#151 The Surprising Truth About Happiness with Professor Laurie Santos

What is happiness? And can we learn to be happier than we already are? Today’s guest believes we can. Laurie Santos is a professor of psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast. Her ‘Science of Wellbeing’ course became the most popular in the university’s history and has developed into a global phenomenon, with over three million people signing up to study Laurie’s evidence-based strategies for happiness.

In this conversation, Laurie shares exactly what those happiness boosting strategies actually are. She also explains how being happy with your life, differs from being happy in your life and how balancing the two is key to overall happiness. We also cover the relationship between money and happiness and discuss the unfortunate reality that when it comes to happiness, our intuition is often wrong.

We discuss maximising social connections, being thankful, being present, exercising and sleeping more – things we know are good for us but often lack the motivation to seek out. 

We also talk about how technology can both help and hinder social connections, how helping others is preferable to helping ourselves, and the incredible benefits of a daily gratitude practice. 

This is a wide-ranging and uplifting chat that really breaks down the psychology of happiness and Laurie’s suggestions will help you start working towards greater contentment starting today. The best news is that the tools to our happiness are simple and free.

Show notes available at drchatterjee.com/151

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