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"Happiness is wanting what you have," Dr. Fred Luskin recently told Kathryn Roethel of the San Francisco Chronicle. When you spend time "wanting something different," you start knocking on the door to stressful living.
Luskin is a senior consultant at Stanford University, a counselor, and the author of Stress Free for Good: 10 Scientifically Proven Life Skills for Health and Happiness. He co-teaches Stanford's popular course in happiness with Carole Pertofsky, the university's Director of Wellness and Health Promotion. The two formed the course in response to a number of suicides at Stanford prior to 2007.
Although nearly a dozen students each year are referred to the course by campus mental health counselors, Luskin and Pertofsky want to reach students before they find themselves deep in emotional trouble. "In this culture of excellence," Pertofsky notes, "it takes a lot to admit when you're hurting." In the pressure-packed academic world that is Stanford, Luskin says many kids don't know how to temper their drive to achieve.
So Luskin and Pertofsky emphasize the importance of relationships and connections. And they try to give students the tools to foster happiness and reduce stress in life. As the Chronicle quoted one former student: "This class isn't just for people who aren't happy. It can improve the quality of life for anyone."
During the course, students meditate and keep gratitude journals. They are also asked to conduct research on happiness, share the tools they've acquired with someone outside of the class, and thank underappreciated campus staff such as janitors and groundskeepers.
Interest in the course far exceeds the sixty-some seats available in a term and the benefits of taking it are tangible: enrolled students report a 27% reduction in their stress levels upon course completion.
Here are five techniques Luskin offers for less stress and more happiness:
-- Keep a daily gratitude journal, listing items for which you feel grateful.
-- Perform a meditation practice, or simply a few minutes of deep breathing and quiet reflection on something that made you happy. Consider what you can do to achieve that happiness again.
-- Make a habit of sharing the highlights of your day with someone close to you.
-- Practice forgiveness routinely.
-- Construct a list of all activities and experiences that relax and rejuvenate you. Use items from this list to manage your daily stress.
