While failure does not guarantee success, the absence of failure will almost always guarantee the absence of success" Learn to fail, or fail to learn. Being Happy, p 29
Joan: Which brings us full circle. Of the "101 small choices that will change your life forever" from Choose the Life You Want, I was particularly smitten with the concept of happiness boosters. What a great idea. Can you tell our readers more, please?
Tal: Meaningful and pleasurable activities can function like a candle in a dark room---and just as it takes a small flame or two to light up an entire physical space, one or two happy experiences during an otherwise uninspiring period can transform our general state. I call these brief, but transforming experiences happiness boosters---activities, lasting anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours, that provide us both meaning and pleasure, both future and present benefit.
Happiness boosters can also help in the difficult process of change; habits often persist even if we do recognize the need for a new or altered course of action. Introducing relatively brief experiences of meaning and pleasure is less threatening than overhauling an entire life and will therefore meet with less resistance---subconsciously from the person trying to change as well as from the person's social environment. Happiness boosters represent a more moderate, less risky, approach toward bringing about change. For instance, before making a career move from investing to teaching, it is possible to volunteer once a week in an after-school program, in order to be certain that teaching does, indeed, provide both future and present benefit. Alternatively, if we are not happy working in education and want to pursue a career in the money market, we may want to spend some of our free time playing around with stocks to assure ourselves, as much as is possible, that the change we have been imagining will, in fact, make us happier. By affording the opportunity for trial and error, with minimal risk, happiness boosters can help us hone in on what we want to do most.
Joan: They're also handy when delaying gratification too long can be too hard and, ultimately, counterproductive. That resonated with me. On that note, is there anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?
Tal: My objective today is to make the science of happiness accessible to as many people as possible. Towards that end, I continue to write books, and I have also just launched a new project--Happier.TV-- which I hope will reach many people and introduce ideas, tools, and techniques that can help them fulfill their potential for success and happiness.
Joan: Good luck with your ongoing quest, Tal. Who could possibly object to the spreading of happiness? Thanks so much for talking with me. I enjoyed this immensely!
Tal: Thank you very much, Joan.
[A] study of elderly men and women" found that people's perceptions of aging significantly affected their longevity" on average more than seven years... Levy's research also demonstrated that a positive perception of old age affects the quality of life, leading those who accepted old age and the aging process to enjoy significantly higher levels of physical and mental health. Choose the Life You Want, p 209
Thanks to Meryl Ann Butler, OpEdNews Managing Editor, whose deft touch always enhances my work.
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Happier TV website From the website: Tal Ben-Shahar is an author and lecturer, and the co-founder of Happier.TV. He taught two of the largest classes in Harvard University's history, Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. Today Tal consults and lectures around the world to executives in multi-national corporations, the general public, and at-risk populations. His feature topics include leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and have appeared on best-sellers lists around the world. An avid sportsman, Tal won the U.S. Intercollegiate and Israeli National squash championships. Today, for exercise, he swims, dances, and practices Yoga. He obtained his PhD in Organizational Behavior and BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Harvard.
Finding Happiness in a Harvard Classroom, NPR piece, updated July 17, 2011
H arvard's crowded course to happiness: 'Positive psychology' draws students in droves Boston Globe March 10, 2006
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