Halfway through Yales happiness class and these tricks are working

Halfway through Yales happiness class and these tricks are workingHalfway through Yales happiness class and these tricks are workingHappiness can be learned.Thats the central idea behind Yales most popular class ever. Professor Laurie Santos has collected all the psychological science out there and come up with a step-by-step process for boosting yur own happiness.I took the 10-week course online through Coursera free. Its officially called The Science of Well-Being, and it has already been taken by mora than 225,000 students online. One in four students at Yale has taken it since it welches first offered.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraSantos told me she designed the course for three reasons to synthesize what psychologists have learned about making our lives better, to help undergrads overcome stress and unhappiness on campus, and to live a better life myself.Five weeks in, Im a convert.Heres why The seminars are great, but you also get a lot of homework centered on daily exercises geared toward changing your habits - recognizing and then dropping bad ones while developing new good habits.Here are just four exercises I picked out from a slew of new tips and tricks Ive learned so far. Again, the point here is that these positive habits have been tested and proven to work, based on psychological science.Focus on your strengthsThis first homework was all about identifying your signature strengths and refocusing on them each day. I took the VIA Survey online (anyone can take this test free here), which revealed my 24 greatest strengths. My top four love of learning, appreciation of beauty and excellence, leadership, and fairness.If youre pretty self-aware, the results wont be a big surprise. The key, though, is to identify them and find situations to use your strengths every day. Thatll lead you down the path to flourishing. Studies show happiness increases and depression decreases when a person uses his or her signature strengths regularly. In my case, I looked for simple ways to use fairness, humor, and love of learning throughout my day.Tip Additional research shows that if youre able to bundle four of your top strengths while at work, youll likely flourish and have more positive experiences, and you are more likely to think of your work as a calling.Invest in experiencesI spend money on experiences such as live music, trips, and meals instead of new toys. Its always made me happier. Now I know that research backs this up, regardless of income levels Going for a walk or traveling to a new place are much better investments in terms of happiness than buying material things.Turns out your stuff loses happiness value almost as soon as youve purchased it. Paying for experiences, however, has multiple benefits for happiness. One, the anticipation of the experience leads to more happiness and joy. Two, talking about the experience afterwa rd with friends reignites your own happy memories and, incredibly enough, sharing these tales with friends tends to boost their happiness, too.Finally, we dont tend to get used to experiences the way we do with new stuff. Theres no time to get used to a trip to Mexico City, but science shows the joy you get from buying some awesome new thing, such as a phone, begins to diminish immediately. Its just how your brain works.Learn to savor moreSavoring is the act of stepping outside of an experience to review and really appreciate it - a way of helping you to stay present in the moment. And savoring often forces you to enjoy an experience for longer.My homework was to pinpoint a moment to savor each day. One of mine stuck out I was running around the park when a strong gust of wind at my back almost lifted me off the ground. It was a strange and wonderful moment, and I made sure to tell my wife when I got home. Looking for these moments has boosted my sense of awe at the world around me . Research shows reliving these happy memories can make your positive emotions last up to a month.Express gratitude and spread kindnessThis one is fun. If youre generally thankful and show appreciation for what you have, your happiness levels soar. Sounds too easy, but it works. One exercise we did was make a list of five things we were grateful for each day. Staring at your list simply makes you thankful and reflective. Even doing this once a week has been shown to boost happiness and reduce ill-health symptoms.Meanwhile, doing random acts of kindness is another way to find happiness. One study showed that spending money on others makes you happier than spending it on yourself, even across different cultures and income levels. For example, small changes, such as spending $5 to buy a friend, colleague, or stranger a coffee, boosted happiness levels. So Ive been buying a lot of coffees.Santos adds It kind of seems like our brains are wired to see other peoples rewards as our own rewa rds. And so its kind of like getting a little click of cocaine every single time you do a nice thing for another person. Its kind of an accident of the way our social brain is wired up.The road to happinessRemember to also do the things you probably already know are proven to boost your well-being, such as exercising daily and getting as much sleep as possible.But the key here is to pick up a new habit that will lead you to feeling happier. So find one above that works for you and try it. Its been well worth it already for me.Justin Maiman writes a weekly newsletter called Ginger, which is devoted to moments of inspiration. You can read Ginger and subscribe free here. Hes a journalist with more than 20 years of experience in digital media and television, including working at media titans like Business Insider, Yahoo, Bloomberg, Fox News, and PBS affiliates in St. Paul and Boston. Hes the president and managing director of Cochrane Media, a boutique media shop in New York.This articl e originally appeared on Business Insider.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will ersatzdarsteller your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people