I recently listened to an inspiring lecture by Arthur Brooks at Harvard Business School about the art and science of getting happier.
Arthur Brooks is a professor at Harvard who teaches leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship. He has authored over 13 books, including the recent #1 New York Times bestsellers "From Strength to Strength" and "Build the Life You Want" with Oprah Winfrey on finding happiness and purpose.
Here are some key lessons I took away:
Lesson 1: Emotions are Information, Not Good or Bad
Our emotions contain valuable information and serve an evolutionary purpose. Negative emotions like fear, anger, and disgust helped our ancestors survive. Rather than trying to eliminate negative emotions, we should accept them, be grateful for the information they provide, and learn to manage them effectively. Fighting your emotions is counterproductive.
Lesson 2: Understand Your Emotional Profile
We each have a unique emotional profile. Brooks mapped personalities onto a 2x2 matrix of high/low positive and negative emotions. The 4 profiles are:
Mad Scientists - High positive and negative emotions. Intense, energetic, moody.
Cheerleaders - High positive, low negative. Cheerful, encouraging, uncritical.
Judges - Low positive, low negative. Sober, unflappable, aloof.
Poets - High negative, low positive. Creative, melancholic, killjoy.
Know your profile so you can better manage your emotions. Surround yourself with people who compliment you. Take the quick test on Arthur's website here to find out about your profile.
Lesson 3: Metacognition Gives You Choices
Metacognition, or thinking about your thinking, allows you to step back from your emotions and analyze them. Meditation, prayer, journaling, and therapy are metacognitive acts that engage the prefrontal cortex. This is like sharing information with your CEO so they can make a decision. This gives you the power to choose your reaction, substitute positive for negative emotions, and act "as-if" you feel a certain way.
Lesson 4: Love is the Ultimate Metacognitive Act
Brooks suggests that choosing to act with love, even in the face of difficulty, is the ultimate metacognitive act. We can decide to love others even when we want to be loved ourselves. Love conquers fear and hate. As Victor Frankl said:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
No matter the circumstances, we always have the freedom to choose our attitude.
The art of happiness lies in accepting all our emotions, understanding our reactions, and consciously deciding how to channel our feelings. With practice, we can all build more positive lives.
Comentários