uptick in happiness three months after the experiment ended . Other studies have found a benefit from keeping a gratitude journal , and this is easy to incorporate into your daily routine . ( A year ago , I bought “ The Five Minute Journal ,” which prompts you to scribble down things you ’ re thankful for . I ’ m happy I bought it , and I ’ m grateful for it .)
Just one catch : While the gratitude intervention ( of writing letters ) did indeed boost happiness for three months after the fact , the effect seemed to fade after six months . Demir doesn ’ t see this as a reason to abandon interventions . Instead , he frames it as an opportunity to try something new . “ Do something else ,” he says . “ Variety is key ,” as is fitting the activity to your personality . Maybe you blanch at random acts of kindness , but you get something out of another proven intervention — mindfulness . No single intervention is a panacea . Demir recommends experimenting with different approaches , as the cliche “ variety is the spice of life ” has some relevance in happiness research too .
So after you ’ ve tried kindness and gratitude , you could test-drive another proven happiness intervention : using your signature strengths . How it works is participants take a psychological questionnaire ( it takes around 20 minutes ) designed to suss out their top five character strengths , such as creativity , bravery , hope , love or humor . Then the happiness intervention is to think deeply about those strengths , and try to use them in contexts you haven ’ t before . For example , if your signature strength is honesty , then use your candor in ways that might be new , such as providing honest feedback to your colleagues .
These insights square with the lessons from another happiness class , taught at Yale University , which has been taken online by more than 3 million people , with enrollment surging during the pandemic . Yale ’ s class , like Demir ’ s , stresses the proven efficacy of showing gratitude , enjoying nature and helping others . These are also the types of interventions that would be recommended in Sacramento State ’ s happiness booths .
None of this means that maximum nonstop happiness is the goal . “ When we talk about happiness and becoming happier , some people might get the idea that , ‘ Oh , my God ! I should be happy all the time !’ It doesn ’ t work that way . And it shouldn ’ t ,” says Demir . In one of his favorite studies , researchers from University of Illinois and the University of Amsterdam used emotion-recognition software and applied it to the most famous smile in history — that of the “ Mona Lisa .” “ Their analysis found that she expressed 83 percent positive emotion and 17 percent negative ,” says Demir . “ We should not ignore negative emotions . Part of life is to be sad .”
Demir incorporates the research into his own life . When asked what makes him personally happy , Demir says it ’ s a long list that includes family , friendships , engaging in random acts of kindness ( like picking up trash on a hike ), spending time in nature ( lots of kayaking ), and gratitude ( he writes gratitude letters ). “ I have my down moments ,” Demir says , pausing for a moment . “ My favorite soccer team from Turkey , they ’ re really not doing great this year . I get really frustrated .”
Happy at work
To what extent does this translate to the business world ? One could argue , of course , that even if boosting happiness has zero applicability to the workplace , it would still be worth doing as an end in itself . After all , happiness is “ the meaning and purpose of life , the whole aim and end of human existence ,” according to the original researcher of happiness , Aristotle . Yet even when viewing happiness through the cold prism of the profit and loss statement , there ’ s probably a good reason to keep employees happy .
For starters , unhappy employees can be costly . “ Studies suggest that employee strain and stress tends to increase rates of absenteeism and higher turnover , as well as reduce employee productivity ,” says Greta Hsu , a professor of management at the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis , with a focus on organizational behavior . “ It also results in negative physical
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