We developed the Art of Happiness program based on new developments in the field of psychology. Over the past few years, psychologists globally have begun focusing on Positive Psychology. In the past, psychology has been criticized for focusing exclusively on mental illness versus mental well-being. Did you know that for every 1 piece of research done to study well-being, 21 pieces of research are done to study mental disorders?
Today led by leading psychologists such as Martin Seligman, Ed Diener, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi psychology is researching to learn how we can improve our states of well-being and happiness. Instead of trying to help people get from -5 (i.e. depression, anxiety, and stress) back to 0 (normal) on the well-being scale, they are trying to understand what it takes to go from 0 to +5 (happier people). To do this, they have begun to focus their research on the people who are already at +5 and are seeking to understand what it is they do to remain at +5. You may be wondering why this is important. Research shows that people at +5 are much less likely to experience -5. Research also shows that the happiest people (+5s) and less happy people (0s) experience the same amount of negative emotions. The difference is that the +5s bounce back faster and return to their normal levels of happiness.
Both Dora and Chris have studied leading work done in the area of positive psychology. The Art of Happiness program is based on the research and work done in this area. Our aim is to help you improve your level of happiness by providing guidelines and exercises anyone can follow.