

The Happiness Project - Making Yourself Happier - mhb
http://www.happinessproject.typepad.com/

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nazgulnarsil
I dislike Happiness Research because it sets the dangerous precedent of
thinking you know better than other people what is best for them. Happiness
study results reflect averages, not perfect happiness equations. I see this
type of thing leading to a BNW scenario. I find BNW scarier than 1984 because
1984 is _obviously bad_ while BNW doesn't really bother a lot of people,
happiness researchers probably included.

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mcav
I haven't read through many of these here yet, but surely its advice wouldn't
hurt. Doesn't look too much like your ordinary fluffy-self-help from my
initial glances.

In some respects, hacking more happiness out of life might be one of the most
worthwhile kinds of self-help things one can do. If you can be happy despite
economic, social, or personal tribulations, you've got something right.

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nazgulnarsil
OTOH being happy _all the time_ seems like an obvious failure mode of human
cognition.

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sketerpot
But it's certainly possible to increase your average level of happiness. I
wasn't happy at all in junior high, for example, and my life has gotten
monotonically happier since then.

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alfredp
Going to the library or bookstore to read makes me happy. I just finished
reading "Peaks and Valleys" (by the author of "Who Moved My Cheese").
peaksandvalleysthebook.com

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simple
All you need is love.

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Fuca
OT: how come in Alextra the site is ranked very low, ranked l,000,000 +, and
supposly has 22K subscribers?

Still I like it and subscribed to it.

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larrykubin
because Alexa rankings are BS

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diN0bot
sats v maxs is a good point, but shallowly addressed in the blog post. i
didn't like how the research intoned one thing, while the author wrote the
mother was a maxs just for fun, and that she herself felt guilty about being a
sats. that emotional reversal doesn't make sense.

and that's the only point it made. meh.

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mhidalgo
I do martial arts and taking out my aggression or anger on a punching bag
makes me feel better, is it me or does a list of what should make me happy or
to be happy really getting tiring. I am all for trying to understand the
nature of happiness but please don't tell me what should make me happy.

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glymor
You would have been better off actually reading what she wrote rather than
knee-jerk reacting.

She's writing about the fact that expressing an emotion is bidirectional. No
longer expressing that emotion will cause it to pass quicker.

You're talking about relieving stress by doing something physical and/or
violent (both have been shown to work).

Unless you are punching that bag with a look of utter disgust on your face the
two scenarios are unrelated.

