Back in May, I wrote a post about how to be happy, and shortly after, I was contacted by Happify, a group that specializes in the art and science of being happy. Sounds good, right? Also a little odd. I wasn't sure what to make of it, and I initially brushed it off. Something kept me thinking about it, though, and when I investigated Happify a bit more, it really resonated with me.
Happify is about empowering people to make meaningful change in their lives through, essentially, mindfulness. It's about clarifying your values and acting with intention.While I already feel pretty happy and try to live mindfully, I thought it might be fun to try out Happify's program and track my progress here on The Quixotic Chica. I started out by completing a brief quiz that identified areas I wanted to work on, and the first track I was assigned to was "Be More Socially Connected." Each week, I am "assigned" activities to complete, each designed to enhance my social connectedness.
As a psychology nerd, I appreciated that Happify is based on psychological research. If I'm curious about the basis of a particular activity, I can click on a "Why It Works" button to learn about the research behind it. Since I've done some positive psychology research before, I'm familiar with a lot of the activities already, and it's cool to know that these sorts of "regimens" are truly effective for challenges like depression and anxiety. Essentially, this is a way of living authentically and bringing more
mindfulness to one's daily experiences. It's not a quick fix or a cheap
gimmick. Rather, this is about potentially shifting the way we view ourselves and our day-to-day occurrences and trying to find the good. I haven't participated in anything like this before, and even though my baseline happiness is pretty steady, we can all use a boost in various areas of our lives. I think it will be fun to try it out and see if I notice any changes in my well-being.
I will be tracking my activities over at Happify, and there will be brief entries about my experiences on my profile page. I will also be posting longer entries here on The Quixotic Chica if there was an experience that seemed especially powerful that I'd like to share with my readers. Let's see where this all goes! :)
