Take the Secret Society of Happy People’s personal happiness inventory at


Tinyurl.com/HappinessCheck. Tinyurl.com/ DefiningOurHappiness provides an introduction.


and when we’re going to do it.” Home for Matthieu Ricard, a


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biochemist turned Buddhist monk, could be a Nepalese monastery or a seat at scientific conferences around the world. As the author of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill, he defines happiness as a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. “It’s not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion or a mood, but an optimal state of being,” he says. In order to nurture it, Ricard rec- ommends taking some time each day for quiet reflection, noting, “The con- templative approach consists of rising above the whirlpool of our thoughts for a moment and looking calmly within, as if at an interior landscape, to find the embodiment of our deepest aspi- rations.” By cultivating attention and mindfulness, the cares of everyday life


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become less burdensome. Such a spiri- tual practice of just sitting quietly for 10 minutes a day, observing the thoughts that randomly cross our minds, and then gently shooing them away, can be enormously beneficial, he says, as it helps us put things in perspective and aim for continuous calm.


Flipping the Switch


Changing thought habits to focus on the good things in life is an approach that works for clients of Mary Lynn Ziemer, a life coach in Estero, Florida. Ziemer suggests we “flip the switch” from nega- tive thinking and make a habit of start- ing our day being positive and grateful for 10 minutes. She recommends we start by doing deep breathing—four seconds breathing in, hold for seven seconds, eight seconds breathing out— repeated four times. Next, we ask our- selves how we feel in the moment and


identify the emotion, and then ask what thoughts we can think to feel better. The last step of the exercise is to


frame a positive outlook in an affirma- tion, such as, “I am so grateful that I know I am doing the best I can and everything will work out. Everything is fine.” Ziemer adds, “Remember that happiness comes from love and takes you to a place of peace and calm. It is such emotions that beget success in relationships, health, supply, and clear purpose. Plus, it benefits everyone around you.”


Happiness Habits at Work Dallas happiness researcher Shawn Achor, founder of Goodthink, Inc., and author of The Happiness Advantage, applies the science of happiness to the workplace. His research echoes the personal positivity of Ziemer, Verni and Ben-Shahar’s approaches to nurturing happiness. “Happiness is such an incred- ible advantage in our lives,” says Achor. “When the human brain is positive, our intelligence rises and we stop diverting resources to think about anxiety.” The Harvard Business Review published his research results: “Creativity triples and


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