. For example, a new study suggests that we should look not just at life satisfaction levels but life satisfaction variability: Researchers found that low life satisfaction with lots of fluctuations-i.e., an unstable level of happiness-was linked to even earlier death than low life satisfaction alone.

All that said, the study of the health benefits of happiness is still young. It will take time to figure out the exact mechanisms by which happiness influences health, and how factors like social relationships and exercise fit in. But in the meantime, it seems safe to imagine that a happier you will be healthier, too.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Six Ways Happiness Is Good for Your Health

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Over the past decade, an entire industry has sprouted up promising the secrets to happiness. There are best-selling books like The Happiness Project and The How of Happiness , and happiness programs like Happify and Tal-Ben Shahar's Wholebeing Institute.

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5 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health and Increase Happiness 

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Your mental health affects your overall health more than you may realize. When you are stressed out, angry, or sad, your body suffers, too-whether it be in the form of digestive issues, headaches, back pain, or any number of other physical symptoms.

Most people I meet in my practice want to improve their well-being and increase their daily happiness, but they often feel powerless to make it happen. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that our problems are entirely outside our control or caused by other people. Simply by changing our own actions and establishing new habits, many things may begin to improve. When you are happy and at peace, your body feels better and you're able to respond to challenging situations in more effective ways.

Unfortunately, many people turn to pills to achieve that outcome. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), about 35 million adults in the United States take antidepressant medication. Medication alone generally won't make a person feel better, but there is a great deal of research to support the effectiveness of psychotherapy and lifestyle changes, and medication in combination with those things has been shown to be helpful for some people.

Here are five things you can do to start feeling better without the aid of pharmaceuticals:

1. Exercise

I love my workout videos. In one of my favorites, fitness trainer Jillian Michaels says, "When you feel strong in your body, you feel strong in your mind." I agree, and so does mental health research! Numerous studies have linked regular exercise to improvements in mood and decreased anxiety (e.g., Childs and de Wit, 2014; Aguedelo et. al., 2014; and Shoenfeld et. al., 2013).

In essence, exercising helps your brain chemicals to work correctly. When they do, many things about your health and well-being improve. Exercise is so good for mental health that, in many studies, it has been shown to be as effective as antidepressant medication (e.g., Blumenthal et. al., 1999). I frequently recommend at least 45 minutes of vigorous exercise-think workout class or a run/jog in the park-about five times a week. Making this part of your routine can help lift your mood, decrease anxiety, boost self-confidence, reduce negative thinking and worries, and improve sleep. Plus, it's one of the best anti-aging secrets! When you exercise, your body is more effectively oxygenated, which helps prevent signs of aging.

2. Eat 'Happy' Foods

"Happy" foods-foods that either improve mood or help to make you feel calmer-can be a bit of a catch-22 because some of these foods help in the moment but make things worse in the long run. These foods are what we often call "comfort foods," such as macaroni and cheese, pie, and fries. They do work to make you feel better quickly, so they're an easy trap to fall into.

Researchers believe that comfort foods may be comforting because they alter the brain's response to sadness. A better strategy, however, is to make a habit of eating foods that build up the brain's "good chemicals" over time and keep them at healthy levels. These are the foods we often call "super foods," such as wild salmon (or other fish high in omega-3s but low in mercury), berries (especially blueberries), whole grains, green vegetables (kale is the king of them all), avocado, nuts, and seeds.

3. Volunteer or Make a New Friend

Social support is one of the best predictors of health and longevity. Volunteering is a great way to both get out of your own head (spending too much time in your head may lead to excessive worrying) and to make new friends. Resolve to make at least one new friend this year, and volunteer at least a few hours a month.

4. Understand Your Thinking Style

One of the reasons we sometimes get into a funk-and we all do from time to time-is that we make "thinking errors." To eliminate these errors, familiarize yourself with what they are and begin to notice when you do them. Thinking errors (sometimes called "unhelpful thinking styles") can lead to anger, sadness, anxiety, frustration, and low self-esteem.

Below are a few examples:

Taking things personally: Most people's reactions to you are about them, not you. For example, if your boss is short-tempered and demanding, it's more likely related to his or her personality style than to your work performance. If you take it personally, you are likely to begin feeling angry, nervous, or depressed. If instead you can see it for what it is-a particular personality and communication style-you can focus on learning effective ways to work with this type of person.

Catastrophizing: That's the fancy name for "making a mountain out of a molehill." If someone dies, that's catastrophic, but almost anything short of that is simply a problem to be solved, a challenge to overcome, or something to be understood. When you notice yourself using language like "terrible," "awful," and "horrible," you are probably catastrophizing. Time to shift your words! Instead of saying, "This is horrible! How will I get to work if they can't fix my car today?" you can say, "Darn, this is really inconvenient, so I need to find a way to solve this problem. Let me start thinking of possible solutions. Maybe my friend Martha can give me a ride." Here's another example: Instead of thinking, "It's terrible that Sophie is so rude to us at meetings," think to yourself, "Sophie's rudeness is unpleasant, but maybe she's not very good at dealing with pressure. I'll just be kind to her and try to get to know her better. Maybe eventually that will help improve things."

Making assumptions and jumping to conclusions: I don't have any data on this, but I'm pretty sure this leads to many divorces. Partners (on both sides) are very good at making assumptions about the other partners' thinking, behavior, and intent, and often jump to conclusions. One of my favorite questions in marital therapy is, "Did you ever ask him/her if that's what he/she was thinking, intended, meant, etc.?" People generally do not check their assumptions, and most of the time their assumptions are wrong.

5. Get Some Sleep

We're back to the brain chemicals! Your brain needs to sleep because that's how it regenerates and keeps itself filled with happy brain chemicals. If you are not sleeping well, it can contribute to developing mental health issues or exacerbating existing ones.

Working with a therapist can help you learn effective techniques to calm your mind and relax your body after a busy day.
References:

Aguedelo, L.Z., Femenia, T., Orhan, F., et. al. (2014). Skeletal muscle PGC-1α1 modulates kynurenine metabolism and mediates resilience to stress-induced depression. Cell, 159 (1): 33-45. Retrieved from http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(14)01049-6

Blumenthal, J.A., Babyak, M.A., Moore, K.A., Craighead, W.E., Herman, S., Khatri, P., Waugh, R., Napolitano, M.A., Forman, L.M., Appelbaum, M., Doraiswamy, P.M., and Krishnan, K.R. (1999). Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159: 19, 2349-56.

Childs, E., and de Wit, H. (2014). Regular exercise is associated with emotional resilience to acute stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in Physiology. 5: 161. Retrieved from http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013452/pdf/fphys-05-00161.pdf

Pratt, L.A., Brody, D.J., and Giuping, G. (2011). Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005-2008. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: NCHS Data Brief, 76. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf

Schoenfeld, T.J., Rada, P., Pieruzzini, P.R., Hsuesh, B., and Gould, E. (2013). Physical exercise prevents stress-induced activation of granule neurons and enhances local inhibitory mechanisms in the dentate gyrus. The Journal of Neuroscience. 33 (18): 7770-7777. Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/18/7770.abstract

© Copyright 2015 GoodTherapy.org. All rights reserved. Permission to publish granted by Chantal Marie Gagnon, PhD, LMHC, CAP, SAP, therapist in Plantation, Florida

The preceding article was solely written by the author named above. Any views and opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by GoodTherapy.org. Questions or concerns about the preceding article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment below.

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5 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health and Increase Happiness - GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog

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Your mental health affects your overall health more than you may realize. When you are stressed out, angry, or sad, your body suffers, too-whether it be in the form of digestive issues, headaches, back pain, or any number of other physical symptoms. Most people I meet in my practice want to improve their well-being and increase their daily happiness, but they often feel powerless to make it happen.

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The science of Subjective Well Being, a.k.a Happiness.

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People spend their entire lives pursuing happiness. They'll focus on getting rich, getting better relationships, moving to new cities, and doing everything that society tells them they need to do to become happier. Which begs the question, how mental stability affect happiness.

What many neglect is their own mental health.

And the truth is that mental health is woefully misunderstood. If you had to explain what heart disease or cancer is, chances are you'd be able to do it. But if you had to explain neurosis and how it could affect one's day-to-day life, it's likely you'd be stumped.

The state of mental health influences many areas of your life. And it can have a direct impact on your happiness.

In our mental health IOP, we've seen many patients who felt they were misunderstood and under-represented in society. And it's because many people just don't comprehend the link between mental stability and happiness.

What Is Mental Health?

For us to understand how to achieve happiness, we first must understand the meaning of mental health.

Mental health is your psychological well-being. It's how you feel about yourself, and how you feel about the environment around you and relationships in your life.

When people talk about "mental health" they mostly talk about anxiety and depression. And while those are real conditions, mental health encompasses more than that. The absence of depression and anxiety does not mean someone is in good mental health.

We believe it's more about the presence of certain things rather than the absence. For example, people who are in good mental health tend to have:

A passion and enthusiasm for life

Contentment for the things they have in in life

An acceptance of the bad circumstances in your life

Self confidence and self esteem

The ability to have fun

Those things are often missing with people who have issues with their mental stability. This can spiral into crushing depression and anxiety, which can often lead to destructive behaviors like addiction of drugs and alcohol.

How Mental Stability Affects Happiness

In his book "Thrive: The Power of Psychological Therapy", Richard Laylard described the anguish of poor mental health, "Mental pain is as real as physical pain. It is experienced in the same areas of the brain as physical pain and is often more disabling."

Mental pain is misunderstood because other people cant' see it. When you break your leg, the injury is obvious. If someone has cancer, there are MRIs, X-rays, biopsies etc. to check internally. But when someone is mentally anguished, there are few clear-cut tests to check their health. This is a great video by Dr. Mike Evans explaining it in more detail.

How To Improve Your Mental Stability And Become Happy

Here's the key: reduce mental anguish and find more fulfillment in life. This will mean different things for different people, but there are things almost anyone can do to reach this goal.

Feel grateful. One of the hallmark signs of unhappiness is a lack of contentment. You see what your neighbor has, and you feel as if you don't have enough. You accomplish something, but you feel as if you failed. No matter what circumstance you may be going through, you have something to be thankful for if you're still alive and breathing. It could be the small things: having a roof over your head, having food to eat, having friends and family that love you. Take time out and think about what you have. Avoid blaming and complaining. Instead, speak from a place of positivity and contentment. Adopt a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity. Eventually, you'll notice that your outlook on life will change.

Become mindful. The world is a chaotic place. Events are always happening. People are consistently entering and leaving your life. Things are constantly changing- for better or for worse. Your mind absorbs this chaos, creating disorganized thoughts, anxiety, and general anguish. Remove yourself from this by learning to quiet the mind through becoming mindful. Practices like meditation and deep breathing are often excellent at helping people to decompress, become tranquil, and find a clearer path to improving their well-being.

Get active. Being active isn't only necessary for your physical health, it's absolutely crucial for your mental health as well. Get your body moving- whether that's by going to the gym, taking long walks, doing yoga, or something else entirely. When you're moving, you enhance your state of well-being with the release of endorphins. This is why exercise is often considered a natural "treatment" for depression and anxiety- without the side effects of traditional medications. Exercising also creates a sort of reward loop: the more you do it, the better you'll look and feel. This boosts your mood and helps you feel content about your actions. If you're currently inactive, start today. You don't necessarily need to join a gym to get started, you simply need to build a habit. Go for a walk, do some push-ups, do whatever- just start and build from there.

Find professional help. When you're dealing with mental illness, you often feel isolated. It may feel like the world is closing in on you, and that there's no one to help you escape. People may not take what you're dealing with seriously, nor do they even understand what it is you're going through. If this describes your experience, getting help with a mental health IOP can be the best thing to help you conquer your issues. At A Mission For Michael, we offer treatments for those who are suffering from anxiety problems, mood disorders, personality disorders, and a variety of other mental illnesses. Our therapies are led by our staff of psychiatrists and mental health experts.

When you are dissatisfied with your life, and are unhappy with the direction it's going, you need to take the reins and regain control. This is done with customized treatment plans that are designed to change the way you think and feel- helping you obtain the fulfillment you need in life.

Mental stability and happiness are highly linked. It's almost impossible to have one without the other, and it can be difficult to achieve both when you're facing some form of adversity in life. Our mental health IOP can help you stabilize your mind and find a path to happiness. Contact us today to learn more about our mental health IOP.

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How Mental Stability Affects Happiness - A Mission For Michael

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People spend their entire lives pursuing happiness. They'll focus on getting rich, getting better relationships, moving to new cities, and doing everything that society tells them they need to do to become happier. Which begs the question, how mental stability affect happiness. What many neglect is their own mental health.

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Do you have tons of items on your to-do list? Well, add one more. It's time to pencil in a little pleasure.

Chances are, you simply deserve some joy and satisfaction. But if you prefer, you can think about the serious side of fun. Experts say good feelings can boost your ability to bounce back from stress, solve problems, think flexibly and even fight disease.
Studies show that:

Laughing decreases pain, may help your heart and lungs, promotes muscle relaxation and can reduce anxiety.

Positive emotions can decrease stress hormones and build emotional strength.

Leisure activities offer a distraction from problems, a sense of competence and many other benefits. For example, twins who participated in leisure activities were less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or dementia than their fellow twins in one study.

WAYS TO CREATE JOY AND SATISFACTION

Strengthen Your Funny Bone

You can keep it together by cracking up: It's hard to be irritated, worried or glum when you're rolling in laughter. And gentle humor often helps defuse a tense situation.
Check out some tips:

Pick up some joke books or humorous essays at a bookstore or library. Keep a few handy for a quick pick-me-up.

Put together a collection of sayings or photos that make you smile, and stick them someplace visible. Change them occasionally, or you'll likely stop noticing them.

Keep a humor tape in the car and steer clear of traffic frustration.

Watch or listen to comedy via video, podcast or website. Or get a laugh the old-fashioned way-through the comics section.

Try to laugh at some of the hassles in your life if you can. Finding what's a bit absurd or amusing in a challenging situation just might offer relief.

Find Some Fun

Whether it's playing golf or goofing around, having fun isn't just, well, fun. It also promotes our overall well-being and success.

Leisure activities can boost our effectiveness, broaden our perspective, increase creativity and restock our energy supply. Leisure can combat stress by offering:

social support

chances to build confidence

distractions from difficulties

an emotional lift

Let's have some fun:

Free up some time. Can you afford to scratch something off your calendar? Is there anyone you can ask to help lighten your load? Set aside a time for fun, and keep it like it was a doctor's appointment.

Do something you loved to do as a kid. Run through the sprinklers, hang from the monkey bars, make a mess with finger paints.

Do something you've always wanted to do. Bake a soufflé, build a tree house, learn to knit. If you're not sure how, take a class or look for a local group dedicated to the activity.

Pursue a creative interest. Writing, singing or making music all have therapeutic effects. Or just turn on a song you love: Brain images show that music can trigger feel-good hormones.

Do it with someone you love. Get an extra boost from your leisure by sharing it. Good times build relationships, and good relationships are key to our happiness.

What's Your "Flow"?

Some activities provide an extra psychological boost, argues prominent psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. They are activities that totally absorb us, challenge without overstressing us and make us feel fulfilled. They are what create the feeling of "flow."

Everybody's got their own sources of flow. For you, it may mean whooshing down the Alps; for someone else it may be basting a turkey, bowling or mowing the grass. Whatever your flow, it will make you feel effective, confident and in control.

To get more flow:

Identify the high points of your day. Try to note when you've got that "in the zone" feeling. Or reflect back at the end of the day to see what made you feel good. Then try to do those activities more.

Don't look for flow in passive pursuits. Watching TV, for example, doesn't offer the challenge that tends to spark flow. And once you improve at a task, considering raising the level of difficulty in some way.

Inject flow into some regular activities. If you inject more meaning or ingenuity into routine tasks, you can make them more rewarding. In one study of hospital cleaning staff, some were unhappy with the job, but others upped their pleasure by creating new challenges, like working more efficiently or helping patients.

Go Ahead, Indulge

Though there probably isn't much research on the emotional value of a good soak in the tub, we all need some kind of relaxing refuge.

Consider these options:

Therapeutic massage. A massage can relieve muscle tension, stimulate the body's natural painkillers and boost your immune system. It can also help you feel less anxious and more relaxed.

Meditation or a meditative form of exercise. Try tai chi or qi gong, which use soothing, flowing motions.

A nature break. A blue sky, lush bushes, a scenic lake. Walking in-or even just looking at-nature calms our nerves and relieves mental fatigue. In one study, workers with views of nature were happier at their jobs than workers with similar jobs but no nature view.

A mental vacation. If you can't hop on a plane to someplace soothing, just close your eyes and envision a scene you love. Try to fully imagine the experience of being there.

Get More Out of What You've Got

Sometimes, we don't need to add new activities to get more pleasure. We just need to soak up the joy in the ones we've already got.

If we don't stop to notice the positives in your life, it's like they barely exist. Unfortunately, our daily demands sometimes block our ability to savor. To increase it, try these tips:

Practice mindfulness, or the experience of being fully aware. You can start by really relishing a meal. Feel the textures, taste the flavors, enjoy the aromas. Don't rush, don't answer the phone (and don't talk with your mouth full!). Remind yourself to be conscious of other experiences throughout the day, like how your shower feels on your skin or how the sun feels on your face.

Share the joy. If you want to more fully experience your positive experiences, tell a friend about them. That way you'll get to relive the moment-and enjoy your friend's reaction.

Let it out. When you're feeling good, throw your whole self into it. Go ahead, jump up and down, clap your hands. Research shows that if you act out a certain emotion, you can fire up that feeling.

Reviewed by Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, a University of California, Riverside psychology professor and author of The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want (Penguin Press).

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Do you have tons of items on your to-do list? Well, add one more. It's time to pencil in a little pleasure. Chances are, you simply deserve some joy and satisfaction. But if you prefer, you can think about the serious side of fun.

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Are you on a quest to find happiness? While happiness might feel elusive or out of your reach at times, that doesn't make it an impossible journey or goal to achieve. On the contrary, happiness could be waiting for you around the next corner if you just hang on.

Or, it might be even simpler than that. Happiness might have been with you all along-you just may not have taken the time to realize it was much less complicated than you once believed. You probably know it's not about driving the newest car or having the latest gadget. But, what is it that really drives happiness? Let's consider four studies from around the world to answer that question.

Always Be Improving

A 2007 study reporting on data from the British Household Panel Survey revealed an interesting set of findings of the roots of happiness.﻿﻿

What is it that makes us happy: getting what we want or having what we want? Paradoxically, it seems that it's not the state of "being married" that makes us the happiest, but rather dynamic events such as "starting a new relationship."

In the same way, "getting a new job" had a greater effect on happiness than employment status. "Becoming pregnant" had a greater effect on happiness than "being a parent." Similarly, events such as "starting a new course," "passing an exam," or "buying a new house" were all also high on the happiness scale.

In contrast, events with a low relation to happiness included the end of a relationship, losing a job, and losing a parent. What does all this mean, and what is making people in Britain happy? Let's take a moment to figure this out.

Positive dynamic events seem to be key rather than static situations. While this may all sound a little superficial, it makes sense to some degree if you consider happiness to be a "momentary" state.

What can we glean from this study? If you want to pursue happiness in your life or stay positive, realize that there is always the possibility that some happy event is waiting around the corner for you. And if you don't feel like waiting-go out and make something happy happen. As the quote from Abraham Lincoln goes, "The best way to predict your future is to create it."

Surround Yourself With Happy People

A 2008 study reported on data from the Framingham Heart Study conducted in Framingham, Massachusetts followed 4,739 people from 1983 to 2003 to answer one interesting question: does our happiness depend on the happiness levels of the people around us?﻿﻿

Startlingly, the results of the study showed that to be precisely the case.

What's more, the analysis revealed that this effect was the result of happiness spreading, not just an artifact of happy people tending to hang out with one another.

According to this study, if you have a friend who lives within a mile of you and that friend becomes happy, the odds of you also becoming happy increase by about 25%. The same was true for spouses (up to 16% improvement), siblings living within a mile (up to 28%), and next-door neighbors (up to 70%). Interestingly, the happiness of coworkers was shown to have no effect on the happiness of those around them.

What does all this mean? Surround yourself with happy people as much as possible, because it's very likely that their happiness will spread to you.

Recall Positive Memories

In an Australian study of over 300 young adults, it was shown that those who recalled memories about problem-solving (a time when you successfully managed a challenge) or about identity (something that shaped you to become the person you are today) showed decreased negative emotions and increased positive emotions, respectively.﻿﻿

These findings suggest that simply thinking back to a time in your life when you were overcoming a challenge or to a time when you went through a significant life experience that changed you for the better could be effective in boosting your mood, and therefore, your happiness.

Collective Goals or Self-Transcendence

A 2019 study out of South Korea using data from the Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) showed that respondents prioritizing spirituality were the most likely to be happy, followed by those who valued social relationships (friends, family, neighbors).﻿﻿

These findings suggest that the path to happiness in South Korea is not about all that glitters with gold-rather, going after goals related to collectivism or self-transcendence may be most important to boosting and preserving happiness. These results are consistent with those found in the field of positive psychology.

A Word From Verywell

It's clear that what makes you happy may depend on where you live in the world (although these are limited studies that looked at different concepts). The British valued positive change, Americans grew happy when those around them were happy, Australians became happy when remembering positive memories, and South Koreans were happiest when engaged in collectivistic and spiritual pursuits.

The common thread, however, is that happiness is ever-changing and your happiness meter can always be boosted. If you truly want to pursue happiness, surround yourself with positivity and see beyond your present circumstances to the bigger picture, both in terms of people and your place in the greater universe.

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How to Pursue More Happiness and Add Positivity in Your Life

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Are you on a quest to find happiness? While happiness might feel elusive or out of your reach at times, that doesn't make it an impossible journey or goal to achieve. On the contrary, happiness could be waiting for you around the next corner if you just hang on.

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We all want to feel happy, and each one of us has different ways of getting there. Here are 10 steps you can take to increase your joie de vivre and bring more happiness into your life:

Be with others who make you smile. Studies show that we are happiest when we are around those who are also happy. Stick with those who are joyful and let rub off on you.

Hold on to your values. What you find true, what you know is fair, and what you believe in are all values. Over time, the more you honor them, the better you will feel about yourself and those you love.

Accept the good. Look at your life and take stock of what's working, and don't push away something just because it isn't perfect. When good things happen, even the very little ones, let them in.

Imagine the best. Don't be afraid to look at what you really want and see yourself getting it. Many people avoid this process because they don't want to be disappointed if things don't work out. The truth is that imagining getting what you want is a big part of achieving it.

Do things you love. Maybe you can't skydive every day or take vacations every season, but as long as you get to do the things you love every once in a while, you will find greater happiness.

Find purpose. Those who believe they are contributing to the well-being of humanity tend to feel better about their lives. Most people want to be part of something greater than they are, simply because it's fulfilling.

Listen to your heart. You are the only one who knows what fills you up. Your family and friends may think you'd be great at something that really doesn't float your boat. It can be complicated following your bliss. Just be smart, and keep your day job for the time being.

Push yourself, not others. It's easy to feel that someone else is responsible for your fulfillment, but the reality is that it is really your charge. Once you realize that, you have the power to get where you want to go. Stop blaming others or the world, and you'll find your answers much sooner.

Be open to change. Even if it doesn't feel good, change is the one thing you can count on. Change will happen, so make contingency plans and emotionally shore yourself up for the experience.

Bask in the simple pleasures. Those who love you, treasured memories, silly jokes, warm days, and starry nights-these are the ties that bind and the gifts that keep on giving.

Happiness and fulfillment are within your grasp, but sometimes just out of reach. Understanding what works best for you is the first step in finding more of them.

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We all want to feel happy, and each one of us has different ways of getting there. Here are 10 steps you can take to increase your joie de vivre and bring more happiness into your life: Be with others who make you smile.

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Learn what the latest psychology research tells us about how to cultivate and increase your happiness and experience more satisfaction and joy.