clipped from: www.spring.org.uk   

3 Happiness Enhancing Activities With Evidence They Work


We can all create our own lists of happiness enhancing activities and argue endlessly about which is better and for whom. While that's fun for a bit, I always want to ask: which activities have evidence to back up their claims for increasing happiness?

1. Visualising your best possible self


Visualising your best possible self may sound like an exercise in fantasy but, crucially, it does have to be realistic. Carrying out this exercise typically involves imagining your life in the future, but a future where everything that could go well, has gone well. You have reached those realistic goals that you have set for yourself.

2. Helping others


research suggests there's a very good selfish reason to help others - it really does seem to make us happier

3.Practicing gratitude

A study conducted by Emmons and McCullough (2003) found that sitting down weekly to write about five things we are grateful for increased happiness levels by 25%