How to be happy: do things for others, live a purposeful life, set and achieve goals, have good friends, life coach says

Name: The Secret to a Happy Life — Lessons from 8 Decades of Research | Robert Waldinger | TED
Uploaded: 2024-04-08T23:15:08.000Z
Description: The Secret to a Happy Life — Lessons from 8 Decades of Research | Robert Waldinger | TED

New shoes, a wild party, a lottery win are all things that can bring transient joy, but real long-term happiness depends on more mundane things, researchers say

Among their suggestions: do things for others, and things that feel meaningful; set goals; and take stock of the things that make you feel proud and loved

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How to be happy? Have good friends, live a purposeful life, set yourself goals, do something for others, and reflect on each day – what made you feel loved, what stimulated you – a life coach says. Photo: Shutterstock

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Published: 7:15am, 9 Apr 2024

“Happiness cannot, like a mathematical theorem, be proven,” wrote German poet Heinrich von Kleist to his sister in 1799. “It must be felt if it is to exist.”

However, over the past decades, researchers have tried to do just that, looking at what it means to feel happy and what can help us to achieve that state.

According to Dorothee Salchow, a life coach trained in positive psychology in Germany, joy derived from luck, like winning the lottery, does not make us happy in the long run.

Instead, she likens happiness to a state of “well-being, the inner experience of human happiness”.

The Secret to a Happy Life — Lessons from 8 Decades of Research | Robert Waldinger | TED

Salchow knows what leads to sustained happiness. And she has the science to prove it.

“According to everything we know from research, positive emotions have a strong impact on our well-being,” says Salchow.