William James, in his famous book The Varieties of Religious Experience, drew a contrast between what he calls “once-born” and the “twice-born” people. Once-born people appear biologically predisposed to happiness. Continue reading William James: Once Born and Twice Born People
A colleague recently sent me a link to an article which claims that having nature in your surroundings extends life and increases happiness. Continue reading The Positive Effect of Nature
Loneliness by Hans Thoma (National Museum in Warsaw)
The longest running study of human development by Harvard researchers confirms that satisfying personal relationships are the key to human happiness. Moreover, personal relationships are just as important to your health as diet and exercise. (Note – I wrote about this study previously here.) Continue reading Summary of the Harvard Grant Study
In the last few decades there has been a lot of research on human happiness. Surprisingly, Daniel Gilbert found that we are bad at predicting our own happiness Continue reading Predicting Our Own Happiness
Aristotle: The Ideal of Human Fulfillment
Some interesting conversations yesterday caused me to think again about what makes a good life—specifically the role played by personal relationships and productive work. Continue reading Summary of Aristotle On Living Well
