![\"science](\"http:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/science-of-happiness.jpg\")
The most popular class in Harvard University’s history (900 students) is “Positive Psychology” taught by Professor Tal Ben Shahar. This class became really popular because it taught\u00a0as part of its curriculum what is now referred to as the science of happiness. Here are some key lessons from the work of Professor Shahar…<\/p>\n
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Prof. Shahar achieved more happiness by taking himself off the tenure track; he did not want to keep publishing. His class on positive psychology offered insights on what makes people happy. His research indicates the following key lessons:<\/p>\n
1. Give yourself permission to be human<\/strong><\/p>\n When we accept emotions – such as fear, sadness, or anxiety – as natural, we are more likely to overcome them. Most people try to hide or suppress their emotions. Suppressing emotions, positive or negative, leads to anger, bitterness, frustration and the resultant unhappiness.<\/p>\n 2. Happiness is at\u00a0the intersection between pleasure and meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n It should be every one’s goal to engage in activities that are enjoyable and significant. An example of this might be a walk with some friends for both social purposes and for health.\u00a0\u00a0Pleasure without meaning can create temporary satisfaction\u00a0not happiness.<\/p>\n 3. Happiness is mostly dependent on our state of mind<\/strong><\/p>\n Our level of well-being is determined by our “state” – how we feel about things and our interpretation of external events. For example, some people may view failure as catastrophic while some may view tit as a learning opportunity? Happiness is not\u00a0a function of how many possessions we have or the state of our bank account.<\/p>\n 4. Simplify your life<\/strong><\/p>\n The more busy we are, squeezing in more and more activities into less and less time, the less happy we are. We end up compromising on our happiness by trying to do too much.<\/p>\n 5. Remember the mind-body connection<\/strong><\/p>\n What we do – or don’t do – with our bodies influences how our mind functions. Adequate exercise, sleep and a healthy diet are essential for both physical and mental health.<\/p>\n 6. Express gratitude, whenever possible<\/strong><\/p>\n It is important to\u00a0appreciate and value\u00a0 what life has to offer: \u00a0family, friends, food, the wonders of nature. \u00a0Be grateful for what life has offered you and believe there is more happiness in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Key insights from the most popular class in Harvard University’s history (900 students) on “Positive Psychology” taught by Professor Tal Ben Shahar. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,9],"tags":[63,64],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-achievement-and-success","category-personal-effectiveness","tag-happiness","tag-psychology","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1422,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdi.com.pk\/management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}