Could “Happiness 101” be a mandatory class for college freshmen in the future? It sounds impossible at first. After all, happiness isn’t exactly as straightforward as math or biology (to be fair, even those subjects are rarely uncomplicated).
Moreover, happiness isn’t a concrete commodity like money in a bank account or books on a shelf. Happiness is fluid and ever-changing. What makes us happy one day may infuriate us the next.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped countless books, strategies, and self-help “gurus” from promoting themselves as the path to contentment. Most of these approaches have their merits, but none are universally beneficial.
Now, however, an “intensive program on happiness” put together by the University of Trento in Northern Italy is boasting a truly incredible success rate among enrollees.
Researchers report that participants gradually enjoyed steady improvements across various measures of well-being as the course continued, including life satisfaction, self-awareness, emotional control, and perceived well-being. Course enrollees also saw their stress levels, negative thoughts, rumination tendencies, anxiety, and propensity toward anger significantly drop as well.
These changes occurred in most participants simultaneously; as positive emotions increased negative thought patterns declined. This held up both in the short-term and the long-term.
So what separates this crash course on happiness from the rest? Researchers chose to take a comprehensive approach to fostering happiness. They didn’t just focus on the practical or scientific, opting to incorporate both Western and Eastern philosophies regarding happiness. At the heart of the course is the idea that happiness is dependent on a sense of inner balance and understanding.
The more we understand ourselves on an emotional level, and our minds in a more scientific sense, the easier it is to find some happiness.
“The training that we proposed to the participants was inspired by the idea – present in both Western and Eastern philosophical traditions – that happiness is inextricably linked to the development of inner equilibrium, a kinder and more open perspective of self, others, and the world, towards a better understanding of the human mind and brain. In this training process we need on the one hand the theoretical study of philosophy and science, and on the other meditation practices,” explains Nicola De Pisapia, researcher of the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of the University of Trento and scientific coordinator.
In many ways, this work is groundbreaking due to how it blends modern neural discoveries grounded in science with centuries-old wellness techniques like meditation.
Study authors say far too many modern happiness methods either confuse hedonism and pleasure for real happiness or offer a far too simple set of guidelines like “think positive no matter what.”
“I believe that in times like these, full of changes and uncertainties, it is fundamental to scientifically study how Western and Eastern philosophical traditions, together with the most recent discoveries on the mind and the brain, can be integrated with contemplative practices in a secular way. The goal is to give healthy people the opportunity to work on themselves to develop authentic happiness, not hedonism or superficial happiness. With this study we wanted to take a small step in this direction,” Dr. Pisapia explains.
However, just like so much in life, happiness isn’t going to be achieved in an afternoon or over the course of a single week. This course lasted nine months (plus two meditation retreats & several learning weekends) and was held at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute of Tibetan culture in Pomaia, Italy. Enrollees had a full learning schedule featuring video courses, presentations, and open discussions on subjects including Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and the history of Western thought.
When students weren’t getting esoteric, they were studying and discussing more scientific matters related to happiness, such as neuroscience, neuroplasticity, stress, anxiety, the brain circuits in charge of attention, pain/pleasure, positive/negative emotions, desire/addiction, empathy/compassion, and sense of self.
Enrollees were also encouraged to try various “contemplative traditions” borrowed from both the East and West. Examples include keeping a journal, breath-based meditation, and analytical meditation.
Happiness is a unique concept for each person. Perhaps this approach to well-being is effective because it doesn’t emphasize positivity as much as it encourages the student to form a better understanding of themselves.
The full study can be found here, published in Frontiers in Psychology.
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