An edited version of http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-googles-algorithm-for-happiness for advanced students

1. THE SECRETS TO HAPPINESS
Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan claims he has the secret to a contented, stress-
free life.
A few years ago, Chade-Meng Tan, one of the company’s firstengineering
employees in Mountain View, noticed many of his colleagues werestressed out
and unhappy at work, so he decided to do something about it. He persuaded his
bosses to let him create a coursethat would teach employees mindfulness skills
to enhance emotional intelligence and promotewellbeing, and he transitioned to
the HR department to run it. In a nod to his employer, he called it Search Inside
Yourself, an admittedly corny name that is also the title of his book about the
course’s techniques.
Step one: “Calm your mind”
Shortcollective breathing exercises to calm the fluffy particles in the “snow-
globes” (his metaphor) in our skulls. Headvocates finding easy ways to take
pauses during the day and be mindful of your breath. “If that’s too hard, then just
think about nothing for a little bit,” he joked.
But does it work? Thereis someevidence that mindfulness can help stave off
negative thoughts. A recent review of 209 studies found that the practice can help
treat depression, anxiety and stress. (Someresearchers even claim that the
stress-reduction promised by meditation could help slow the effects of aging.)
It’s worth pointing out that dealing with depression and anxiety is not necessarily
the samething as boosting happiness. Still, Meng’s firstpiece of happiness advice
appears to have growing scientific credence.
Step two: “Log moments of joy”
This means simply saying to yourself – as you sip a great espresso, laugh at your
friend’s jokeor buy that shirt you’vewanted – “I amhaving a moment of joy!”
When negative things happen to us throughoutthe day we tend to hold on to
them, while the good things are more fleeting. So, by consciously acknowledging
the good things, says Meng, we increase our chances that when we reflect on our
day, we conclude it was a happy one.
Step three: “Wish other people to be happy”
According to Meng, altruistic thoughts benefit us because we derivea lot of joy
fromgiving, even morethan from receiving.

2. In his book Happiness: A Very ShortIntroduction, thephilosopher Daniel Haybron
supports Meng’s caseby citing other researchers, particularly psychologist
Michael Argylewho has suggested “only dancing generated higher ‘levels of joy’
than volunteer and charity work.” Fredrickson, too, has studied the benefits of a
formof meditation that involved thinking positivethoughts about others. She
asked people to try the technique for a few minutes a day for several weeks, and
many reported feeling morejoyfuland hopeful.
Science versus experience
According to Haybron, thereare actually other happiness factors backed by more
robuststudies – such as autonomy, meaningful and skilled work,
relationships/love, money (but not too much) and security (but not too much
because you’llbe bored) and non-attachment to things we could lose.
Tom Stafford, who writes the Neurohacks column for BBC Future says, “Squaring
what works for you and whatthe science says is difficult because happiness is a
complex object,” he told me. “There will be local variations due to individual
personality, so we've immediately got a reason for expecting a gap between the
science – which tends to work with group averages – and any one person's
experience.
“The interesting general question, to me, is when do we trust our experience and
when do we listen to science,” Stafford added. “Obviously somethings wedon't
need science for (‘Does dropping a rock on my foot hurt?’), and somethings we
do (‘Is smoking bad for my health?’). Happiness, I'd argue, is in between these
two cases.”
There is growing and legitimate research on happiness, and Hayborn sees the
topic as valid as the much larger and older body of work looking at its inverse:
unhappiness. “Measuring happiness is no more mysterious or fraught then
measuring depression or anxiety,” he concludes. “And should be no more
controversial.”
To many, Meng’s three steps may seem obvious or simplistic. Yet he compared his
advice to showing us how to do a single push up or arm curlat the gym. You know
it does you good, but you have to do the exercise every day to get results.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-googles-algorithm-for-happiness