The Science of Happiness
Five Important
Findings to Help You Be Happier Now

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Happiness can
be learned.
Happy people
are more productive, better team players, more creative, and more fun
to be around.
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Traditionally, doctors and scientists have focused
on what was broken or wrong. They studied what made people sick or
unhappy and how to fix it. But, over the last 30 years or so, a new
breed of scientists has refocused on what makes people happy and
healthy.
This new science, called positive psychology,
forms the basis of the new science of happiness.
We can use the findings from the new science to
help us learn how and why to be happy. What Science
tells us about happiness is-
1) Happiness helps us learn, grow and work on
cooperative efforts.

Just as stress, fear, anger, and other unhappy feelings biochemically
spur us to fight or flight, feeling happy causes chemical changes in
our bodies that help us learn and grow. Feeling happy helps us adapt
and live in harmony with each other and the environment.
Click
here for Ten Reasons Why Happiness is Important.
2) It is not what happens to us so much as what
we think about it that determines our happiness.
Even wealthy people who have constant access to
pleasure are not happy unless they think themselves so. After a certain
point, we get used to our circumstances, good and bad and return to our
“happiness set point”. The actions that make the biggest difference in
our level of happiness are what we think about our circumstances and
what we choose to do about them.
Click
here for more of the Elements of Happiness.
3) Happiness can be learned.
Scientists
have identified the key thought patterns that lead to feeling happy.
With practice, you can adopt these thought patterns yourself and
increase your happiness. The other good news is that feeling happy
makes it easier to do the things that make you happier, so adopting
happiness habits may be easier than you think.
Click
here for more on Learned Optimism.
4) There are two basic paths to happiness,
mindful happiness and flow.
Mindful
happiness is when you know you are happy at that moment. We can often
increase our mindful happiness just by tuning in to the sensations of
the moment, or thinking about a past, present or future situation and
feeling optimistic, grateful or good about it.

Flow is when we loose ourselves in an activity
that challenges us in some way. Sometimes this is called “being in the
zone”. When people recall times they were in flow they often recall
that they were happy, however, when in flow people may experience
negative emotions like anger or determination. Yet, they are so
engaged, that the negative emotions are stimulating and mastery of the
situation that causes them causes the same psychological and physical
effects as being happy.
5) We feel good when we do good.
Scientists have confirmed what
many of us have observed, we feel happy when we do something for
someone else. This works on an individual basis where we can
see the impact to the other person directly and on a global basis where
we believe we are doing something larger than ourselves. Not only do we
feel good when we do something selfless, but we are also often
attracted to others who we observe doing something for others.
Science Indicates the Path to a Happy Life
Science indicates that the path to a happy life lies within our
control. We can have the biggest impact on our own happiness by
choosing to think happy thoughts and by using our strengths and talents
to do challenging things we enjoy that also do good for others.

Remember...
In the words of Benjamin Disraeli...
Action may not
always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
So
bookmark this site, then go be happy!
Find
out what spiritual leaders think of the new science of happiness on our
quotes page.
For
more Tools and Tips on Happiness, click here.
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