The coveted happiness can be “trained” with a free online course. This is how the very lucky project of the American university of Yale works.
Happiness is something that everyone tries to pursue in their life. In modern reality, more than ever, running and the pursuit of happiness are among the main concerns and goals.
Although the idea of happiness is not the same for everyone, but something subjective, it is also true that the culture and structure of the different societies and realities lead to the definition of some elements that are almost essential to be happy, such as: success and career but also having an honest job, being able to have a family, having children, maintaining a state of well-being and physical health, but also the absence of major worries, money , a nice home.
However, it often happens that, even if some of the “cornerstones” of the concept of happiness are present, there people are unable to really enjoy the things they have and be truly happy.
Be happy: you can learn with a university course
Psychologist and professor at Yale University Laurie Santos in 2018 launched a university course called P sychology and the Good Life with the aim of providing students with teaching on how to deal with university stress and worries and make the most of their years of study as well as learn techniques to be happier.
The doctor would never have expected the great success obtained, which has seen her course become one of the most famous and popular in the entire university, with the enrollment of one in four students of the university campus.
From this great success was born the free course, made available by Yale University starting from the period of the Covid-19 pandemic , in which happiness was strongly tested and threatened. On the success of the course at the university, in fact, the teacher has created an abridged version, completely online, entitled The Science of Well-Being (the science of well-being).
The course includes 20 hours of lessons to be followed when you are most comfortable and entirely for free. It’s all in English and if you want a certificate you have to pay a fee.
From what has been made available, enrollments have reached very high levels, demonstrating how happiness is a goal sought after by many and how a structured course can be a resource seen as important.
Contents and fundamentals
Based on the principles of positive psychology , “the science of well-being” aims to support members in achieving happiness and well-being through the development of positive behaviors .
The course starts by breaking some prejudices about what makes you happy and what doesn’t and the principles underlying well-being. According to the teacher, in fact, people often attribute their happiness to the wrong things, remaining disappointed and dissatisfied .
The fundamental principles are the development of gratitude and therefore the recognition of more and less important elements in the development of happiness that wants to be improved with this course, learning to savor life and approaching meditation .
Among the more specific contents there are therefore the breaking of prejudices about happiness and what guarantees its development, what hinders it, and how to overcome these prejudices, as well as the role of expectations . It is important to acquire specific techniques that the teacher presents, encouraging them to be put into practice in their daily lives.
But why a course on happiness?
At first glance it seems absurd that there could be a course to learn to be happy, starting from the fact that happiness is personal. However, the aim is not to give a pre-packaged model for achieving happiness but to work on dysfunctional beliefs and ineffective behaviors that hinder well-being and happiness.
In fact, based on psychological theories and knowledge, Santos presents strategies to change one’s way of thinking, to read reality and situations, understanding a more effective way. Through the course, each person experiences the techniques and exercises proposed and over time can achieve the desired goals and improve conditions of malaise and dissatisfaction, acquiring a different way and style of life.
Being a course, obviously it is not functional to the treatment in case of major discomforts of suffering, for which a different path and therapy is necessary , but only a starting point for most on how to change some preconceptions about one’s life.
