These Simple Solutions Will Help You Lead A Happier Life

By Julia Holmes for Men's Journal When men hit their 40s, their happiness hits the skids. That's just one of the insights that Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioral science at the London School of Economics, has found in his 10 years of studying what makes us happy. In his new book, Happiness by Design: Change What You Do, Not How You Think, Dolan lays out simple solutions for increasing life satisfaction: Structure your days around the things you enjoy, stop toiling away toward goals you may not even want to meet and balance your life with purpose and pleasure. You slam positive thinking. Why? Self-help books tell you, "Be positive." No shit! But there's only so much you can do to think yourself happier. You make anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 decisions every day. If you had to make them all consciously, thinking about how each would boost happiness, your head would explode. It's much easier to design the environment around you, and have that cue automatic decisions that boost your happiness. Take what you enjoy most — a midday run, trying a new dinner recipe, reading a book — then design around those things. Make it clear to co-workers that you go for a run at lunch so they won't schedule meetings; subscribe to a delivery service that sends fresh produce that you can use in recipes; set the home page of your computer to a literary site that recommends novels. You're priming your surroundings to help you make unconscious decisions that make you happier. This is how you ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news