In this video Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D., assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and editor of Harvard Health Publication's special health report, Positive Psychology, discusses what it takes to be happy.

To learn more about Positive Psychology, go to http://www.health.harvard.edu/pp

The five situations or states of mind where people experience greater happiness are:
1.) Using or pursuing your virtues (wisdom, compassion, curiosity, etc.).
2.) Gratitude (expressing to self and others).
3.) Savouring the moment.
4.) Being "in the flow".
5.) Helping others.

To more easily achieve these states of mind it is suggested to practice "mindfulness".

Which means in this context (as per Kabat-Zinn):
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way;
    On purpose,
    in the present moment, and
    nonjudgmentally.”

There is a formal method and an informal method to practice mindfulness. The formal method is meditation. Some time should be taken out daily to practice this.

The informal method is choosing to be mindfully aware of what you are doing or experiencing. Do this at random moments throughout the day at least 10 to 15 times daily. It is suggested to practice both kinds of mindfulness.

Here a video explaining how to practice mindfulness:

Here is a video of a presentation showing the scientific evidence of why mindfulness is useful in making people happier.

I have been practicing mindfulness for over two years now. In my experience it has greatly reduced the stress in my life and made me generally more happy.

To learn more about the value of living in the moment I suggest reading Eckhart Tolle's book:

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Comments (2)

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written by aucas, September 18, 2011

HI, thanks for the post. Thanks for the part about mindfulness; I find living in the moment hard and am working on this.

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Mindfulness
written by iPhone Apple Admirer, October 18, 2011

Beautiful article over mindfulness. I think it's very helpful. I'm doing fine on the helping others part, but even though I'm always convinced I'm so grateful, I may work on the gratitude part. I think it's importrant to be aware of the things we have, but most of the time you take everything automatically for granted.

Good luck everybody, I think we can all learn a little bit from this article.

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