The other day I was listening to Malcolm Gladwell´s Revisionist History podcast and I got absolutely hooked to an episode…that wasn’t part of the show.
In this episode, Malcolm introduces what Dr Laurie Santos is doing around happiness worldwide - through her courses at Yale University, Coursera, TED or this podcast.
What got me intrigued, was this little nugget that Malcolm shares at the beginning of the episode:
In January 2018, her course titled, "Psychology and the Good Life" became the most popular course in Yale's history, with approximately one-fourth of Yale's undergraduates enrolled
Then all of a sudden, I was deep into the story on how do we perceive happiness, why do we tend to compare ourselves with other people and how to escape that endless race (ex millionaires are often unhappy because they hang out with super millionaires and therefore, they don’t feel wealthy and successful).
The podcast is filled with interesting things on how do we perceive others, why and how do we compared and the effect those things have in our health.
A piece of advice I loved? negative visualization which is: visualize negative outcomes in your life. You contemplate what you have and visualize your life without them. Strong, to the point and a trigger of instant appreciation.
The last thing about this episode to be shared now: the book by Dr Thomas Gilovist: The Wisest One in the Room, which talks on how you can benefit from social psychology's most powerful insights.
If you want to know more about this particular podcast episode, here is the abstract:
Ice skater Michelle Kwan was all set to win Olympic Gold... but in a major sporting upset came second. Sharing her story with Dr Laurie Santos, Michelle lets us in on a key secret to achieving happiness when life doesn't go to plan.
