Positive Psychology Progress A breakdown of the 2005 paper.

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Using a sample recruited through the Authentic Happiness website, the authors of the study wanted to compare the effectiveness of five different happiness techniques, each delivered via the internet. The five techniques chosen were: gratitude visit, three good things in life, you at your best, using signature strengths in a new way, and identifying signature strengths. The Steen Happiness Index … Read more

Zest, The Spice of Life… or is it?

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Are you full of zest? I hope so – it’s the character strength second most correlated with well-being. (Hope is #1). Positive psychologists use the following 3 survey questions to estimate a person’s level of zest. For each question, a 1-5 scale is used, where 1 = strongly agree, 3 = neutral, and 5 = … Read more

Top 5 Willpower Techniques That Create Action

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In the past two weeks I’ve made a number of changes that I’ve been putting off for years. The biggest change is that I exercise my willpower to failure every day. As I talked about yesterday, I didn’t suddenly discover a willpower secret or lasting source of inspiration. Over the past three months, I have … Read more

Optimism, The Blind Man’s Gamble

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Are you a gambler; do you like to take unrealistic chances? I’m guessing you said ‘no’ to that question. Are you optimistic; not all the time, but on balance? If you said “yes” to this question but “no” to the first, I’m going to call you out. Optimism is a blind man’s gamble. Cultivate optimism. That’s advice … Read more

Omega-3 Supplementation – See the Research

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Is Omega-3 the silver bullet of supplementation? It’s potential effects are vast, from improving cholesterol numbers, reducing the risk of developing diabetes, reducing inflammation, preventing renal disease, assisting in weight loss, increasing muscle growth, reducing stress, improving cognition, and boosting mood.1 But don’t let the hype confuse you. There are conflicting studies (a lot of them, actually); they just don’t get … Read more

Does Watching TV Actually Make you Happier?

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Does watching TV make you happier? It certainly distracts, but is more happiness generated by this form of entertainment or by living in the present moment? In this post on wathing TV and its effects on happiness we take a hard look at the research behind TV watching and happiness, and see if there is … Read more

Yoga – It Isn’t Just for Female Hipsters

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Have you heard of yoga before? Have you heard of its super-awesomeness?

By this point, we've all been informed; I've been informed, many times.  But the idea of doing something so hipster and female has been so ridiculous to my subconscious mind that I had never actually consciously considered doing it.

I'm a man. I like sports & beer . Yoga? Not unless it's to pick up chicks. (Actually I like dancing and piano… but I am a man!).

Forward to three weeks ago, and I was contorting my body to the words of  Esther Ekhart on YouTube.

It was inevitable. I blog about happiness; every tenth article I read or person I talked to mentioned yoga.

And then I stopped.

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Psychostimulants, Laughter, Gratitude, Fake Smiles & Happy Friends

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Last week, I declared June the Month of Happiness. I decided to post one article every weekday, each containing a practical idea that you can apply to become happier, immediately. We talked about psychostimulants, laughter, gratitude, fake smiles, and making happy friends. I’m sure you’ll find at least one article that fits your interests, personality, and situation. Day 1: … Read more