Habits that will make us happy

A couple of years ago, Seligman’s group described and classifi ed the 24 character strengths that make people thrive, including creativity, curiosity, bravery, and kindness. But all these traits aren’t equal when it comes to producing satisfaction.
Combing through questionnaire responses from more than 5000 study participants, the researchers found that happiness was most strongly associated with a core subset of the character-trait list that they labelled heart strengths: gratitude, hope, zest, and the ability to love and be loved.
Topping the charts was love, says Nansook Park, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Rhode Island and a study author. “Relationships with other people are what make us the happiest,” she says. (Learn what your character strengths are at authentichappiness. org)
Seligman’s team made a list of 100 ‘interventions’ that people through the ages have suggested as routes to contentment—culling ideas proposed by Buddha and self-improvement gurus alike—and set out to test them. It was, Seligman says, the most ambitious, controlled study of happiness ever done. The results of the team’s efforts were published in American Psychologist.
Habit 1 Focus on what’s right
As it turned out, all the exercises, including that of the control group, temporarily bumped up happiness levels. But some interventions proved to have a much bigger, more lasting effect than others. For example, the group that spent a few minutes each night writing about what had gone well that day felt happier for the full 6 months of the study.
“Most of us focus on our weaknesses and on what we don’t have,” says Carol Kauffman, PhD, a life coach and an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. “By listing good things, you’re training yourself to reverse your focus from what you did wrong to what you did right. You’re emphasising your strengths,” and that seems to change the way you feel. Kauffman uses the what-went-well-today intervention with her patients—and does it every night herself.