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Now Available: Positive Psychology Workbooks For Coaches and Enthusiasts

happier.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:21:01 +0000

A quick look at the shelves in any major bookstore will convince you that positive psychologists have no trouble getting the word out about their exciting new science. Each year literally dozens of titles are published on happiness, meaning and living a better life. Because it is rooted in empirical study Positive Psychology has given the self-help market a much needed scientific makeover. One conspicuous hole in all this new information, however, is a more engaging way of presenting material. Reading books- even best sellers—is inherently a passive activity.

With this in mind a group of top names in Positive Psychology created a series of workbooks designed to allow readers to engage more fully with the material. These workbooks, including titles such as Invitation to Positive Psychology, Positive Motivation and Positively Happy, are written by recognized authorities on the topic. Each workbook, weighing in at more than 100 pages long, is full of reflective exercises and suggested activities that allow readers to go “beyond the books” and actually use this dynamic material in their own lives. Readers gain not only background information on the science but also practical tips, opportunities to step back and take stock of their goals and experiments they can try in an effort to craft a better life.

Learn more about these workbooks.

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.

Video From Todd Kashdan: Tapping Into Your Brain

Michael Durkheimer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:26:54 +0000

In this video, happier.com expert Dr. Todd Kashdan talks about “Tapping Into Your Brain” and his new research on positive psychology. Very interesting. Enjoy.

Three Ways that Comfort and Convenience Make Us Less Happy

happier.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:45:28 +0000

Angie LeVan is a resilience coach, positive psychology consultant and an associate of Positive Psychology Services, LLC. Angie has studied the science of well-being in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at University of Pennsylvania, and she is a blogger on the topic of resilience for psychologytoday.com. See her profile in our practitioner directory.

Can Comfort and Convenience Undermine Your Well-being?

Most of us will do anything to avoid challenge, discomfort or even the slightest bit of inconvenience (hence, the Clapper, remote controls and Velcro). But by doing so, are we doing more harm than good when it comes to our well-being?

I’ll be the first to admit, there are some conveniences I just can’t live without. After all, who doesn’t love the iPhone?! But let’s face it — modern-day conveniences have made it easier than ever to do less, to spend endless hours on our derrières and to just be ‘comfortable’ — perhaps too comfortable?

Think about it. We’re living during a time when everything we want is right at our fingertips (thanks to the Internet and credit cards). Yet, we’re less happy today than our ancestors were when food was sparse, career paths were non-existent and before 18 year-olds drove sports cars. According to researchers, less than 20% of people (1 in 5) are actually ‘flourishing’ – living the ‘good life’. Worse yet, about the same number of people report symptoms of depression and anxiety! Through comfort and convenience have we lost opportunities to have an engaging and meaningful life? Have we sacrificed opportunities to develop the resources that truly enable us to thrive in life?

3 Ways Comfort and Convenience May be Short-changing Your Well-being:

1) An Epidemic of Inactivity: Not surprisingly, physical inactivity has reached epidemic proportion. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes and a number of other physical and mental disorders are on the rise – a result of modern conveniences?

So, get off your rear and take an active approach to life! For great tips on boosting your brawn and energy, check out these books: Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond and Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

2) Less Opportunity for Growth: When we’re exposed to minor stressors or challenges, we have an opportunity to build the mental resources necessary to actively cope with future hardship. Less challenge equals less opportunity to build the precious, mental resources that, leveraged appropriately, can enable a person to thrive.

For more information on building resilience, see The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles. Also, see this happier.com online exercise for building resilience.

3) False Hopes for an Easy Ride: In a technology-driven world, it’s easy to fall prey to expectations for an easy ride in life. But that’s just not how it works — and perhaps that’s not how it should! Happiness takes work. It takes real effort and persistence to achieve the life you most desire.

Adopt a different mindset. Learn to love challenge and effort, and step out of your ‘comfort zone’ by finding safe ways to challenge yourself!

Stay tuned for more on how use challenge as pathway to a thriving life!

The Five C's – Benefits of Working in a Creative Space

Michael Durkheimer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:16:05 +0000

Sally Augustin, Ph.D. is a guest blogger for happier.com and a member of the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory.

Positive places enhance our lives – they are spaces where we thrive now and flourish in the future.
Positive places improve our experiences by:
1. Communicating. Human beings are social animals, and in positive places we can mingle with other people, when we choose. In positive spaces we not only communicate verbally with others, but also send personally desirable nonverbal messages about ourselves as people. Members of a culture can “read” the nonverbal communication of culture-mates, and we feel that nonverbal information is more honest than spoken statements. Place-based nonverbal communication is why we get so worked up about furniture selections – a lot of furniture is equally comfortable, but the style of the particular furniture we select from among those equally comfortable options speaks eloquently about who we are as a person. Why do you think we love video tours of celebrities’ homes? We want to know who they really are.

2. Comforting. A place comforts us in many ways – colors and scents can sooth, sounds can calm, and opportunities to control the space can reduce stress, for example – but people often don’t consider how a space can help them restock their psychological batteries. When we work mentally, we tire our brain and reduce the mental energy at our disposal – just as we can wear down the charge in batteries. Our mental batteries are rechargeable, happily. When we look out a window at nature or into a fish tank or at a fire (or watch nature, fish or fire videos), we are transported from our physical location into a different place mentally, a place where interesting things happen that we can understand effortlessly. While we’re in that place, energy flows back into our cognitive centers. A place that helps us restock our mental batteries is comforting.

3. Challenging. One of our fundamental human needs is to grow and develop in ways that interest us. Different people have different self-enhancement plans, so the ways that places can challenge us to change need to vary – a studio to practice the cello is different from a woodworking shop or a hideaway to write a great novel, but all three can help a person achieve their own personal goals.

4. Complying. A positive space supplies us with the tools we need to do whatever activities we’ve planned there – it’s hard to cook a roast in a bathtub. If we’re doing thoughtful work, we need to be able to focus without distractions, which many people designing home and workplace offices forget.

5. Continuing. A positive place has the ability to evolve as our place-based needs change – too many built ins can turn out to be way too much.

Use the 5 C’s for positive places (communicate, comfort, challenge, comply, and continue) when you’re in different spaces – home, school, office, . . . – to determine if you’re a place that will enhance your life – or not. Watch for additional blog posts here to learn how you can turn negative places into positive ones.

Happy Mind, Happy Body – Exercise is Therapy: Self-Monitor

happier.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:14:35 +0000

By guest contributor Gloria Park Perin

When chronic exercisers are asked about the top reason they engage in physical activity, the #1 reason they cite are shifts in mood, namely increases in experienced positive emotion. Unfortunately, exercise isn’t instant gratification, and most people won’t experience the mood-boosting effects of exercise until they have developed a regular routine for several weeks.

Keep an exercise log. Record the date and time of activity, the intensity, and the length of each session of physical activity. Also note if you were alone, or with a friend, and how much you enjoyed the activity. Free tools are available online and even on your iPhone.

Monitor your mood. At the end of each day, log into Happier and use the Positivity Test or Authentic Happiness Index to track changes in your positivity ratio or happiness levels. Record your scores in the exercise log.

Use feedback to revise your strategy. After several weeks, go back and review the log. Are there specific types of activities that boost your mood over others? Does the time of day for exercise seem to have an impact? Take note of these patterns and adjust your routine.

Happy Mind, Happy Body – Exercise is Therapy: Set Positive Goals

happier.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:14:05 +0000

By guest contributor Gloria Park Perin

Taking on an approach versus avoidance mindset can do wonders for motivation. Sure, dropping the saddlebags and squeezing into a bikini are great goals for exercise, but instead of focusing on some aspect of yourself that you want to change or lose, why not ask yourself what you might gain in terms of vitality and the physical capacity to pursue a good life?

Create a vision of the future. Start by thinking about what is most important to you and work from there. Are your children the most important to you? Or developing your entrepreneurial endeavors? Write down what you envision as your best possible future.

Think about the tangible rewards. Articulate what you could potentially gain in these areas of your life by becoming more active: More energy to run around and play with your children? Increased ability to handle daily stressors in managing and growing your business?

Finally, set positively worded goals. “I will” vs. “I won’t” or “I hope to gain” vs. “I hope to lose”. Write these down and revisit them frequently.

Happy Body, Happy Mind - Steps Toward Happiness with Exercise as Therapy

happier.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:21:29 +0000

By guest contributor Gloria Park Perin

What if there was a pill that you could take every day to effectively prevent diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer? And what if the same pill would effectively reduce nearly every risk associated with all cause mortality? Would you take it? Would you urge your families and friends to take it?

These are questions Dr. Robert Sallis posed as I listened to him describe the new “Exercise is Medicine” initiative by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Medical Association (AMA). Amid fiery debate over escalating costs and declining accessibility to healthcare, this groundbreaking partnership intends to push exercise and physical activity into the forefront of the public healthcare management discourse and introduces them as an integral aspect of disease treatment and prevention.

What if this pill was also a powerful tool in warding off dementia, anxiety, and depression? What if it improved self-esteem, cognitive functioning, and boosted your mood?

Exercise is a low-cost, accessible, and self-directed activity, and the truth is, most of us know that exercise is both medicine and therapy. So why aren’t we doing more of it? We all hear the Surgeon General’s warnings about smoking, sedentary lifestyles, and the dangers of eating fast food, yet we still sit in front of our televisions watching incessant advertisements for the latest antidepressants, channel surfing with our greasy French-fried fingers, then wake up to a breakfast of Camel lights and coffee.

We need more than just information – we need motivation! Until an Exercise is Therapy initiative is developed, follow some of the simple tips in this blog series to get you on the path toward adopting a healthier and HAPPIER lifestyle, which begins like anything else: Just one step at a time.

*For more great tips, check out “Move Your Body: Tone Your Mood” by Dr. Kate F. Hays.

Sallis, R.E. (2009). Exercise is medicine and physicians need to prescribe it! British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43, 3-4.

Happy Mind, Happy Body - Exercise is Therapy: Be Realistic

happier.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:19:47 +0000

By guest contributor Gloria Park Perin

Optimism can help us look toward the future, but unreasonable optimism can be your worst enemy when you’re setting goals for exercise. If you start by reaching too high, falling short of your initial goal may ultimately serve to make you feel discouraged, rather than inspired to exercise. Even worse, overdoing it can bring harm or injury to your body.

Take stock of your life. If you’re already working full-time, raising two children, and taking night classes, then aspiring to exercise for three hours every day is probably unrealistic. Ask yourself: Based on what my life looks like right now, what is a goal that seems manageable and attainable?

Give yourself permission to be human. We all fall off the wagon, sometimes three or four times, when we’re trying to adopt a good habit (or break a bad habit). Be disciplined and make plans for following through on your schedule, but if an emergency comes up, don’t beat yourself up. Sit down, take a breath, and create an alternate plan, which can be as simple as promising to take the stairs to your 14^th floor office in the morning.

Be flexible. In exercise, think None-or-Something, rather than default to the All-or-Nothing thinking that can be one of the greatest barriers to physical activity. Even brief bouts of physical activity spread through the day can bring similar physical and psychological benefits. Remember this next time you want to can your workout for the day just because you can’t run the entire 6 miles.

Moving? 10 Ways to Make Sure Your New House Matches Your Psychology

happier.com — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:16 +0000

Sally Augustin, Ph.D. is a guest blogger for happier.com and a member of the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory.

Scientists have identified important links between personality (how a person behaves and thinks) and the design of places in which people are most comfortable. If you’re house hunting, you can use info about the relationship between personality and place design to streamline your search.

Read on to fine-tune the list of design parameters you share with your realtor – or keep what you learn about your place-based needs in mind as you pour through ads on your own.

Are you extraverted or introverted? Extraverts get a lot of energy from the world around themselves, while introverts focus more on their internal worlds than extraverts. Both introverts and extraverts can have many friends or few friends or be socially adept or socially awkward – the difference between extraversion and introversion really boils down to how a person gets charged up or chooses to focus.

There are place-related implications of being an extravert or an introvert that you should share with your realtor:

1. If you are an extravert, you prefer a more open floor plan in your home, if you’re an introvert, you favor a layout with more clearly defined rooms, particularly if some of those rooms can be closed off with doors.
2. Extraverts prefer to use couches for seating in living rooms and family rooms, while introverts prefer single person chairs. So, whether you are an extravert or an introvert influences your preferred furniture, and that furniture influences appropriate room shapes and sizes.
3. Introverts are much better at processing sensory information than extraverts, so they are more likely to get overwhelmed by it than extraverts. Extraverts enjoy being in spaces that are more sensorally stimulating – make an extravert happy with brightly painted walls, intense lighting, mirrored walls, textured rugs – you get the idea. Homes that extraverts have “energized” are not likely to be homes where introverts can be happy – without some remodeling.

Another aspect of personality that has a big influence on how you respond to the world around you is whether you feel more in control of your own destiny, or whether you feel that fate or external forces have more influence on the course of your life than your own actions.

4. If you feel more in control of your own destiny, you like more rectilinear sorts of spaces and objects, while if you feel that external forces control your life, you prefer more curved objects and spaces. People in the second group prefer rounded archways and curving grand staircases, while people in the first group would like those arches and staircases squared off.
5. If you feel more in control of your own destiny, you are apt to “take charge” of a space and modify it to meet your own needs, while people who feel more controlled by external forces are more likely to accept their environment as it is. If you’re the “take control of a space” type, things work out better if a place can be used in several ways (because your needs may change), while people in the other group don’t require the same flexibility – their dining room will stay a dining room, no matter what sort of hobbies they adopt and a built in china cabinet will continue to usefully serve the same function as long as they live in the house.

Some people are more territorial than others – you probably know if you’re territorial, but if you’re confused: In a public space such as a movie theater, do you tend to sit at the end of a row of chairs, even if there are other available chairs toward the middle of the row? If you do, and there aren’t extenuating circumstances – you’re not over 6 feet tall or you don’t have a broken leg – you are probably pretty territorial.

6. If you are territorial, or the people who will share the house with you are, make sure there are spaces in the house that can be claimed as individual territories. Nothing defines an individual territory as well as a door that closes, but in a pinch a window seat (particularly if it can be closed off with curtains), or a section of a room with a lower ceiling than the rest of the room, for example, can be pressed into service as territories.

Environmental sensitivity also varies from person to person.

7. If you are the person who hears the mouse scampering in the next room or who knows when the neighbors change the wattage of the bulbs in their backyard lights, you are probably environmentally sensitive. You would prefer a home that is a little more isolated than people who are not so environmentally sensitive. When you are doing something that requires concentration sensory shielding is particularly important – so it is very important that your home office be acoustically and visually separate from the main living areas of your home.

Have you ever bungee jumped? Do extreme sports intrigue you? Would you ever consider skydiving? If you answered “yes” to these questions you are what is know in the psych biz as “high in stimulus seeking.”

8. If you are a high stimulus seeker, you prefer spaces that are complex or unpredictable – you want to get a thrill out of opening your own front door.

Is it important to you to make a unique statement with your home? If you owned a VW Bug, would you want to find a really unusual flower – or something else – to put in the bud vase that comes standard with each Bug? If you reply positively to these questions, then you have a high need for uniqueness.

9. People with a high need for uniqueness need a home that is different from the conventional home, somehow, and it is best if that difference is visible from the curb.

People can also differ in the strength of the link that they feel to the natural world.

10. If you have an affinity for the natural world, make sure that the houses you visit with your realtor are surrounded by nature, and that you have a view of nature from the places in the home where you are most likely to be harried (for example, your home office).

Knowing a little bit about how personality and place experiences are related can make your next search for a place to live more efficient – and increase the odds that the new house you select will become a home.

For additional information about designing with science, contact Sally Augustin, PhD.

An Interview With Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project

Doug Hensch — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:01:01 +0000

You’ve probably heard of Gretchen Rubin. More than 60,000 people subscribe to her blog The Happiness Project and email newsletter, and the blog is carried on outlets including Slate, the Huffington Post and RealSimple.com. December, 2009 will bring the publication of her book, The Happiness Project, available for pre-order at a discount through the happier.com store.

In Gretchen’s words:

My happiness project has convinced me that it’s possible to be happier by taking small, concrete steps in your daily life. In my book and on this daily blog, I write about what I’ve learned as I’ve test-driven the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture. Plutarch, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, St. Thérèse, the Dalai Lama, Oprah, Martin Seligman…I cover it all.

Doug, a member of the team at happier.com, recently asked Gretchen about her journey so far:

What initially made you interested in writing about happiness?

I was riding on a city bus on a rainy day, and I had a rare moment of reflection. “What do I want from life, anyway?” I thought. “I want to be happy.” But I realized I didn’t spend any time thinking about what it meant to be happy, or whether I was happy, or how I could be happier. At that moment I thought, “I should have a happiness project – and think about happiness, and make changes in my life, in a systematic way!” (I’m a former lawyer so that’s my way of approaching things.) I started my happiness project the next day. I didn’t immediately think about writing a book about it; that came later.

What would you say is the single easiest way for people to be happier at Work? Home? Social life?

Philosophers and scientists agree: probably THE key to happiness is having strong relationships with other people. Make time for the people in your life. Make some fun plans. Join or start a group. Help someone else. Call someone. Remember birthdays. Celebrate holidays. Get to know someone new. The more strong relationships you have, the more likely you are to describe yourself as very happy.

What is the most surprising thing that you have learned about happiness over your year with the happiness project?

I was surprised to discover the truth of the theory that “novelty and challenge bring happiness.” I thought that in my case, familiarity and mastery would bring more happiness. But to test that theory, I started a blog – a challenge that made me feel intimidated and insecure. And my blog has turned into a GIGANTIC source of happiness for me. So now I look for other ways to bring novelty and challenge into my life. It’s a taxing way to get happiness, but it’s worth it, because it yields such great bang for the buck.

Who are the happiest people that you have encountered?

What qualities did they have? Do you have any stories about people that immediately come to mind? That’s a great question. It’s really worth studying the people who seem very happy, because they have qualities that we can all emulate. They seem very kind. Kindness is a much-overlooked virtue, to my mind. They seem light-hearted – even if they aren’t playful (which they sometimes are, but not always), they can laugh at themselves and at tough situations. They are loving: they really listen, they go out of their way to help even when it’s not convenient, they think about other people’s needs.

But happy people come in different flavors. Some are goofy, some are serene, some are intense. It’s interesting, though, how attractive they are. When you’re around a really happy person, you want to be around that person MORE.

What often disguises itself as happiness, or a road to happiness, but is actually not?

I think people often give themselves a “treat” when they want a happiness boost – but all too often, the things we do to treat ourselves don’t make us happy in the long run. Having an extra glass of wine, eating ice cream out of the carton, having a cigarette, splurging on a new pair of shoes, leaving a big mess…these are things that feel like a treat but in the end, often make us feel worse. If you feel the urge to give yourself a treat, ask yourself, “Will this really make me happy, in the long run?” Try to find ways to treat yourself that don’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.

If you are feeling down, what can you do to give yourself a boost?

One of the quickest ways to give yourself a boost is to do something nice for someone else. Here’s a suggestion: become an organ donor! Sign the online registry and/or tell your family you want to be a donor. With that single quick act, you may save the life of five people one day! It’s huge! If you’re already an organ donor, try taking a ten-minute walk outside. It will boost your energy, heighten your alertness, and break up your day. Even better, take a friend with you.

Do you have a favorite happiness quote or metaphor?

Ah, I have so manyI I love quotations and have so many wonderful quotations. Here’s one: “There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” Robert Louis Stevenson