The Science of Well-Being is one of the courses I am taking these days, that might not bore you :)).

(To make a small parenthesis, I think I might break a world record of how many SEO courses a person can take, but I love seeing how others explain the subject, what they figured out and what tools they use. But more on that on my SEO blog, pretty soon probably.)

This Science of Well-Being course is one of Yale's most popular, and it's all about what makes people happy.

The first thing the teacher mentioned is how one of the reasons people are unhappy is because we get used to what we have good in our lives pretty quickly. Finding someone you love, a great job, receiving lots of money, losing weight, buying a house, or other achievements, they make us happy, but only for a short period of time.

Hedonic Adaptation means we get used to the good things and don't enjoy them anymore.

We get used to nice whether, to going out, to staying home, to not being in pain...

The solutions she offered:
- Stop buying things, choose experiences. Like travelling more. But ideally free experiences. (Playing games?)
- Master savouring in order to really enjoy your experiences. Talk about how good it is. Share it with others. Take a picture, not to instagram it, but to remember the moment and be able to replay it vividly in your mind.
- Negative visualisation - think of all the ways life could have gone wrong, how you couldn't have had what you do, couldn't have met your loved one, and how your life would have been.
- Gratitude - If it was your last day of having everything you do, what would you miss most? Rejoice at the thought of still having what you love and gives you comfort in your life. Besides helping you fight anxiety and fear, data suggests being grateful can even decrease physical pain.

Besides taking this course, I also read a book on happiness called: "The little book of Hygge: Danish secrets to happy living". The main thing I got out of it is that you should have an emotional self help kit composed of things that make you feel good, like in the image bellow (music, tea, comfy clothes, good food..), and use it often, especially when days or just their atmosphere get gloomy.