Study happiness

JOANNE FINNEY, SENIOR CONSUMER EDITOR & BOOKS EDITOR

When the pandemic narrowed everyone’s world and my life became about working, looking after my three-year-old, then working some more, I decided I needed help to focus on the good things. So I enrolled on a free four-week online course called The Science of Well-being. It was developed by Yale University professor Laurie

Santos, and more than 3m people across the world have enrolled, with more than

2m signing up in early 2020 as lockdown hit. Clearly, we all had the same idea. The first week focuses on how the things we think bring us pleasure – wealth, status – really don’t, and is backed up by scientific data. Every week there are ‘rewirement challenges’ to create new habits. These include starting conversations with strangers, getting enough sleep and keeping a gratitude journal. Counting my blessings felt forced at first – some days all I could manage was appreciating my Nutella on toast – but building healthy habits reminded me that I can choose to make myself happy, every single day. coursera. org/learn/the-science-of-well-being