Happiness is hot right now. You can’t visit major blogs like The Huffington Post and MindBodyGreen without running into tips and tricks for harnessing well-being.
That’s uplifting, says Emma Seppala, associate director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. But she says these blogs are missing one key ingredient. Facts.
“A lot of those articles are intuitively true, but because of my science background, I always look at an article like that and think, ground this in some data!” says Seppala, laughing. “I can’t take it as seriously.”
Seppala has engaged her science background to create Fulfillment Daily, a blog that chronicles scientific data on well-being, focus, compassion, and meditation—with practical takeaways for readers. The website launched in mid-June with a roster of psychologists and science journalists contributing posts.
Here’s some key things we’re learning about happiness through science:
5 Ways to Boost Your Happiness1. Gratitude: Science has found that gratitude can significantly increase your happiness, and protect you from stress, negativity, anxiety, and depression. Sometimes, it can seem like a single event can throw our entire day off and we can miss some of…