All posts tagged: happiness

Going for the Happiness Advantage (Taking My Kids Too)

New year. Happiness Advantage. High quality stuff for 2013. 2-5 minutes a day, 21 days. Founded in science. Grab on yourself, and bring along your kids. Let’s look at the science, then we’ll dive into the good stuff. First, let me credit Shawn Anchor, distinguished Harvard professor, for this. Through research, he has summed up that: Only 10% of long-term happiness comes from one’s external world . . . While 90% of long-term happiness comes from how one’s brain processes the world. As you raise your brain’s level of positivity in the present, your brain will experience the Happiness Advantage. In this state, a number of remarkable things happen. Dopamine releases throughout your system. This makes you happier . . . and it turns on all your learning centers. Your intelligence increases. Your creativity increases. Your energy levels rise. And, your brain is 31% more productive. That’s cool. That’s cool for us. And for our kids. Shawn Anchor has found (in research) that we can train our brains to reach the Happiness Advantage – and …

Happiness: Inside Out

The new year is approaching. The “Happiness Advantage” has captured my attention. Alex Hetland gives us a formula to increase our “happy” state and make our brains 30% more efficient — in 2-5 minutes a day. That’s cool. It’s cool for us parents; and it’s cool for our kids, especially our adolescents. Consider for a moment that only 10% of happiness comes from one’s external world . . . while 90% of one’s happiness is a result of one’s internal world. This is supported in science. Having recently discovered the concept of the “Happiness Advantage,” conveyed by Alex Hetland, I have enjoyed a renewed perspective on happiness, and all which that entails. Within the “Happiness Advantage,” there is scientific proof that a “happy” state increases dopamine in the brain, which in turn makes the brain 30% more efficient (Lyubomirsky, 2005, in Hetland blog of March 2012). So, Hetland says, the “Advantage” comes from grasping the 90% happiness factor in our internal world — and maximizing it. He even tells us how to do so. With …