Happiness Experts

I was contacted by Online College Courses who said they created an article on happiness experts because they like my blog so much.  Being a college related site, the lists consists of actual scientists who have done work in the field of happiness. (So no, I'm not on the list - not a scientist, just a practitioner).

(Note - Online College Courses asked me to remove the link as of June 1 2013 - so I can no longer share the link with you. which makes me unhappy because it was a cool article)

Regardless, the list had some great information about the science of how to be happy and that just goes to show, it's not just me spouting off motivational quotes. There is some real science behind it. Here are my favorites from the list:

1) Seligman - father of positive psychology - not only does his studies encourage us to focus on our joys, but apparently, what is more important than happiness is a personal belief that you are accomplishing something important. You need to have worthwhile goals to be happy.

3) Diener - he found that college students that are the most happy, have a strong support system of family and friends. So be sure to be good to the people who matter to you.

6) Csikszentmihalyi - A hungarian psychologist - apparently finding meaningful work that is challenging to you and working at it helps make you happy. You can't just think happy thoughts, you need to take constructive action to be happy.

7) Veenhoven - he's the guy who created the world database of happiness - check it out: http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/

So, to summarize, what we know from science is that to be happy, you need good strong positive relationships and you need to have meaningful work that you actually work at.

(Image from the Online College Course Blog)

I've been saying this for years!

What you think about others is more a reflection of who you are, then it is of the other people.  If you view people you've never met positively, it means you are basically a positive person. If you view people you've never met as most likely jerks, it's because you are probably a jerk.

It's called projection and we all do it. We tend to project onto others our own issues and concerns. And it's important to understand this. That's why I wrote about it in my book about how the world doesn't revolve around you. When someone judges you unfairly it has very little to do with you and every thing to do with them.  It isn't about you. It's about how they feel about the world and themselves.  And that's not just folk wisdom, scientific research actually backs that up.

See: What you say about others says a lot about you : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802165441.htm#.TpcmRlX_6M0.blogger

Also - thanks to Empathy Heals for first posting the story: http://www.empathyheals.com/2011/10/what-you-say-about-others-says-lot.html