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Arthur Brooks on bringing the most happiness to the most people.
It’s hard to be dispassionate about money. Whether we have a lot, not enough, or a comfortable amount of it, our emotional relationship with money is often fraught. Fascinating research on this subject reveals that luxury cars often provide no more pleasure than economy models, that commercials can actually enhance the enjoyment of watching television, and that residents o...
Yale's Laurie Santos gives a crash course on how to feel less stressed and depressed.
The United States is not a particularly happy country, according to the World Happiness Report. Issued annually by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the report puts the USA in 18th place, just above the United Kingdom and surpassed by all the Scandinavian countries, Costa Rica, Canada, and Australia, among others. The rankings are based on measures of incom...
New research suggests that much of what people think about happiness is wrong.
Author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks introduces the exploding science of happiness, which combines philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience into a set of actionable strategies for everyday life. Learn how emotional self-management can transform the way we experience the world and improve all facets of life.
Over a year of global isolation and calamity, many of us have experienced disappointment, loss of control, loneliness and isolation, and uncertainty about the future. Happiness has, perhaps, seemed elusive. And yet, Harvard social scientist Arthur Brooks argues, the pandemic has offered us ways to grow, in ways most unexpected, and given us life lessons that may actually h...
Most people think that happiness has four sources: the sensory pleasures (from art to chocolate), material wealth, romantic relationships, and children. But recent research suggests that much of what people think about happiness is wrong. Daniel Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness," hosts this symposium in which experts discuss what science has discovered about each...
Arthur Brooks on bringing the most happiness to the most people.
Looking around and experiencing the suffering and injustice in the world can make it difficult to believe that happiness exists. But the Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that it’s sinful to succumb to despair, and we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to try and find our way through dark times. On the other hand, when you avoid suffering, you avoid meaning, and...
New research suggests that much of what people think about happiness is wrong.
What are the secrets to achieving authentic happiness? What activities and experiences lead to true flourishing? And why does happiness often feel so out of reach? Recent probing into these questions has found that the answers come not just from contemporary scientific studies in psychology and neuroscience but also from insights that philosophers and thinkers had centurie...
When our bank accounts are full, are we happier? Does a pay raise at work equal increased joy?
People have been thinking about happiness for thousands of years. In fact, ancient thinkers came up with strategies for cultivating pleasures over a lifetime, or creating a lasting capacity to take joy in the world. This long-term flourishing is different from immediate pleasures — it’s a richer notion of happiness. Laurie Santos is a professor of psychology at Yale and an...
Why are certain countries, cities, and towns happier than others?
It seems that we’re all striving for happiness, compassion, creativity, and calm — and frankly, it’s stressing us out. What if instead of striving, we tried a little rewiring? Mind-centered interventions from meditation to music to recalibrating mental models can put us on a path toward personal and societal wellness, allowing our minds to thrive.
Many of us fear that sooner or later we’ll be considered disposable, that our absence won’t be noticed, that our opinions won’t matter. What’s more, this fear becomes particularly intense as we age. So what can we do to avoid being reduced to a state of paralysis and misery? Behavioral economist and American Enterprise Institute president Arthur Brooks weaves together prom...
Rod Stryker is one of the world’s leading yoga and meditation teachers. He has helped thousands of people from all walks of life recognize their soul’s call to greatness and achieve their dreams. In this talk, Rod will outline the practical and powerful approach to embodying the highest principles of yoga without ever doing a yoga pose as well as how these ancient teaching...
Happiness, says designer Ingrid Fetell Lee, is a broad evaluation of how we feel about our lives over time.
Essayist Pico Iyer and happiness guru Arthur Brooks reflect on how and why happiness is to be found even when the world feels like it’s falling apart. For starters, they’ve both learned a great deal from the Dalai Lama.