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5 Ways to Be Happier Without Trying So Hard, According to Psychology

Researchers say happiness gets easier when you stop forcing it, check in with your emotions, and let imperfect experiences still count.

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Wanting to be happy is the most human thing there is. The research on how to actually get there is both obvious and counterintuitive.

A new paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences by UC Berkeley researcher Iris Mauss and Brett Ford at the University of Toronto examines a frustrating little paradox. The harder people chase happiness, the worse they can feel. Mauss and Ford argue that people don’t screw it up by wanting happiness. The trouble comes somewhere between wanting it and trying to force every experience into producing it.

They break the process into five pieces.

1. Give yourself permission to want it

Wanting to be happy is fine. Even trying hard to get there isn’t automatically a recipe for misery.........

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