Whether or not you set resolutions for the New Year, you probably would like to maintain or increase your happiness quotient. If so, the following tips may prove to be helpful: Write down three positive things that happened to you each day and think about how and why they occurred. Maybe they seemed to happen […]

When asked to name their number one priority, people tend to list personal relationships, good physical health, meaningful employment, wealth, a comfortable home, sufficient leisure time… the list goes on and on. However, just about everyone would agree that they want to be happy. At the same time, many of us are concerned that we […]

So many definitions and opinions exist about what constitutes happiness. Is it a feeling? A mood? An attitude? A way of life? Let’s turn to the definition of happiness from Sonia Lyubomirsky, researcher and author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness. Lyubomirsky states that happiness is “the experience of joy, contentment, […]

Whether you consider yourself a social butterfly, more inclined to one-on-one interactions, or prefer solitude, there’s no denying that the quality of your personal relationships affect your levels of happiness, well-being, and physical health. We are wired for connection. As the saying goes, “No man is an island”. Consider research done on over 200 undergraduate […]

What if you could increase your happiness by doing a simple daily five-minute exercise? And if all you needed was a piece of paper and pen or your laptop computer? And what if you could feel the benefits of this exercise within a week or two? Research by Dr. Martin Seligman, the renowned psychologist known […]

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” (Albert Schweitzer) It turns out that those who serve are a whole lot more likely to be physically healthy, too, down to […]

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face… You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  Eleanor Roosevelt Stress has been getting a bad name. Almost daily, we read about another research study demonstrating the destructive effects of stress on our […]

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have dubbed the French-Tibetan monk and molecular geneticist Matthieu Ricard “the happiest man in the world”. Over the past decade or so, at the prompting of the Dalai Lama and neuroscientists such as Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin, Ricard has joined numerous other advanced meditation practitioners in […]

“Happiness springs from doing good and helping others.”  Plato It turns out that those who serve are a whole lot more likely to be physically healthy, too, down to the cellular level. Researchers at the University of North Carolina and UCLA recently discovered that people who scored high on the sort of happiness associated with […]