The simple things
Who can resist a show featuring a Harvard researcher doing research on—of all things—happiness?
I could not. So despite the many minor interruptions (irritations), like the selling and upselling of Shawn Achor’s books and videos, I kept at it.
Here are some of the stuff I learned (and remembered):
1. Those in Harvard, despite Harvard being Harvard, are not happy. Researcher Shawn Achor says that in his experiment, hapless freshmen are only happy for the first 2 weeks—happy to be accepted and besting a thousand others for the coveted slots, happy to be in Harvard’s hallowed halls and relishing its old world smell, happy to be at the center of the intellectual universe. But when the reality of pressure—ever present, permeating the walls (and their every capillary)— becomes apparent, they get lost into the vortex of competing with themselves, forever justifying (to themselves) that they deserved to be there.
At the end of it all (if Achor is to be believed), the Harvardians are just grateful to be let out alive and to smoke the Harvard pipe (misery, they say, loves company).
2. He did an experiment with seniors who spent days in a special room. This room had 1950s written all over it—1950s newspapers, TV shows, decor, food, topics. When they started, all were sickly, stooping down, old. But then when they started living in the 1950s, at the precise year when they were in their prime, they started believing that the hands of time were pulled back. At the end of the experiment, everyone who participated felt they were 10 years younger, healthier, happier.
In the show, Achor said something like, “Change the lens, change the happiness.” Is the solution to eternal youth—all the time—in our heads?
Let me leave you with Achor’s 21-day challenge that is guaranteed to make you, well, happy (of course):
- Jot down three things you are grateful for. (you can use a regular diary for this)
- Write a positive message to someone in your social support network. (just a ‘thank you’, ‘I appreciate you’, ‘you rock’ will work)
- Meditate at your desk for two minutes. (yes, you can close your eyes)
- Exercise for 10 minutes. (it is just 10 minutes!)
- Take two minutes to describe in a journal the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours. (this will require more thought and feeling)
You and I, we can do this. 🙂