The work I do as a psychologist is within the field known as
"positive psychology" which as a general definition is
the scientific study of what makes life worth living.
In addition to happiness,
positive psychologists are interested in talents,
abilities, in our passions, what we're really interested in,
what gets us out of bed in the morning.
Whether you're passionate about work,
about leisure activities, about a family...
My own work is focused on strengths of character.
Positive traits like kindness, teamwork, and sense of humor.
Positive psychologists are also interested in the
institutions that enable the good life: family,
schools, good workplaces, healthy communities.
What is the relationship between happiness and a life well lived?
I think happiness is often an indicator that you're living well,
but it's not a perfect indicator.
A lot of the things we do that make life worth living--raising
children for example-- doesn't necessarily make us happy.
Not in the short run. In the long run, yes.
In the short run, absolutely not. It's hard work. Why do we do it?
Because it's the right thing, not because it makes us gleeful.
Happiness is a product of our pursuits.
Not necessarily the pursuit of happiness per se,
but the pursuit of other things that make life worth living.
So if you take very seriously your work
or your family or your community,
if you pursue the good in those domains,
guess what, you're going to be happy as a result.
Sometimes when I give a talk I tell the audience,
If you really don't want to listen to me for the next hour,
listen to me for the next five seconds because I'll tell you
what positive psychology is all about: Other people matter.
Period. I'm done with my talk.
Anything that builds relationships between and
among people is going to make you happy.
The other route, it's probably related,
is to have a sense of meaning and purpose about your life,
to see yourself connected to something larger than yourself.
Now for some folks their religion can provide
a sense of meaning and purpose,
and positive psychologists are not shy about
acknowledging the importance of religion.
However there are secular sources of meaning and purpose as
well: making the earth hospitable for future generations,
again, friends and family.
Here at the University of Michigan,
it's pretty exciting for me to be reminded that my day job is
talking with the best and brightest young people in the world.
Sometimes I have to remind myself of that when
I didn't find a parking place in the morning,
but my job is not finding a parking place, it's about teaching,
and that's meaning and purpose for me.
People are always looking for the shortcuts.
People are always looking for the seven easy steps,
the five easy ways, the magic formula.
I don't think there are such things,
not if you want to have a life worth living.
You have to work at it. Do volunteer work.
And if you can't do volunteer work,
pick up your neighbor's newspaper and put it on their porch.
Just really small things, if you do them over and over again,
you will build connections with other people.
In my own life, when I was 20 years old I was painfully shy.
I would go weeks without talking unless
somebody said something to me,
which they usually didn't because I was the painfully shy person.
And I finally decided that was no way to live,
and I forced myself to be chatty. And now I can't shut up!
It gives me some examples to draw on when
people ask if change is possible.
I go, "Absolutely. Absolutely it's possible."