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4 Books to Help You Take Charge of Your Happiness

52 Small Changes for the Mind: Improve Memory. Minimize Stress. Increase Productivity. Boost Happiness. by Brett Blumenthal By making one small change a week all year long, we can feel much less stressed and more fulfilled, writes author Brett Blumenthal. Read 20 minutes a day. Choose books and articles you actually want to (rather than should) read. When you read what you love, your interest in reading grows. Reading keeps your brain healthy and protects against memory loss. Go on a screen diet. How much of your day is spent in front of a screen? Brett reports that some Americans spend up to 10 hours a day online, on mobile devices and in front of the TV. Try to reduce digital time by an hour a day. Attend a lecture in person instead of online or go to a concert instead of watching YouTube videos. Too much screen time can result in stress and sleeping problems, research shows. Deal with demons. Holding on to regret for past mistakes can hurt your potential and your future. Ask yourself: What past mistakes still upset you? Acknowledge your regrets and ask yourself what lessons you have learned. Start viewing your mistakes as “invaluable blessings,” Brett says. The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success by Emma Seppala, Ph.D. In her book, The Happiness Track, Emma Seppala, Ph.D., writes that working in a stressed-out overdrive mode isn’t the best or only pathway to success. With the latest findings in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, she shows us how happiness has a profound effect on our professional lives by increasing our productivity as well as our emotional and social intelligence. Tap into your natural resilience. Do something restorative to shore up your resilience like taking a hike in nature or getting a massage. Emma says that the best way to immediately gain resilience in a difficult situation is to focus on your breath, a “rapid and reliable pathway to your nervous system dedicated to helping you regain your optimal state.” Succeed through compassion. A compassionate culture at work results in improved employee productivity and well-being. Inspire each other at work, look out for one another, emphasize the meaningfulness of the work and treat each other with respect and gratitude. Manage your energy well. Letting your emotions rule you can be exhausting. Instead, cultivate calm. “When you are calm, you are better able to manage your thoughts and feelings,” writes Emma. Being calm allows you to be more observant, listen better, communicate more skillfully and make better decisions. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW Vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage, writes author Brené Brown. When we try to prevent ourselves from feeling vulnerable, we also are shutting out experiences that can bring purpose and meaning to our lives. Let go of perfectionism. Perfectionism is the belief that if we do things perfectly we can avoid the pain of blame, judgment and shame. Perfectionism is other-focused: What will they think? Instead, she advises to move toward healthy striving, which is self-focused: How can I improve? Practice being seen. Share a product, article or piece of art you have created. To become more courageous, we have to risk being vulnerable. You can want people to like what you share without attaching your self-worth to how it is received. Without your self-worth on the line, you are more likely to risk sharing your raw talent and gifts. Connect. True belonging can only happen when we are self-accepting and present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world. Want to live a connected life? Spend less time and energy winning over people who don’t matter, and see the value of cultivating your true relationships. With vulnerability, you can welcome more love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation and creativity into your life. The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work by Christine Carter, Ph.D. Do you ever feel like you are in a rut of busyness? With her expertise on happiness, productivity and elite performance, author Christine Carter shows you how to step off the merry-go-round of busy and find your sweet spot. Start a new happy habit. The brain starts to wire itself for greater automaticity the first time we repeat a behavior, so you can make huge strides in forming a new habit in just a day or so. Select a new habit that would make you happy if you did it every day—one that has the greatest built-in reward for you. It could be taking a walk at dusk or starting a gratitude journal. Show compassion for strangers. It’s easy to do nice things for people you love, but you can become an Olympic-level giver by giving your time, money or love to strangers. Acts of compassion can help you shift from self-preoccupation to true connection and community. Gain mastery. Mastery is the purest example of finding your sweet spot, where strength and ease intersect. When you master an activity, you have great power with little strain. Gaining mastery often means facing difficulty, persisting and practicing. Christine writes that we should stop trying so hard to do everything right and gain the freedom that comes from doing the right things instead.

Mindset

4 Ways to Build Your Social Intelligence

“Humans are my favorite animal.” This quote came from a graduate student during one of my recent workshops at the University of Pennsylvania. It captures the priorities of a person high in social intelligence. These individuals want to be around other people, interacting and connecting. They may not always agree with each person but they can appear to be just as comfortable with a CEO, a teacher, a young child or a homeless person. They’re quick to see the common humanity that is part of all of us. How about you? Do you have a sense of what makes other people tick? Do you feel you can easily fit into most social situations? Are you closely attuned to your own feelings as well as to the emotions of others? One of the quickest ways to begin expressing your social intelligence is to practice seeing and naming the strengths in people around you. You can use the “learning to SEA” method of strengths-spotting: Spot a character strength: “I see kindness in you…” Explain what you saw: “…because you were giving extra time helping that student after the meeting.” Appreciate and validate the person for the strength: “I appreciated seeing your kindness in action. It was inspiring for how I will try to interact with my employees.” This SEA method is your social intelligence-in-action because you’re observing others, understanding a core part of them and using your social savvy to communicate this with the person. Consider the impact of bringing your social intelligence and strengths-spotting to people in your life. Use it with those you love the most and with those whom you have differences in opinions and beliefs. Social intelligence means to look deeper. Taking time to understand and empathize can have a significant impact. Here are three additional ways you can build your social intelligence in different situations: In one of your relationships, when you find yourself in a relational argument you have been in before, attempt to find at least one positive element in the other person’s comments and opinions. Find a way to bring this into the conversation. At work, make a point to empathize with one of your co-workers who seems to be upset, stressed, or having difficulty with something in their life. Gently ask some questions and check in to see whether they are comfortable sharing with you. Be sure to spend more time listening than speaking and, if appropriate, offer emotional support. At a community outing or just walking around a local park, take notice of someone who seems alone, unhappy, excluded, or cast aside. Use your social intelligence to approach them and start a conversation.

Practice

Let Perseverance Guide Your Happiness

Welcome, Happy Activists! What is a Happy Activist? A Happy Activist is someone who, through kind words and intentional positive actions, strives to make the world a better place. Live Happy invites you to join our #HappyActs movement! On the 20th of each month, we encourage everyone to incorporate kindness into your daily lives by participating in each month’s planned activity. The more who join the #HappyActs movement, the more positive impact we’ll all have on our homes, workplaces and communities. What you think and do matters! June's happiness theme is perseverance. In Ryan Niemiec’s book Character Strengths Interventions, perseverance is defined as the ability to take pleasure in getting things done. Studies have repeatedly shown that perseverance has been tied to academic, personal and professional success. When we engage in perseverance, we are actively engaged in our lives, which can often lead to a state of flow. During this experience, all of your stressors melt away as you focus on the task at hand. All it takes is time and effort. June’s Happy Act is optimism. A key factor in perseverance is maintaining optimism. If you feel good about yourself and your abilities to complete your goals, then you are more than likely going to cross the finish line. Small defeats are just bumps in the road on your journey to success. Plus, the more optimistic you are, the greater chance that the people around will be too. Happiness attracts happiness. The next time you experience any setbacks, think about the positive angle to having these adversities: What have you learned from the adversity? How can you grow from your setback? How will this new knowledge help you in the future? Spend 15 to 20 minutes pondering these questions, then write down how you may benefit from it. Ryan calls this exercise benefit-finding. Research has shown that people who practice benefit-finding often become more forgiving, which is another character strength that can make you happier. Our May Happy Activist is Paula Francis. She is the co-founder and president of Gross National Happiness USA (GNHUSA), as well as a Chief Happiness Walker. A little over a decade ago, she became one of the original founders of GNHUSA, an organization that champions and encourages the use of Gross National Happiness to measure human progress and flourishing. She then traveled to Bhutan, a country that adopted GNH in 1972, to see how it all works. Since then, she has dedicated her life to promoting happiness for all people. In 2014, she committed to The Happiness Walk, a 10,000-mile trek across the country, interviewing people and to bring awareness to human happiness and what matters most in life. She is scheduled to complete her journey this fall in New England, where her happiness journey began. “It has been an incredibly rich journey for me personally. I have learned many things along the way,” she says. “One of them is to not hold on to fear and to allow things to happen. And when they happen at their own time it’s usually in the best possible way.” She says she has also learned that people are kind, generous and want to connect with one another. “That’s a very positive message for me. And what this brings to people that I meet, I hope, is the opportunity to reflect on the things that are truly important in life.” For more information on how perseverance can help you thrive, read the articles listed below. 3 Strategies to Build More Perseverance Do You Have Enough Grit The Power of Grit Time to up your #HappyActs game. Help us spread global happiness by becoming a Happy Activist and host your very own Happiness Wall. Learn how you can host a wall at your school, business or organization and find out how to create your own fantastic wall using one of our Happy Acts Wall Kits.

Young sporty woman stretching arms, preparing for working out, outdoor training, warming up after or before fitness on fresh air

Mindset

How to Go From Recovering to Really Thriving

When I recovered from depression, I decided to live small and defensively. I didn’t want to rock the boat because I was relieved and grateful to just feel “OK.” But slowly, I let down my guard and reached outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to go from being OK, to actually thriving. I made new efforts which regular folk might have called “cute,” but that felt to me like I was bench pressing a hundred pounds. The hardest part was actually getting started, so I took my grandmother’s advice and counted to three anytime I needed to start something. “1-2-3” Get off the sofa. “1-2-3” Make a phone call I’ve been procrastinating from. One by one I made the following changes: 1. Jogging (albeit a slow jaunt to the park and back in jeggings and floppy sunhat while the dog pulls as far away from me on the leash as she can) made me feel strong. Within a few months, I had broken the one-mile mark and was now jogging for longer than five minutes before giving up and ducking into the nearest dollar store for a candy bar and tabloid magazine. 2. I abandoned the ‘depression diet’ which is all about the instant gratification of ‘sorta’ food because you just want a fast fix versus actual food. Making a beautiful vegetable soup feels like I’m showing lots of love to myself. 3. I reminded myself of the behaviors that used to bring me joy (a technique from Cognitive Behavior Therapy). I asked myself: When’s the last time that I remember feeling energized and optimistic? Carefree? Mentally engaged? Whatever the answers were, I tried those same activities again. While I’m not successful at channeling feelings of happiness out of thin air, I can do the things that make me optimistic, carefree and engaged, such as taking a class, dancing and reading biographies. 4. I avoid the triggers that make me feel anxious; for instance, comparing myself to others. I treat social media like a hot tub: get in and get out before you catch something! Instead of seeing who is doing better than me, I ask myself “where would I like to see myself a year from now?” and I run towards my own finish line instead of trying to keep up with the Jones’. 5. I give back. I switched my volatile career from being solely about comedy to making it about mental health with a comedic spin. When I think “I’m getting on stage to make people laugh AND let people know they’re not alone in their struggles,” it makes the challenges of my industry less troubling. 6. I connect more with my community. At 42, I joined a women’s soccer league with my neighbor and also got more involved with my spiritual community. Knowing I’m part of these “teams” makes me feel anchored and supported. Just like pulling the cord on a motor boat sometimes takes 20 sputtering tries before it finally starts and the motor hums loudly to signal you’re ready to go, I had to try these new approaches over and over. After a few months, these changes led to a sense of calmness and stability for me. I felt more like I was living, and less like I was trying to tread water indefinitely. When I hit a setback I forgive myself, and wake up the next day anchored again to my simple goals that give me such a sense of belonging!

Podcast

Creating Your Best Life With Susan Hyatt

Do you have something you’d like to change about yourself? If so, are you giving yourself the tools you need to make those changes? In this episode, Susan Hyatt—author of the book BARE and host of the Bare Podcast, looks at how the way we approach making changes has a lot to do with how successful those changes are. Whether it’s losing weight, changing jobs or committing to healthier relationships, she’ll give you a new way of thinking about creating your best life. In this episode, you'll learn: Why finding pleasure might be better for you than willpower How discovering what gives you pleasure affects your physical and mental health Three things you can say “yes” to today Links and Resources Here is a link to Susan Hyatt’s downloadable BARE Manifesto: Order her new book BARE Twitter: @susanhyatt Instagram: @SusanHyatt Don't miss an episode! Live Happy Now is available at the following places:

Practice

More Than a Thousand Thanks

Happy Activists in 17 different countries shared in a collective act of humanity to spread happiness across the world. By surpassing our goal of more than 1300 Happiness Walls, more people than ever were affected by Live Happy’s #HappyActs campaign and felt the ripple of positivity. Each person who participated did so out of the goodness of their own heart, sacrificing their time and even their own resources to let the world know that kindness always wins. It takes a special person to carry the mission of spreading joy, and for that effort, we at Live Happy are eternally grateful. We asked our Wall hosts to share with us their experiences this year at their Happiness Walls, and this is what they had to say: Why did you decide to become a Happiness Wall Host? “To encourage our students to spread kindness throughout the school building.”—Denise H., Mattydale, New York “I believe in and want to support the mission of making the world a happier place. I had such a great experience last year participating at a Wall that I thought I would take a step up and out to see if I could find a place to put up a Wall myself.”—Susan C., Mt. Prospect, Illinois “Our location was across from our county courthouse. We know not all events there are happy. But even the "not happy" events can be a beginning. We were the reminder that happiness can be shared easily.”—Cindy N., Olathe, Kansas “I love spreading joy, kindness and happiness to others. And because as a Mom, it is truly what I preach to my kids each and every day. When I drop them off at school I tell them that I love them, and that I want them to do their best and to always be kind to others!”—Maria B., Syracuse, New York What impact did hosting a Happiness Wall have on you and those around you? “After hosting the first one, I felt like I was walking on air three feet off the ground. This gives me so much joy, which shines from my face like beams of light. It is contagious and is reflected in everyone nearby.”— Sharon H., Fenton, Michigan “It helped me support my coworkers and neighbors and brought enjoyment to me. A little kindness goes a long way and I think new hires in our work environment were able to glean from the Happiness Wall.”—Winifried F., Addison, Texas “It made a HUGE impact in my community. I hosted at my local gym and got tons of positive feedback from the clients! Lots of wonderful happy acts and kindness!”— Celeste A., Canton, Georgia “My most memorable moments were watching how eager the kids were to share and how open they are to make sure others were happy.”—Jennifer B., Holtville, Alabama “Our wall had affirmations, confirmations and admiration from all ages! Children even participated and were excited about the opportunity to do good for someone else! The Happiness Wall brings awareness and spreads joy in our communities that lasts a lifetime!”—Linda F., Shelburne, Vermont What was the most memorable moment at your Happiness Wall event? “For me this year it was very personal. I was left to set up the wall by myself, so I recruited one of my sons and two grandsons (ages 12 and 14) to help me. I had not been able to get their support before. When we had things set up, they started playing with the frisbees and other balls I have available for guests who show up. When they had to leave they said, ‘Memaw, this is really neat and we had fun. Can we help you next year?’”—Connie H., Tyler, Texas “The happiness wall definitely helped to lighten our school's atmosphere and brought those who put together and other activities (including myself) closer.”—Nathan S., Guam, USA “I guess that it happened when we finished with eight meters of a Happiness Wall full of happy thoughts.”—Elizabeth B., Bogota, Colombia “We met an elderly gentleman and his face lit up as he peered into the gathering room at the coffee house and the energy around the #Happy Acts wall. He joined us with his coffee and we learned so much about him in the hour or so that he stayed to chat. He recently lost his daughter to cancer in October last year and loved sharing about her.”—Mary F., Long Valley, New Jersey Just because the International Day of Happiness is behind us, doesn’t mean we have to stop celebrating. We encourage everyone to host a Happiness Wall any time of the year and experience great feeling of spreading in your community. Trust us and thousands of Happy Activists, when we say you’ll be glad you did.

Cute little schoolgirl drawing in book with classmates in background at classroom

Practice

The ABCs of Positivity

A friend presented the idea of starting a Live Happy journal project through Facebook.I saw her brief explanation of what Live Happy is all about when she announced she was starting the project with her students.I went online and checked it out myself and thought it would be a fun to do with my fifth-graders at Chester Thompson Elementary school in Tacoma, Washington. Just the idea of focusing on happiness, as opposed to everything we can complain about, is what appealed to me.Often, I have students who walk in the door first thing in the morning and complain, “I’m tired,” “I want to go play,” etc.Typical kid responses, especially with the group of students I work with.We have one of the highest numbers of kids who qualify for free or reduced lunches within the elementary schools in my district, and many of our kids have very difficult home lives—homelessness, drugs, absent parents, you name it. However, we discussed as a class how we could turn those complaints into something to be happy about.For example, “I’m tired” can turn into: “At least I got up for school on time so I can work on doing my best and learn as much as I can.” I wanted to do whatever I could to shine some light on these kids and get them to find some happiness. The day I officially started the project was a day one of my co-workers, who is currently battling cancer and dealing with chemo treatments, broke down.She was tired, felt overworked and didn’t feel that she was being the teacher, wife and mother that she wanted to be.It was at that moment that I realized we needed to start something here that could bring light to any situation.I told my students, “You never know what someone is going through, so asking someone about their day, holding the door for someone or inviting someone into their group of friends all can be ways to spread happiness. Little acts of kindness.” In this case, a hug for my co-worker and some kind words from a few of us teachers helped to soften the blow a bit. I wanted my students to understand that a little bit of kindness can go a long way." My students make a journal entry every day.It is part of their morning work.They come in, put their things away, complete a math problem and finish up with a journal entry of a happy moment or act of kindness. Many kids make comments in their journals about how happy they made me when they finally “got” something or asked for help.A few have mentioned that they’ve written me a note thanking me for being their teacher, and when they saw me read it I had a huge smile on my face.Other comments include things like telling their bus driver “thank you” for taking them to and from school and to “have a nice day” or explaining how they helped out at home with younger siblings. And at the end of each day, I let two or three kiddos share one of their Live Happy moments. They love to share, and it is a way to give other kids ideas for how they can make other people happy. Teacher stress is a huge issue—the long hours, the lack of materials, the amount of money we spend on our classrooms—the list can go on and on.I’ve personally spread the word to a few other teachers in my school.My teaching partner has her kids keep a journal, and about once a week their prompt is to write about something they did to make someone else happy. Many of my students have told me they have told other kids about our project.I see many of them wearing the orange bracelets we received from you.A few kids have passed on the Live Happy journals you sent us to their siblings.And this week during conferences, I’ve had many parents tell me that their student has talked to them quite a few times about their Live Happy journal.Some even bring it home on a regular basis to write more than what is required. I hope to continue spreading the word around my school and possibly out into the community as well.We’re still only in the beginning, but hopefully as the year goes on, more people will become interested. I think the mindset has changed with my students because I’ve noticed fewer complaints.When one kid complains about something, other kids chime in and rephrase their statement to something more positive.It’s been pretty cool to see. Advice to other teachers This journal project has been a fun way to find the happiness in each day.It gets the kids writing, and it seems to inspire them to want to do things to make others happy.They’re realizing how it makes them feel when they do something nice for someone else.They feel good inside. With high-stakes testing and rigorous academic material, kids are often stressed.Those with difficult home lives are really stressed.So hopefully, this is just one way to help them feel good.

Practice

Podcast Transcripts

The editors ofLive Happymagazine bring you ideas and research on how to live a happier and more meaningful life with Live Happy Now. You'll find dozens of interviews with positive psychology and well-being thought leaders, celebrities and more. Every Tuesday, a new episode transcript will be uploaded to read! Don't miss an episode!Live Happy Nowis available at the following places: Need help on how to download and review a podcast?We've got your answers here! Season 4 2018 August 7 - Finding Self-Compassion With Kristin Neff August 14 - Making Your Brain Hum With Joe Bates August 21 - Fun at Work With Scott Crabtree August 28 - Mindful Breathing With Nick Ortner September 4 - Happy at Home With Rebecca West September 11 - Midlife Moxie With Jonathan Rauch September 18 - Becoming Resilient With Rick Hanson September 25 - Let Creativity Flow With Keiko Agena October 2 - Strengths-Based Parenting With Lea Waters October 9 - Extreme Grit With Snowmobiler Colten Moore October 16 - Short Cuts to Happiness With Tal Ben-Shahar October 23 - Rebuild Your Health With Dr. Z October 30 - Make Work Your Playground With Andrea Goeglein November 6 - Build a Happier Brain With Dawson Church November 13 - Get Unstuck With Dr. Sasha Heinz November 20 - Practicing Gratitude With Deborah Heisz November 27 - Happiness Hacks With Alex Palmer December 4 - Less Stress for the Holidays With Nancy Jane Smith December 11 - Discovering Wholebeing Happiness With Megan McDonough December 18 - Make the Most of 2019 With Deborah Heisz 2019 January 1 - Overcoming Overwhelm With Dr. Samantha Brody January 8 - 5 Books That Will Change Your Life in 2019 With Sandra Bilbray January 15 - How to Become a Happy Activist in 2019 January 22 - The Year of Living Happy With Alli Worthington January 29 - The Power of Timing With Daniel Pink February 5 - Playful Intelligence With Dr. Anthony DeBenedet February 12 - Reinventing Valentine's Day With Stacy Kaiser February 19 - Flourishing Later in Life With Mary Pipher February 26 - Looking Inward With Laird Hamilton March 5 - Outer Order, Inner Calm With Gretchen Rubin March 12 - Working Together With Shola Richards March 19 - Celebrating Live Happy Now's 200th Episode With Deborah Heisz March 26 - Making Time With Jake Knapp April 2 - Happy Child Summit With Renee Jain April 9 - Overcoming Your Fears To Lead the Life You Love With Ruth Soukup April 16 - Inside the World Happiness Report With Chris Libby April 23 - Turning Off Your Job With Bryan E. Robinson April 30 - Finding Connections With Mark Nepo May 7 - Become a Memory-Making Mom With Jessica Smartt May 14 - Creating Your Best Life With Susan Hyatt May 21 - Overcoming Stress in America With Chris Libby May 28 - The Power of Character Strengths With Ryan Niemiec June 4 - What Our Jobs Do for Us With Suzanne Skees June 11 -Women's Happiness Summit With Carin Rockind June 18 - Reinventing Yourself With Sheri Salata June 25 - Get the Funk Out With Janeane Bernstein July 2 - (It's Great to) Suck at Something With Karen Rinaldi July 9 - Appreciating Others With Chris Libby July 16 - Happier Aging With Louise Aronson July 23 - Living Life as an Extrovert With Jessica Pan July 30 - How Plants Make Us Happier With Summer Rayne Oakes Season 5 August 6 - What's New in Positive Psychology With Deborah K. Heisz August 12 - Hacking Your Brain for Happiness With Patrick Porter, Ph.D. August 20 - Living Longer and Happier Through Kindness With Kelli Harding August 27 - 5 Steps to an Extraordinary Life With Zack Friedman September 3 - 7 Steps to Self-Improvement With Chris Libby and Paula Felps September 10 - The Power of Unplugging With Tiffany Shlain September 17 - The Beauty of Conflict for Couples With CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke September 24 - Making Good Habits Stick With Wendy Wood October 1 - Teaching Kids Positive Messages With Again Again October 8 - The Importance of Self-Forgiveness With Stacy Kaiser October 15 - Overcoming Workplace Bullying With Dr. Britt Andreatta October 22 - Embracing Slowness With Jeff Bethke October 29 - Digital Detangling With Pete Dunlap November 5 - Developing a Winning Mindset With Annie Vernon November 12 - Happiness Around the World With Helen Russell November 19 - Train Your Brain for Happiness With Dr. Tara Swart November 25 - The Thank-You Project With Nancy Davis Kho December 2 - Simple Abundance Revisited With Sarah Ban Breathnach December 9 - Discovering the Power of Community With Peter Montoya December 16 - Holiday happiness Tips With Joe McCormack

Podcast

Finding Connections With Mark Nepo

Even as our world becomes more connected, most of us are feeling less connected and more alone than ever before. Spiritual teacher, poet and author Mark Nepo’s latest book, More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and In Our World, looks at why we’re feeling so disconnected and how we can reconnect with others and learn to better accept one another’s differences. In this episode, you'll learn: What is making us less connected in today’s world How our addiction to noise and fear is changing the way we see the world What we can learn by listening without judgment Links and Resources Purchase his latest book More Together Than Alone: Discovering the Power and Spirit of Community in Our Lives and in the World. Facebook: @MarkNepo Website: https://www.marknepo.com/ Don't miss an episode! Live Happy Now is available at the following places:

Happy mature woman with flag of Finland standing against the background of a city street and blue sky.

science

Finland’s Happiness is Twice as Nice

For the second consecutive year, Finland ranks as the happiest country in the world, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report 2019. Despite having recent government turmoil, the Fins continue to dominate the list consistently ranking as one of happiest countries year after year. The Nordic region in particular appears to be have a stronghold on happiness, with Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden all in the top ten. Larger, wealthier countries, such as the United States and India, continue to descend on the list. Anne Henderson, a senior analyst with The Happiness Research Institute based in Denmark, economics doesn’t seem to play role in personal happiness, if fact, quite the opposite. Finland, has a lower GDP than the neighboring countries, yet continues to be the happiest. The United States continues to see economic gains, but social divides, lack of trust in government, overuse of digital devices among young people and substance abuse continues to hamper happiness. While the Finns and other Nordic countries are adept at “converting wealth into wellbeing,” she says, the division between rich and poor in the U.S. “creates an erosion of the cohesion and trust between people, which is so vital for the feeling of safety and security and therefore for the overall happiness level of the American people.” It Takes a Village Produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in partnership with the Ernesto Illy Foundation, the report is a result of three years of surveys from more than 150 countries analyzing life satisfaction and emotions. The overall theme of this year’s report focuses on the important role community plays in our everyday happiness. Andrea Illy, chairman of illycaffè and member of the board of Fondazione Ernesto Illy, stated in a release about the report: “We are living a moment of transition to a new age and this generates a sense of uncertainty. Social happiness is therefore even more relevant, in order to give a positive perspective and outlook for the present and for the future.” Community, or social support, Anne says, is one of six contributing factors that best explains why some countries score better than others. When large countries have a growing fear of having no one to turn to in times of need, as is the case with India, global happiness wanes creating as rise in negative affect. According to the Global Happiness and Well-Being Policy Report, our social relationships are a key driver to happiness and well-being. When policies are created to focus on the positive and quality of social connections, such as creating more green spaces for people to congregate, equal opportunities for all and rebuild trust, counties may see a rise in collective well-being.

4 Books to Help You Take Charge of Your Happiness

4 Ways to Build Your Social Intelligence

Let Perseverance Guide Your Happiness

How to Go From Recovering to Really Thriving

Creating Your Best Life With Susan Hyatt

More Than a Thousand Thanks

The ABCs of Positivity

Podcast Transcripts

Finding Connections With Mark Nepo

Finland’s Happiness is Twice as Nice

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