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Happiness is deceptively simple. It’s about being satisfied with life and experiencing more positive emotions than negative ones.

Still, many of us find the pursuit of happiness to be frustratingly difficult. A relatively new branch of psychology called positive psychology is studying what makes people happy—and what doesn’t. Researchers are learning that the keys to happiness are within everyone’s reach.

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Zen Bite: You!

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Just do it: insight, motivation and action

  • By: Dr. Paula Bloom

    • As I write this my father is in the ICU. He is very sick with a multitude of issues and struggling to breathe. I feel so sad and powerless and am resisting ...

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Can Money Really Buy Happiness?

  • By: John Grohol Psy.D.

    • It turns out that whoever said money can’t buy you happiness was wrong.Money can buy you happiness, as long as you give some of the money away, or use it ...

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Happiness exercise: How to overcome perfectionism

  • By: Senia Maymin, MAPP

    • “When I was a little girl, I did well at things – like sports and math and science and English – and I got little bits of praise, and everybody thought I ...

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How to be the best athlete, singer, entrepreneur, mom, etc.

  • By: Senia Maymin, MAPP

    • So you know you’re pretty good at something, but you want to get better. What do you do? You might take classes, you might ask friends for improvement ...

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Flow at work: Three questions

  • By: Senia Maymin, MAPP

    • In last week’s blog post, I described flow. Today, I’ll walk you through three questions to getting towards more flow at work. We know that flow is when ...

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07/28/2009
The Meaning of Happiness

The Meaning of Happiness

  • Some well-known creative people who participated in This Emotional Life offer their perspectives on happiness.
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This Emotional Life is a co-production of the NOVA/WGBH Science Unit and Vulcan Productions, Inc. A Film by Kunhardt McGee Productions. ©/™ 2009 WGBH Educational Foundation and Vulcan Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This Web site was produced for PBS Online by elephants & ants.

Funding for This Emotional Life is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Public Television Viewers. Additional funding provided by the University of Phoenix and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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