Comments on: The Science of Happiness Experiment

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:37:21 +0000

Thanks Shannon. I found this particular exercise (recalling something positive that happened in the last 24 hours) to be somewhat useful in the moment for feeling positively. Every time I have tried it, I have experienced positive emotions, but usually not for more than about 1-3 minutes, after which my mood went back to whatever it was before!

I could see such a simple exercise as very valuable for someone experiencing depression that is stuck in persistent negative mood. For everyone else, it's about as useful as a 2 minute should rub is for back pain–it feels nice, but not deep enough to do much good, in my opinion.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:07:38 +0000

How's that happiness thing coming now? It's been a bit since you commented about it. I am curious because I know that our minds are powerful when t comes to emotions/over all feelings. Something can set me off, and thus, in a bad mood I will flow. But I can turn it around by looking out my window and seeing a hummingbird. Poof, the bad mood is gone, and I feel at peace again. I think that direction/redirection of certain emotions can change our over all feelings of happiness, anger, jealousy, etc…but to maintain happiness all the time just doesn't seem possible. Plus, would I want to be Happy all the time? Maybe our moods, our down time, allows us to appreciate the happy things in our lives that much more…
So, please, I am curious as to how you feel now.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:40:04 +0000

Thanks, James. Hope you'll come back, as we are a new group blog and have plans to grow.

By: James

James — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:46:33 +0000

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By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:38:53 +0000

Ok, so after trying the exercise a couple of times, I'm convinced that this less than one minute exercise of remembering something positive from the previous 24 hours is about as good for increasing happiness as a 30-second massage is for decreasing back pain, or a cup of chamomile tea for increasing health.

It's nice, and even useful (and would be much more useful with distinctions from NLP), but only barely changes mood for a very brief period of time.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:34:58 +0000

A few minutes later, I feel right back at around a 3/10 again.

By: Duff McDuffee

Duff McDuffee — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:26:45 +0000

Different participants might be viewing different videos and thus have different exercises, so I won't report my exercise until the last day. I'll only report my mood and how it is affected by the exercise. Lately I've been a bit depressed anyhow, so this could be quite useful an experiment for me.

DAY 1

Pre-exercise: I feel at perhaps a 3/10 on happiness, a little despondent.
Exercise length: less than a minute
Post-exercise: I do feel happier. I felt waves of tingling sensations across my body. I took some deeper breaths. I'm perhaps a 5/10 now, and feel more connected to someone whom I recalled.