The science of happiness

Thank you for sharing the link to the course.


I have never read any course, but I'm always listening on youtube different motivational speakers like Louise Hay, Alan Watts or Wayne Dyer. Or even some TED talks.


I think that the power of positive thinking is underestimated.

Wow, thank you for sharing this. This is exactly the kind of thing that encourages me to keep trying to get better. Positive approaches like this are so much more helpful than people saying, "it'll get better" or "don't dwell on the past so much." I'm definitely going to look into enrolling in the next one.

The power of positive thinking is so under-rated that it's ridiculous and yet, ironically, most people believe it's over-rated. It's not really about the power of positive thinking though, it's about the power of thought combined with emotion. I have literally managed to change my mind and therefore my life by learning very deeply about these kinds of techniques and principles and by reading plenty of material by many philosophical, psychological and motivational writers and speakers including those mentioned above. If you go deep enough into this subject you will realize that certain manifestation techniques like the Law of Attraction or Cosmic Ordering, which are usually labelled as pseudoscience, are actually very real and very powerful and the way they work ties in with the true nature of the subconscious mind and quantum mechanics.

CarlosTL said:

Just thought I'd share this with you; it is a Berkley online course (entirely free) from leading-researchers about the "scientific" techniques for achieving happiness.


This is how they present the course:


"Discover proven scientific techniques to live a happier and more meaningful life from renowned leaders in positive psychology. Explore how meditation can improve brain function, how gratitude is connected to sleep and how mindfulness can impact your everyday life. Unlock the secrets to happiness and change your life."

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Thanks for this Carlos, I am always looking for things like this to try to help myself. I am interested to find out about gratitude being connected to sleep. I wonder how that works?

Absolutely yes. The mere action of practising gratitude makes us focus on looking for positives in our life. Irrespective of our motivation or any cosmic implications, focusing on the good things is a huge step in the right direction, towards being healthy happy beings.

I found on a personal level that listening to inspirational talks and the likes of Louise Hay helped me initially. However I soon realized that these had become a crutch of sorts and that I wasn't actually confronting or dealing with my fears. I needed to confront my demons, so to speak, and ackowleding these set me on my path to recovery.

I would not however have had my "epiphany" without starting down the road of gratitude and appreciation. It takes so little time out of your day and much like smiling, is a a habit easily acquired. I would strongly recommend it.

"Discover proven scientific techniques to live a happier and more meaningful life from renowned leaders in positive psychology. Explore how meditation can improve brain function, how gratitude is connected to sleep and how mindfulness can impact your everyday life. Unlock the secrets to happiness and change your life."

I like that ^ especially the part about sleep. For many years I had problems sleeping. It started in my 20's, and continued all through my 30's, UNTIL I finally found the right doctor who started prescribing me the right medication. I'm not saying medication is the answer to everything, but it sure was the answer to this. Nothing else worked. Anxiety was behind the insomnia, and anxiety is always there (for me), until I take anti-anxiety medication, and then I'm normal. It sounds so simple, but I went through so many regular doctors and psychologists and I was getting so close, when all along the answer was to see a psychiatrist. Now that I sleep, my entire life has changed. I can do things, go out more, rely on myself to sleep for events (even though I still get all jittery about it the night before,) I need to realize that sleep really isn't an issue anymore. I guess I'm so used to it being an issue, that I'm not even really sure how to let it go. Maybe one day it will dawn on me that I no longer have trouble sleeping....but until then, I secretly believe I still have a sleep-problem. (BUT I REALLY DON'T.) See what I mean?

Yes, sleep can change your life, but if you can't sleep, it can and will destroy your life. I speak from experience.

Sleep is not a problem for me. It's all I want to do though. I'm trying to finally see a psychatrist. I'm so willing to take medication but, only if the side effects aren't as bad as the anxiety. Which is rare because all anti depressants cause anxiety to me . Those darn waiting list.. I finally realized that i needed help from a psychologist and it's hard to get in.

Concernedgal said:

Sleep is not a problem for me. It's all I want to do though. I'm trying to finally see a psychatrist. I'm so willing to take medication but, only if the side effects aren't as bad as the anxiety. Which is rare because all anti depressants cause anxiety to me . Those darn waiting list.. I finally realized that i needed help from a psychologist and it's hard to get in.

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Now that I can sleep, it's all I want to do too. The way I see it is, I'm finally catching up on all of those sleepless, worrisome nights. Heck, I would even start worrying about sleep as soon I as I saw the sun going down. Now, I sleep in 2 chunks. One is a bigger chunk, I get about 6-7 hours, and then the "nap" comes around 4 p.m. and I sleep for another couple hours. Maybe that's not good, maybe it is. But I'm making up for lost time. And yep, I know all about the waiting lists to get in to see a psychologist or psychiatrist. IMO, go straight to a psychiatrist. When you really want some serious help to nip the problem in the bud, psychiatrist is the way to go. They don't mess around, they just get to the core of the problem and HELP. Finally.

That's really good to hear. Its hard to find the help you need for mental illnesses. It's it's sad too. You never have problems with finding help fo diabetes or chronic pain but, mental illness. .. . That's not right. I really hope this psychiatrist helps me.

I find it really hard to believe that in our modern world so many people have trouble getting access to medical help for their conditions.

Are there simply not enough qualified psychiatrists out there or are the number of people seeking assistance so high that the existing doctor's cannot cope with the workload?
The other issue is pricing and there needs to be a system put in place to assist those that cannot afford high priced counselling.