Recently I attended the Happiness and Its Causes Conference at Darling Harbour. It was a four-day event with some of the leading international speakers and researchers on happiness.
There were Buddhist monks, neuro scientists and psychologists mixed in with real people with real life experiences like Lindy Chamberlain. The conference brought together people from all over the world to focus on happiness.
Over the four days I learnt so much and I feel the more people know about these things the better the world will be, so here are some of the best bits!
Barbara Fredrickson, professor of psychology from North Carolina has been studying the benefitsof positive emotions and the role they play in our development as a society. Her research hasfound that the formula for a flourishing and happy life is to have three parts positive to only one part negative. This means for every negative emotion you feel, you should aim to have three positive emotions to balance them out. Barbara’s research focuses on creating a happy and flourishing life and she stresses the need for the negative emotion to provide perspective and accentuate the positives.
She found that positive emotions do have a significant role to play in our personal development. They allow us to become more open to new things and experiences, to see the big picture more readily and to have a greater awareness about life in general. They also increase our resilience to stress and challenging situations, increase our creative ability and enhance our ability to trust and negotiate effectively.
Positive emotions also lead to better relationships, increased performance and considerably more personal development. Through her research Barbara has found that positive emotions play a significant part in both our personal development and in our advancement as a society.
Dr James Fowler, Associate Professor from the University of California, is an expert on social networks and spoke on the viral spread of happiness.
His research found that if your friend is happy, you are 15 per cent more likely to be happy.
Most astounding was that if your friend’s friend is happy, you are 10 per cent more likely to be happy and, almost unbelievable, is that if your friend’s, friend’s, friend is happy, you are 6 per cent more likely to be happy.
Essentially, happiness spreads through social networks and groups in clusters of people; when you spend time with happy people, or even with friends of friends of happy people, you will be much more likely to feel happy yourself.
Barry Schwartz, Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, spoke about the paradox of choice. He began by explaining that having choice can be associated with the feeling of freedom, but how quickly too much choice can become paralysing. For example, if choice was taken away from us around our breakfast and we had to eat porridge every day for the rest of our lives, we’d start to feel pretty down about breakfast. (Unless of course porridge is your all time favourite!)
However, as is, we have the choice of approximately 279 cereals to choose from in most supermarket cereal aisles. Many of us go through the supermarket on auto-pilot simply getting what we normally get, however when you’re looking for something new or different it can become overwhelming.
After researching this paradox of choice Schwartz developed the theory of the Maximiser and the Satisfiser. The Maximiser is the person who will always compare products and services to other options available. Maximisers focus on getting the best deal every time and will take much longer to make decisions. Maxamisers often second guess their decision and end up disappointed, not because the product didn’t live up to its claims or their needs, but because they didn’t maximise the value from the purchase. The Satisfiser, on the other hand, checks the product against their own needs and ensures that it will satisfy their requirements. Once they have purchased, if they are satisfied, they have no need to compare to other products or services.
Satisfisers tend to focus on the positive experience they have had rather than what they may have missed out on.
In the modern world we are building a nation of Maxamisers. With constant advertising and product placement we feel the need to have the best at all times. Unfortunately, Maxamisers end up disappointed and frustrated as new and better products constantly hit the market. The danger for Maximisers is they can easily end up on the ‘bigger and better’ treadmill, working to feed a dangerous consumer habit. When paralysed by choice, go back to your own requirements and work towards finding a product or service that satisfies you.
I hope these few tips can be put into action to bring about more happiness in your everyday life.
If you’re after more, check out my book, it has 44 easy concepts on how to bring more happiness into your life, beautiful photographs and inspiring quotes.
Visit http://www.bringinghappinesshome.com.au to get your copy.
You may also be interested in another event. Dr Norman Doidge is actually speaking in Sydney on Tuesday August 24. His research into neuro plasticity is changing the way we view learning and what medical science sees as possible for victims of stroke and other neural conditions.
For more details visit http://fastforword.rtrk.com.au/?scid=25592&kw=4283543:13964
Jodie Cooper of Advanced Coaching Solutions specialises in assisting people from all walks of life to find happiness. Jodie also facilitates public speaking workshops to help people become confident and effective speakers.
For more information please contact Jodie Cooper on 0409 224 303.
Check out her websites at:
www.advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au
www.bringinghappinesshome.com.au | 
