Category: happiness

Why Does Experiencing ‘Flow’ Feel so Good? A Communication Scientist Explains

New years often come with new resolutions. Get back in shape. Read more. Make more time for friends and family. My list of resolutions might not look quite the same as yours, but each of our resolutions represents a plan for something new, or at least a little bit different. As you craft your 2022…


3 Surprising Insights About Success and Happiness

Sometimes, findings from the research on well-being seem a bit obvious: Gratitude will make you happier; mindfulness reduces your stress; and it feels good to be kind. But the findings of other studies are much more counterintuitive. This kind of research challenges how we think the world works. If we’re open to it, it can…


Avoid These 10 Actions that Let Your Happiness Escape

By Nicole Fuentes Happiness slips away from us in various places. Very often we are robbed by the difficulties of every day. Other times depression, anxiety, or chronic health problems hijack her. But happiness also leaves us when we live in a hurry, executing tasks and solving tasks as if we were on an assembly line. We go through…


Why Developing a Fun Habit Is Better Than Pursuing Happiness

We all want to be happy, and the idea of happiness as a learned skill has never been more popular. Searching for happiness offers us all a glimmer of hope—from Baby Boomers pining for the joys of the past, to young adults experiencing record levels of loneliness, anxiety, and burnout. Who doesn’t want a reprieve…


If You Want to Be Happy, Try to Make Someone Else Happy

Many Americans chase after new gadgets and hedonistic pleasures in a seeming attempt at happiness. But what if that approach is wrong? What if happiness comes from aiming to make others happy instead of doing nice things for yourself? That is exactly what a recent study found. In the study, college students reported on their…


Allowing Ourselves to Feel Joy

I’ve come to realize that most of us don’t allow ourselves to feel joy most days. Think about your past week: Did you experience anything joyful and wondrous? Or was your week marked by routine, busyness, and the stress of doing doing doing? If you felt joy and wonder daily, you’re likely the exception. Most…


Why You Can’t Think Your Way to Happiness

We spend our early years learning how to walk, talk, read, play sports, have conversations, and so on. We come to believe that knowing things is crucial for our happiness and survival. Knowing makes us valid, valuable, and powerful. Knowing makes us belong. Knowing also gives us a sense of control. If we can know something, we believe we can control it….