“Psychology and the Good Life” Video Notes

  • Students in schools and colleges all over are too stressed and overwhelmed to be able to take care of themselves and do things they love
  • Statistics show that college students as a whole are commonly and increasingly feeling more and more depressed, mostly thanks to workload
  • Along with science of positive psychology, science of behavior change can help us improve and be happier as well (practice of good life)
  • We must change the culture of stress everywhere

Insights from the “Psychology and the Good Life” course

  1. This enterprise is possible
    • We can control our well-being more than we think; we are not stuck like we tend to think
    • Our happiness is 50% genetic, which means there is 50% of our happiness that we can improve ourselves
  2. Circumstances don’t matter nearly as much as we think
    • What we think will make us happy will not make us as happy as we think (e.g. lottery winners 6 months later still feel the same as everyone else, not happier)
    • What we think has ruined our lives will only help us live our lives to the fullest
    • Our intentional effort to help our happiness matters much more than our circumstance
  3. Taking control will take effort
    • Research says if you want to achieve happiness, you must put in effort and commitment every single day
    • You will have to work to make permanent changes consistently
    • Just knowing will not work unless you put that knowledge into practice
  4. Recognize what intuitions don’t work
    • Your mind is lying to you a lot of the time about what it means to be happy (e.g. salary)
    • We change our lives to priortize things such as money and material goods, but that will not make us happier, and you will never really feel satisfied with how much you have
    • People who constantly seek out materialistic aspirations are statistically more likely to have a lower well-being than others
  5. Make time for social connection
    • Happier people spend more time with people they care about and less time alone
    • Even talking and connecting with strangers can make you happier
    • Connecting with anyone at all will bump up your well-being more than you would expect
  6. Helping others helps us
    • Spending time and money, no matter how much, on others will make you significantly more happy than if you spent it on yourself
  7. Make time for gratitude
    • Thinking about things we’re grateful for is powerful
    • Think less about the hassles and more about the benefits
    • Express your gratitude to the people you’re grateful for, this positively impacts both you and them
  8. Healthy practices matter a lot more than we think
    • Healthy practices include simple things like exercise and sleep
    • Exercise boosts your mood for 24 hours
    • Not sleeping can lower your well-being into depression-like moods
  9. Take time to be in the present moment
    • Ground yourself from time to time
    • Being in the present is better for your well-being than your mind wandering to anything, from negative to positive
  10. Be wealthy in time
    • Time affluence vs. time famine
    • Prioritizng time over money increases well-being

Note of Gratitude

I shared a few words of gratitude to my sister, Naomi. She is moving to Irvine for college tomorrow, and after the video, I thought there is no better time than now to share my gratitude. Naomi and I are not usually sentimental with each other, so I thought it’d be awkward, but she listened with a kind demeanor. I told her how grateful I am for her and what she does for me and others, and that I will miss her an impossible much when she goes back to college. She responded with kind words as well, she told me how grateful she is for me, and that she will miss me too. I do think this experience has increased my well-being, even if just a little.

Gratitude List

  • My family
  • My friends
  • Nourishing food everyday
  • Comfortable living
  • Healthy body
  • Music
  • Art
  • My comfortable bed
  • All of my clothes
  • Mascara
  • Cookies
  • Roller coasters
  • Good grades
  • Animals and pets
  • The internet

Goals

  • Sleep at least 6 hours a night
    • Recently, I haven’t had the best sleeping habits, but I haven’t made that much of an effort to fix it. I know these habits are wrong, and I know that I will have to commit and take charge of the issue for something to happen.
  • Change up my workload schedule
    • I also do not have the best habits in doing homework and studying, so I will need to put that into work. I will stop procrastinating and be more productive each day. This will also be good for having time affluence.
  • Exercise more
    • Another things Laurie Santos mentione din her video is that even 30 minutes of cardio each day will increase both your mental and physical well-being immensely. So, I will make sure I exercise more to stay happier.
  • Do something that makes me happy everyday
    • Even as I plan to work more productively everyday, I will still have to take some time for myself each day. Whether it’s just chilling and listening to music, sketching, or taking a bath, I will make sure I have something to enjoy everyday.