5 ms·

How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds

75 points by bumbledraven 17y ago

ardit33 17y ago
I thought this article would be about hookers and blow... nevermind. Basically: When imagining about a happy event it is better to imagine what would have been if you didn't have something you have right now (eg. gf/bf, school education, good job, food on the table, nice pad), rather then thinking about "what if x" happened, where x is something that you wish it happens to you; like winning the lottery, getting a gf., a job, whatever. So, I guess this study plays on two things: 1. You have to have something nice in your life that you cherish about. 2. The "loss aversion" feelings in humans, makes you think it would really suck if you lost it, and you are happy to have that thing (as it puts a larger value to something you already have). Works for some people I guess. If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. "
- _delirium 17y ago
  If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like it also makes a difference how you approach the things you do have. They found that thinking about what it'd be like if you'd never met your significant other, for example, made you more happy than reminiscing about how you did meet him/her.
- bad_user 17y ago
  > If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. " You're saying it like that's a bad thing ... I know people that have everything they ever wanted, and are still unhappy (including my parents).
dylanz 17y ago
I thought this article was going to make me happy within a few seconds of clicking this link. It didn't :)
- greenlblue 17y ago
  That's because you didn't think about how much worse your life would have been if you hadn't clicked the link.
- teej 17y ago
  Just think about how your life would have been if you hadn't read that link!
  - klipt 17y ago
    10 minutes longer!
- Devilboy 17y ago
  Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8
  - sangaya 17y ago
    By applying the concepts of the main article to this video I can certainly say that the thought of my day without having seen this video makes me much happier than simply recalling that I have seen it. Thanks!
jrockway 17y ago
Personally, I just go for something containing sugar and caffeine.
- pavs 17y ago
  I completely gave up caffeine two weeks ago, I have never felt better. I was one of those guys who relied on coffee everyday, a day without coffee was unimaginable. But it also used to make me cranky, lazy (when the caffeine wore off), screw up my sleep pattern; high anxiety and sometimes depressed. I figured if I could stop drinking coffee and try to find alternatives of the benefits of coffee (alertness), I could get rid of the disadvantages. The first few days were tough, I had intense headaches without coffee. But after I fixed my sleep pattern, started doing more workouts and replaced coffee with mint (decafienated) tea in the morning to help me wake up. I felt more alert and overall my mood has been better. I can say that I am happier because I stopped drinking coffee. :) YMMV.
  - bugs 17y ago
    I'm curious to how you got into the using coffee for energy (especially in the early mornings) it seems that this has become the norm in peoples lives: waking up to two or three cups of coffee and then drinking even more at work. I like coffee enough to have it regularly once a week on Saturday mornings but the rest of my caffeine consumption is sitting down to a cup of tea at around 5 o'clock which seems to make me happy more than energizing me. But the headaches because you did not have your coffee seem rather scary that it had gotten to that point.
    - pavs 17y ago
      I don't remember how I got started in to coffee drinking business to help me wake up. But I have been doing it for far too long. I had to have coffee in the morning for me to begin to do something. 3-4 large cups a day (at least) was normal for me. I don't think a lot of people realize but caffeine addiction is not very different from other forms of addiction (as to how addictions in generally work, not necessarily how much damage they do to you). So my headaches for not having coffee was symptoms of withdrawal from caffeine. I have learned from others who also tried to quit drinking coffee they had to deal with really bad headaches. My main reason for trying to quit caffeine (as mentioned before) is anxiety. I think I have recovered 90% from my anxiety just by quitting coffee. I am also taking supplements like st. John's wort, which I believe helped me a lot too, along with heavy exercise. Oh! And I forgot about the dreams! :) This might sound as an exaggeration, but I don't think I have dreamed for the last ten years or so. Or at least dreams I can consciously remember. The week after I stopped drinking coffee, every night I have been having the most vivid dreams you could imagine. Its amazing! :) After dropping out of college, this might be the second best decision I ever made. I am so excited I can't stop writing about it. :)
awa 17y ago
Actual headline: It’s a Wonderful Life: Mentally Subtracting Positive Events Improves People’s Affective States, Contrary to Their Affective Forecasts
- mortenjorck 17y ago
  The study results certainly seem to point to the neurological reasons for the success of Frank Capra's classic referenced in the headline.
- natrius 17y ago
  The original headline was a bit opaque. Rewriting journal article titles to read more like newspaper article titles sounds like a good practice to me.
ams6110 17y ago
What's weird is that you can think back and realize how random almost everything in your life is. For example, if I had gotten the job I applied for at Arby's when I was 16, in 1982, I would very likely never have met my wife, though I didn't meet her until I was 21.
- JacobAldridge 17y ago
  My entire career came about because the Australian Government banned Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. It was finally released in 2000 - I was a journalism student at the time, and the university cinema was playing it. In the time between my final class and the film beginning, I was killing time in the student union building. They had a jobs board in the building, and I read one asking for a 'casual sales administrator' ('saturday girl') in a real estate office. Figuring real estate was a practical life skill to learn through a part time uni job, I noted the details and applied. Being brilliant, I got the job, fell in love with the property industry and on graduation decide to pursue it rather than journalism. That led to a few promotions, and directly into the field of training business owners in the real estate industry, which then led me to my current career (business coaching). If it weren't for the ban and subsequent delayed release, I might be a working journalist! And to think I've been railing against the Australian government's draconian view of censorship. Edit: Feeling happier already.
- arethuza 17y ago
  Perhaps we are in a multiverse and in many other universes you did get that job and you didn't meet her.
dschobel 17y ago
I see that Daniel Gilbert is one of the authors of this study, author of http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/1400077427/ http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/... . If you have yet to read it and have any interest in the psychology of happiness (and I can't imagine a sentient human who wouldn't have such an interest), do so post-haste.
known 17y ago
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.-- Leo Tolstoy
grumpyfart 17y ago
Simply put: Happy Thanksgiving
DLWormwood 17y ago
Obligatory TL;DR - "Count your blessings." Really, the article conclusion seems that simple. (Though I'm not one to talk; I'm the brooding type.)
- InclinedPlane 17y ago
  The article's conclusion is not that simple. It compares a simple "count your blessings" approach to a "think about not having your blessings" approach. Their research shows the latter method works much better than the former.
imd 17y ago
Imagine there's no Youtube.
- sophacles 17y ago
  Oh god! it burns! I'd have to work! =P
speek 17y ago
This seems close to Solution Focused Brief Therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy). It's interesting though.
Estragon 17y ago
I'm sitting here eating my oatmeal and honey, thinking "Imagine a world without oatmeal and honey!" Seems to be working.

75 points by bumbledraven 17y ago

I thought this article would be about hookers and blow... nevermind. Basically: When imagining about a happy event it is better to imagine what would have been if you didn't have something you have right now (eg. gf/bf, school education, good job, food on the table, nice pad), rather then thinking about "what if x" happened, where x is something that you wish it happens to you; like winning the lottery, getting a gf., a job, whatever. So, I guess this study plays on two things: 1. You have to have something nice in your life that you cherish about. 2. The "loss aversion" feelings in humans, makes you think it would really suck if you lost it, and you are happy to have that thing (as it puts a larger value to something you already have). Works for some people I guess. If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. "

_delirium 17y ago
If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like it also makes a difference how you approach the things you do have. They found that thinking about what it'd be like if you'd never met your significant other, for example, made you more happy than reminiscing about how you did meet him/her.
bad_user 17y ago
> If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. " You're saying it like that's a bad thing ... I know people that have everything they ever wanted, and are still unhappy (including my parents).

dylanz 17y ago

I thought this article was going to make me happy within a few seconds of clicking this link. It didn't :)

greenlblue 17y ago
That's because you didn't think about how much worse your life would have been if you hadn't clicked the link.
teej 17y ago
Just think about how your life would have been if you hadn't read that link!
- klipt 17y ago
  10 minutes longer!
Devilboy 17y ago
Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8
- sangaya 17y ago
  By applying the concepts of the main article to this video I can certainly say that the thought of my day without having seen this video makes me much happier than simply recalling that I have seen it. Thanks!

jrockway 17y ago

Personally, I just go for something containing sugar and caffeine.

pavs 17y ago
I completely gave up caffeine two weeks ago, I have never felt better. I was one of those guys who relied on coffee everyday, a day without coffee was unimaginable. But it also used to make me cranky, lazy (when the caffeine wore off), screw up my sleep pattern; high anxiety and sometimes depressed. I figured if I could stop drinking coffee and try to find alternatives of the benefits of coffee (alertness), I could get rid of the disadvantages. The first few days were tough, I had intense headaches without coffee. But after I fixed my sleep pattern, started doing more workouts and replaced coffee with mint (decafienated) tea in the morning to help me wake up. I felt more alert and overall my mood has been better. I can say that I am happier because I stopped drinking coffee. :) YMMV.
- bugs 17y ago
  I'm curious to how you got into the using coffee for energy (especially in the early mornings) it seems that this has become the norm in peoples lives: waking up to two or three cups of coffee and then drinking even more at work. I like coffee enough to have it regularly once a week on Saturday mornings but the rest of my caffeine consumption is sitting down to a cup of tea at around 5 o'clock which seems to make me happy more than energizing me. But the headaches because you did not have your coffee seem rather scary that it had gotten to that point.
  - pavs 17y ago
    I don't remember how I got started in to coffee drinking business to help me wake up. But I have been doing it for far too long. I had to have coffee in the morning for me to begin to do something. 3-4 large cups a day (at least) was normal for me. I don't think a lot of people realize but caffeine addiction is not very different from other forms of addiction (as to how addictions in generally work, not necessarily how much damage they do to you). So my headaches for not having coffee was symptoms of withdrawal from caffeine. I have learned from others who also tried to quit drinking coffee they had to deal with really bad headaches. My main reason for trying to quit caffeine (as mentioned before) is anxiety. I think I have recovered 90% from my anxiety just by quitting coffee. I am also taking supplements like st. John's wort, which I believe helped me a lot too, along with heavy exercise. Oh! And I forgot about the dreams! :) This might sound as an exaggeration, but I don't think I have dreamed for the last ten years or so. Or at least dreams I can consciously remember. The week after I stopped drinking coffee, every night I have been having the most vivid dreams you could imagine. Its amazing! :) After dropping out of college, this might be the second best decision I ever made. I am so excited I can't stop writing about it. :)

awa 17y ago

Actual headline: It’s a Wonderful Life: Mentally Subtracting Positive Events Improves People’s Affective States, Contrary to Their Affective Forecasts

mortenjorck 17y ago
The study results certainly seem to point to the neurological reasons for the success of Frank Capra's classic referenced in the headline.
natrius 17y ago
The original headline was a bit opaque. Rewriting journal article titles to read more like newspaper article titles sounds like a good practice to me.

ams6110 17y ago

What's weird is that you can think back and realize how random almost everything in your life is. For example, if I had gotten the job I applied for at Arby's when I was 16, in 1982, I would very likely never have met my wife, though I didn't meet her until I was 21.

JacobAldridge 17y ago
My entire career came about because the Australian Government banned Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. It was finally released in 2000 - I was a journalism student at the time, and the university cinema was playing it. In the time between my final class and the film beginning, I was killing time in the student union building. They had a jobs board in the building, and I read one asking for a 'casual sales administrator' ('saturday girl') in a real estate office. Figuring real estate was a practical life skill to learn through a part time uni job, I noted the details and applied. Being brilliant, I got the job, fell in love with the property industry and on graduation decide to pursue it rather than journalism. That led to a few promotions, and directly into the field of training business owners in the real estate industry, which then led me to my current career (business coaching). If it weren't for the ban and subsequent delayed release, I might be a working journalist! And to think I've been railing against the Australian government's draconian view of censorship. Edit: Feeling happier already.
arethuza 17y ago
Perhaps we are in a multiverse and in many other universes you did get that job and you didn't meet her.

dschobel 17y ago

I see that Daniel Gilbert is one of the authors of this study, author of http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/1400077427/ http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/... . If you have yet to read it and have any interest in the psychology of happiness (and I can't imagine a sentient human who wouldn't have such an interest), do so post-haste.

known 17y ago

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.-- Leo Tolstoy

grumpyfart 17y ago

Simply put: Happy Thanksgiving

DLWormwood 17y ago

Obligatory TL;DR - "Count your blessings." Really, the article conclusion seems that simple. (Though I'm not one to talk; I'm the brooding type.)

InclinedPlane 17y ago
The article's conclusion is not that simple. It compares a simple "count your blessings" approach to a "think about not having your blessings" approach. Their research shows the latter method works much better than the former.

imd 17y ago

Imagine there's no Youtube.

sophacles 17y ago
Oh god! it burns! I'd have to work! =P

speek 17y ago

This seems close to Solution Focused Brief Therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy). It's interesting though.

Estragon 17y ago

I'm sitting here eating my oatmeal and honey, thinking "Imagine a world without oatmeal and honey!" Seems to be working.