January 29, 2013

8 Great Talks About the Science & Art of Happiness

Our month of motivation continues today with eight great talks on happiness! What is happiness? Can someone sustain it, or must it always be fleeting? Learn more about finding happiness with this list of free videos from the happiness experts. Collected here you’ll hear from Matthiew Ricard on the habits that lead to happiness, Nancy Etcoff on the surprising science of happiness, and many more. Learn how to find happiness in even the most troubled times, how to minimize worry despite outer stress, and how to achieve lasting fulfillment in life by clicking any of the links below:

1. The Art of Happiness in Troubled Times by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In this hour long talk, His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds the audience that it has always been troubled times, and that while the kinds of suffering changes throughout history, the suffering still remains. He discusses training oneself in compassion in order to overcome self-centeredness, fear, anger, and hatred towards others. His prescription for happiness is keeping oneself open for love and compassion no matter what problems may arise. Watch this talk on streaming video.

2. Don’t Worry, Be Happy Now: The Science and Philosophy of the Happiness Movement

In this talk from UCTV, James Fallows, National Correspondent for The Atlantic, interviews The Happiness Project author Gretchen Rubin. Her book is subtitled “Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun”, and in this talk Gretchen Rubin talks about all the things she attempted in her year-long pursuit of happiness, and all the ways towards happiness she has learned from others since her book was published. Acknowledging that different things make different people happy, she does have one piece of sage advice to make everyone happier: “Make your bed in the morning.” 🙂

3. Understanding Happiness

In this dialogue from bloggingheads.tv, American psychologist Martin Seligman and British economist Richard Layard take a macro view of happiness and how societies can attempt to measure happiness and achieve greater levels of happiness as a whole. Layard has pushed for governments to start analyzing GWB (General Well-Being) along with GDP and other indicators for how well a country is performing. Seligman questions him about how this is measured and advocates measuring according to his own acronym PERMA (which Seligman laid out his in latest book Flourish). PERMA stands for Positive Emotion, Engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment/Achievement, and Seligman expounds on these points. Seligman and Layard then both take a look at the role public policy can play in leaning toward the greatest happiness for the greatest number. This dialogue can be watched on video or downloaded on MP3 audio.

Here are some more talks on happiness that we’ve featured in the past. A number of them are from the TED conference:

4. Nancy Etcoff on the Surprising Science of Happiness

In this fast-paced talk from cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff she looks the science of happiness and the many ways in which it is achieved along with the ways that it eludes us. She describes in basic terms the neuroscience of happiness including the importance of neurotransmitter dopamine and the hormone oxytocin. She also talks about the rise of stress, depression, and anxiety in the modern world. It’s an interesting overall view of some of the recent findings in the science of happiness.

5. Dan Gilbert: Why Are We Happy? Why Aren’t We Happy?

Check out this TED talk from Harvard psychologist and the author of Stumbling on Happiness, Dan Gilbert. Gilbert provides info from studies that reveal that what we often think will make us happy is the opposite of the case. He shows that because we have the ability to consider the future, we are much better prepared for the results and can usually be happy regardless. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 download from the TED.com website.

6. Matthieu Ricard: Habits of Happiness

Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard examines happiness and well-being in this TED talk. He differentiates between pleasure and happiness as pleasure is fleeting and reliant upon circumstance. He feels that true happiness is found by training the mind to be happy regardless of the situation we find ourselves in and by tapping into the deeper happiness of the awareness that we are more than our fleeting emotional states. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 download from the TED.com website.

7. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on Flow

Check out this TED talk from psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who authored the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi talks about how he became interested in psychology after World War II when he heard a lecture by Carl Jung. Csikszentmihalyi eventually began his psychological study of how average people become extraordinary which he attributes to the idea of “flow” when one become completely involved in an activity for its own sake. Csikszentmihalyi provides many examples of individuals who have tapped into this “flow” state.

8. Hardwiring Happiness: The 7 Essential Strengths

Starting September 23rd, 2013, Entheos.com is offering a free virtual conference called “Hardwiring Happiness: The 7 Essential Strengths”, hosted by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson. In this online conference, Dr. Hanson will be interviewing 7 experts on different strengths that can help you find happiness. The interviews feature Joseph Goldstein on “Mindfulness”, Stephen Porges on “Resilience”, Todd Kashdan on “Imagination”, Marci Shimoff on “Courage”, Sharon Salzberg on “Love”, Kristin Neff on “Confidence”, and James R. Doty on “Contentment”. You can stream the videos, and video and audio downloads will be available following the launch of each video interview. Sign up with your email address to get access to the conference and get updates as new interviews become available.

Enjoy these talks on happiness and learn how to be happier today!