Increase Your Happiness With These Six Scientifically Proven Strategies - Dumb Little Man

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/08/increase-your-happiness-with-these-six.html

In recent years there has been an explosion of research on happiness, optimism, positive emotions and healthy character traits. While psychology has traditionally concerned itself with what ails the human mind—such as anxiety, depression, neurosis, obsessions, paranoia, and delusions—, a new branch of psychology, aptly named “positive psychology”, asks the question: “What are the enabling conditions that make human beings flourish?” That is, the goal of positive psychology is to study what actively makes people feel fulfilled, engaged, and happy.

In addition, neuroscientists are studying how the brain can be rewired in such a way that makes happiness more likely. Below you’ll find six strategies from the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience that will help you increase your current level of happiness.

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“Omit needless words.” - William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style

While minimalist aesthetics and products and the minimalist lifestyle appeals to a lot of people, they find it easier to like it than to live it.

Minimalism is something people might strive for, but they don’t know where to start.

I’d start with the advice of William Strunk Jr. in his classic minimalist treatise on writing (quoted above), but apply it to life in general, and everything you do: “Omit needless things.”

The Minimalist Principle: Omit Needless Things