The Greater Good Science Center are testing their new Pathways to Happiness Program and it might be a good option for those wishing to focus on wellbeing during the holiday break. Reading time ~ 1 minute, 21 seconds.
The end of year break is upon us!!
That means you might not be reading your university emails as diligently and hence miss this one. That’s OK. I’m scaling back my email consumption as well 😄
What I did want to tell you about though was the ‘new and improved’ Pathway To Happiness program out of the Greater Good Science Center.
If you’ve heard me speak, you may have head me mention the Greater Good In Action website. The site is a collection of evidence-based positive psychology practices. The site was one of the inspirations for the Good Vibes Experiment.
What I like about the site is that you can browse activities on the basis of what psychological benefits they provide. Awe, compassion, connection, empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, happiness, kindness, mindfulness, optimism, parenting, purpose, resilience, self-compassion. They’re all up for grabs!!
You learn about the activity itself, the research that supports it, take quizzes and listen to relevant podcasts on the topic.
The reason I am mentioning them today is that they are evaluating their new Pathway to Happiness program.
The concept is simple.
- Read about the study/program
- Answer some questions about yourself and your goals
- For 1 month they’ll send science-based happiness practices to your email or phone
- At the 4-week mark, you do another check-in to see what (if anything) has changed
If you were considering making wellbeing a focus during the holiday period, this might be a structured format to follow.
Please note that the program is offered in the context of participating in their research program. It’s a valid research program but you can choose not to have your data included in the research.
The “questions about yourself and your goals” are pretty simple and only take about 5 minutes.
I ran into some issues with accounts at the end of the survey, so I suggest making a free account on the GGIA website first, get logged in, then commence the Pathways to Happiness onboarding process.
There are, of course, plenty of ways to make wellbeing a focus during the holiday break, but if you like the structure and guidance of a formal program but nothing too intense, this might be a great option.