If 2020 hasn’t challenged you, I want to know your secret! For the rest of us, there might be a thing or two we can learn from the top positive psychology and happiness news in 2020.
Even though the field of positive psychology is relatively new, there is so much good content out there and new research to learn from and apply. Aside from research, there’s also just a lot going on in this space too!
Here’s a look at the must-read positive psychology and happiness news from 2020, covering topics such as resiliency, happiness, gratitude, positivity and of course COVID-19. Enjoy!
Top Positive Psychology and Happiness News in 2020
Happiness Museum looks at brighter feelings in uncertain times. Happiness seems to have faded from our vocabulary amid the global pandemic, economic turmoil and, well, collective sense of doom and depression that is 2020. Which is why the opening of a new Happiness Museum in, where else, Denmark feels like the most optimistic story of the year.
Return to school sees improvement in children’s mental health. “Schools provide an immensely important forum for children and young people and are an essential component of society’s infrastructure in promoting positive mental health, providing support and resources for those with additional educational needs and protecting young people and society from poor mental health outcomes and adverse impacts on long-term life chances. This report is a timely reminder of the importance of schools and education and associations with young people’s mental health.”
Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure. t’s true: we have more time for leisure than we did fifty years ago. But leisure has never been less relaxing, mostly because of the disintermediating effects of our screens.
More Money Does Buy More Happiness. Researchers and economists have been debating this idea for decades, and a new study in the journal Emotion sheds more light on the role money plays in increasing happiness levels.
Lessons From One of the Happiest Countries in the World. As the world deals with a global pandemic, a Happiness Museum opened its doors in Denmark for the first time. Here’s what we can all learn from one of the happiest countries in the world.
Your Happiness Might Very Well Be Inherited, Says Scientists. Science says the human’s degree of happiness is related to their genetic makeup. Yet it is almost impossible to change genes to improve your satisfaction.
The “Happiness Hormone” That Promotes Patience (Technology Networks). Do good things come to those who wait? A study on mice conducted at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) pinpointed specific areas of the brain that individually promote patience through the action of serotonin.
Three Pillars of Permanent Happiness (Psychology Today). New research in psychology sheds light on the factors that shape our happiness. What works? That depends, but psychologists and happiness researchers have identified a few common elements that tend to be found in happy people. Here are three recent findings from the field of happiness science that may help guide you to a brighter, happier future.
Applying the Research to Boost Your Happiness
Faking a smile tricks the brain into feeling happier (Daily Mail). Experts found the physical task of smiling activates specific muscles in a person’s cheeks and this triggers happy emotions in the brain. Scientists say this has important implications on mental health and could be exploited to help people cope with stress.
People react better to both negative and positive events with more sleep (Science Daily). New research finds that after a night of shorter sleep, people react more emotionally to stressful events the next day — and they don’t find as much joy in the good things. This has important health implications: previous research shows that being unable to maintain positive emotions in the face of stress puts people at risk of inflammation and even an earlier death.
Can a Walk in the Woods Improve Your Well-Being? (Psychology Today) Urban lifestyles are related to negative emotionalities, such as feelings of panic, anxiety, and depression. Nonetheless, the migration toward urban living over the past several decades has increased. Because of this conundrum, scientists are investigating whether humans can counteract the harmful effects of urban life by reconnecting with nature.
How a spring clean is good for your mental health (Kidspot). Psychologist Dr Jo Lukins says there’s a good reason why we feel so satisfied after a good clean-up. As it turns out, a spring clean does wonders for our mental health. Here’s why and what you need to get started.
Survey Reveals Designing For Happiness And Health Is More Essential Than Ever (PR Newswire). Marvin, a leader in designing for well-being in home building and remodelling, continues to reinforce the notion that happiness in the home is more important than ever. As we close out 2020, the company unveils findings from a new survey, “Designing for Happiness at Home,” and shows the home is an essential happiness driver, ranking second on Americans’ list of things that contributes to their state of happiness – equal to their physical health and just one point behind the health of their family.
Playfulness might be the cure to coronavirus-induced boredom (The New Daily). Timely new research finds that “simple exercises can help to make people more playful and consequently feel more satisfied with their lives”.
The science behind expressing gratitude will surprise you (Fast Company). Two psychology researchers detail the connection between gratitude and well-being. According to the John Templeton Foundation, there have been at least 270 studies on gratitude in the past two decades. More than half were published in the last five years.
News About Happiness at Work
Transformational Leadership: The One Missing Trait (Forbes). It’s not what you might think and it’s not what most would expect. It comes down to one word: Happiness. But don’t take my word for it. Research shows us that happy and optimistic leaders are considered more transformational and generally lead better, and there is a strong link between transformational leadership, happiness and financial performance — traits that have been found to completely predict individual and team productivity and innovation.
Tips to help remote workers gear up for the day with balance and well-being in mind. (Tech Republic) Focus on new “rituals”. From listening to a preferred podcast on the metro to having a cup of coffee as we get dressed, a standard morning before commuting to the office is filled with nearly automatic day-to-routines for many. Sans a physical commute and the dress code requirements of in-person meetings, many of these habits have been cast to the wayside.
Better Leadership Starts With Gratitude. (Built In) Gratitude has the potential to reshape the world around us, but as business leaders, it can be easy to forget its power or dismiss it entirely. We think we’ll automatically feel gratitude when we’ve made it, when that next round of funding comes in or when we make that next big hire to finally relieve an overworked team. The default assumption many people have is that gratitude isn’t something we can reach for regularly, but instead something we feel when all is right with the world.
Building a Better Workplace Starts with Saying “Thanks” (HBR). Research shows that managers should emphasize the importance of expressing thanks and appreciation at work. Cultivating a culture of gratitude won’t just boost employees’ well-being and performance. According to our research, it’ll also help stop workplace mistreatment.
New Research Identifies Six Ways To Increase Happiness In The Workplace (Forbes). Improving workplace happiness is a challenging task, but it can be done. A recent analysis of 61 workplace happiness interventions found that 96 percent of the interventions increased employee happiness and about half of the results were statistically significant.
Have you read anything this year that’s worth sharing? What’s your top positive psychology and happiness news of 2020? Let us know in the comments below!