Dr. Acacia Parks is an instructor in positive psychology, a researcher and a member of the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory.  Dr. Parks has taught a variety of classes on how to use positive psychology interventions, and she often gets questions from students and clients about what will work best for them.

Question

When I take the happiness test, I find myself in the middle.  I’m not particularly unhappy and I’m not overwhelmingly happy.  What should I focus on? What exercises are likely to work the best for me?

Answer

With scores in the middle range of the CES-D and AHI, you are in the perfect range for a lot of exercises on happier.com – you’ve still got room for growth, but your unhappiness isn’t so intense that it will get in your way.

Right now, you’ll benefit the most from taking what works in your life and doing it more. “Signature Strengths” will help you figure out what you’re best at and find ways to do what you’re best at more often in your daily life. Research suggests that we are happiest in work and leisure when we can get lost in what we are doing (in other words, achieve “Flow”) – by using your strengths, you make that more likely. “Active and Constructive Responding” will help you to pay more attention to good news from other people, and to respond to good news in a way that will improve your relationships. Most people who score in the same range as you do both of these things already to some extent, but may not be aware of how beneficial it is to do so. Try setting an intention to do what works more, and see what happens!

Another task you are well-poised to try out is fine-tuning the way in which you interpret stressful events. “Control Negative Thoughts” will teach you a more objective way to think about the things that happen to you. If you were too unhappy, it would be hard to find sufficient perspective to do this. If you were too happy, you would probably already be doing it. This task should provide a great balance of challenge and ability – again, a recipe for Flow!

happier.com is a personal trainer for your happiness. With more than a dozen tools and tests to help you measure, track and improve your happiness, you can trust the happier.com experts to help you reach your goals. Exclusive videos and a popular blog mean there’s something new to learn every day. Download the free iPhone application or find what you’re looking for with the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory. happier.com is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter and has meetup groups in Washington, Philadelphia, and Portland, with more planned. Click here for a social media press release from our launch.