What’s the Best Way to Start Getting Happier?
Are you starting your happiness journey? Here are some tips for how
to get off on the right foot.
It was my last year in college, and I needed
to take physics to graduate. The only problem? I had skipped physics in high
school, so I had no foundational physics skills. After only one week in the
class, I was completely lost. I read every word in the textbook, went to office
hours, and attended a study group, but I just barely passed the class.
My experience probably doesn’t surprise you.
You know that to learn something new, you have to set yourself up for
success—and this is also true for learning happiness. We can make it easier for
ourselves to build happiness when we choose the right habits to work on first.
Here’s how to get started.
Get
a quick win with something easy and fun
Researchers believe that some happiness habits are easier to
build than others. So rather than starting with whatever
happiness habit is currently the most popular—meditation! self-care!—you’ll
likely be better off starting with habits that are easier or more fun.
The broaden-and-build theory suggests
that experiencing positive emotions broadens our mindset and builds our
psychological, intellectual, and social resources, allowing us to benefit more
from our experiences. By starting with easy or fun practices, you may be able
to get a jumpstart in happiness, subsequently boosting your sense of self-efficacy and
propelling you forward in the happiness-building process.
Illustrating this theory, one study showed
that people who felt more positive emotion in the beginning of a happiness
program reported greater improvements at the end. By going after the
low-hanging fruit of happiness, you can build up reserves of confidence and
good feelings that may help you tackle the trickier skills later.
Which habits are easy to start with?
Well, one habit that researchers believe is
relatively easy to build is savoring good things in your
life (like a special trip or awe-inspiring concert) by continuing to reflect on
them and share them with others. On the flip side, surveys suggest that
learning mindfulness can
be relatively difficult, as beginners may struggle and become
cognitively depleted.
Three Good Things
Another good way to get started is with
something fun. Our surveys showed
that students most enjoyed mindful breathing, awe exercises, gratitude journaling,
and listing three good things.
They found these practices to be a better fit—aligned more with their internal
values and natural inclinations—than practices like forgiveness or
self-compassion.
In a 2012 study,
people chose which activities to practice. They selected
exercises related to setting goals, savoring the present moment, and recording
gratitude more frequently than thinking optimistically, savoring the past,
expressing gratitude to others, and recording acts of kindness. This evidence
gives us some idea about which habits are the most enjoyable (or, at least,
which ones we think will be most enjoyable).
So when getting started with happiness
habits, try to begin with easy, fun ones—but don’t stop there. More difficult
habits are valuable, too.
Get more bang for your buck
with high-impact habits
It stands to reason that some habits have a
bigger impact on happiness than others.
In a recent survey, for example, I aimed to
find out which happiness habits likely contribute the most to happiness. What I
discovered is that some, like developing positive feelings about
the self, appear to be more closely linked to happiness than
the rest.
Other research supports this idea. For
example, researchers found that one group of habits that highly impact
happiness in the long run are those that shape what you pay
attention to. This includes practices like anticipating good things in the
future, paying attention to the positives rather
than the negatives of a situation, and reflecting on good things that happened
in the past.
Perhaps more compelling is the research
suggesting that healthy behaviors—like exercise—improve well-being, even among people who
have a difficult time building other types of happiness habits.
In fact, one study showed that a health enhancement program alleviated depression and increased
life satisfaction faster than a mindfulness
program among those diagnosed with depression. Although both programs were
effective in the long term, the authors argue that positive health habits may more
quickly increase well-being, while mindfulness may lead to more
gradual but sustained improvements.
Using a greater variety of practices,
regardless of what the practices are, may also be beneficial. For
example, one study found
that compared to a program including fewer types of happiness practices, a
happiness program including more practices led to greater increases in
well-being. Other research suggests
that the people in happiness programs who choose to engage in more different
practices show greater increases in happiness than those who choose to engage
in fewer practices. And people who engage in a diverse range of practices and engage
in them in more situations seem to show the most benefit of all.
In sum, trying to create any new habit can be
tough, so it’s worth thinking about which happiness habits to cultivate first.
Once you’ve built a few of these habits, you’ll get the hang of it, and
building other habits will feel easier. Use these tips to start off on the
right foot—and avoid the mistake I made in physics.
BY TCHIKI DAVIS |
AUGUST 7, 2017
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/whats_the_best_way_to_start_getting_happier?utm_source=Greater+Good+Science+Center&utm_campaign=ebcb5b5c2a-GG_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5ae73e326e-ebcb5b5c2a-51482775
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