What are the 3 aspects that the happiest people prioritize, according to a Harvard specialist

Arthur C. Brooks has devoted most of his career to the search for what felicity and what are the aspects surrounding it.

And that led the social scientist and Harvard University professor to share some thoughts on this subject .

In his most recent book, which he wrote with Oprah Winfrey, Build the life you want (Penguin, 2023), the authors propose that Happiness is not a destination – as is often suggested – but rather a direction that one must follow. .

It is with this premise in mind that Brooks recently appeared on the podcast Ten percent happier with Dan Harris example in which He talked about what he calls “the macronutrients of happiness.” .

“When I meet someone, I can figure out pretty quickly where their ‘diet’ isn’t up to par, where they’re lacking the macronutrients for their happiness, and we can work on the sub-dimensions.” he assured in the show.

According to him, the happiest people “they get a lot of satisfaction from their activities and understand why they are alive” .

“These are the proteins, carbohydrates and fats of happiness” he assured, alluding to his metaphor.

In this sense, he assured that identified three “macronutrients” that improve well-being .

It’s about pleasure, satisfaction and purpose like saved CNBC .

From the Harvard academic’s perspective, This point goes beyond pleasure, since placing the latter factor at the center is, in his words, “a terrible way to live a full life.” .

“What we must do, moreover, is not to get rid of the sources of pleasure, but to add two things which make them more human” he assured.

These would be: doing activities that involve coexistence with other people and that have a memorable character in addition to being pleasant.

Although he recognizes that actions such as reading a book, meditating or listening to music tend to be better alone, suggested participating in social events like going out to eat with friends or watching movies with your loved ones to name just a few examples.

Brooks defined it as “the joy, the reward you get after fighting for something” .

“We, as humans, We have to fight, we have to struggle, we have to sacrifice, and we even need to suffer in our lives, because that is actually how we gain something. “, said the social scientist.

This is why, he explained, You have to make an effort to be able to benefit more from what is obtained .

An example he cited to illustrate a contrary case is that of a student who passed an exam by cheating .

Part of you may be relieved to have received a positive rating. However, The satisfaction could have been much greater if he had achieved it through his own efforts. .

The specialist explained that consists of the feeling that your life has meaning .

An exercise he suggested to explore this topic further is Ask yourself the following questions: “Why do certain things happen? », “Why is my life developing like this? », “What are my objectives? “, “Why do I care about being alive? » .

The answers to these questions They are purely personal in nature, he assured. And in case you don’t know what to say, he emphasized that it wasn’t a “failure.” .

Rather, he said that This is an opportunity to “know that you have to start looking” .

Although he stressed that this research requires “a lot of work”, he clarified that The path will be key for you to improve your well-being .