This FREE Course will make you Happy
In 2018, Professor Laurie Santos introduced the Yale Science of Well-Being Course.
And in just a span of 4 years more than 3,800,000 students have enrolled in the FREE course.
Here are a few key learnings from that course, that promise to Improve your Mental Health:
What we think will make us Happy
- Good Job
- Money
- True Love
- Awesome stuff (car, big tv, etc)
- Good Body
- Perfect grades
But in reality, none of the above actually makes us happy.
The only exception is Money. Money in the initial phase does make us happy, as in, there is a threshold. If your cash increases towards that threshold, it indeed gives us happiness but beyond that, any increase in money does not increase happiness.
This threshold exists to take care of our existential needs, better health care, access to clean water, air, house, etc. But once we start earning more than a threshold and even if we continue to increase our earnings, it makes no difference in our happiness.
This doesn’t mean that chasing a body goal or trying is build a business is a vague goal. It simply means we overestimate the happiness these things will give us.
We think that they will make us extremely happy. Which they don’t.
What actually makes us happy?
#1 Signature Strengths
Get a job that makes use of your signature strengths. Signature strengths are strengths that
(a) you are really good at and
(b) Recognized by others as well.
#2 Flow
Find things/activities that put you into a Flow State. Flow is achieved when we set out to accomplish a task voluntarily that is difficult and worthwhile. Typically, it does not distinguish between leisure and work. Since it is voluntary, it takes both one and the same
#3 Growth mindset
The belief that intelligence can be trained and basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. As opposed to a fixed mindset which says that intelligence and traits are fixed traits.
It is seen that people with a Growth Mindset often are happier and seem to live a much more fulfilled life
#4 Kindness
Opportunities to be more kind to others will improve your mental health. Studies show that happy people are more motivated to be kind. Conversely, people become happier when they act more kindly towards others.
#5 Social connection
Happy people have strong close friends, strong family ties, and better romantic ties. How much time do you spend alone vs with friends/family/lovers? Happy people spend more time in socializing.
Even, social connections work with strangers too. Random talks with strangers increase happiness. In the general act of being with somebody leads to happiness. That’s why I hate people who promote lone wolf culture
#6 Time Affluence
Time Affluence = Feeling like you have enough time for doing things that you would like to do. Prioritizing time over money makes people happier. We should invest in time affluence.
#7 Mindfulness
We have become a generation of low attention spans. But a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Meditation helps in controlling mind wandering. Studies show that meditation helps in making us happier.
#8 Gratitude
Gratitude is the scientific term for Happiness. The point is Happiness is too wishy-washy and Gratitude can be felt anytime. But having a Gratitude Journaling practice tends to make people more Happier.
This was a short summary of the course. If you really want to benefit from this course. Then I highly recommend you take this course for FREE on Coursera. This is not a sponsored post or there are no affiliate links. I’m only suggesting this course because it genuinely helped with my mental health.
