He is a psychiatrist and Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Laboratory of Adult Development at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The lab is famous for a longitudinal study that has tracked the health and mental well-being of a group of 724 American men for 76 years.
He is a Zen priest as well and says, "the Zen tradition holds that contemplation helps us stay grounded in what’s most important in life."
His TED Talk is titled, "What makes a happy life?" and has been viewed ~15 million times.
Before viewing the talk, it is worth quickly answering this one-question quiz that I made up:
What is the one pre-dominant factor you would pick from the below to answer the question: What makes a happy life?
- Career or business success
- Wealth
- Fame and recognition
- Relationships
- Network
- Prestige
- Health
- House
- Giving and philanthropy
- Travel and leisure
The reason it is worthwhile answering the above question before listening to the ~12 min talk is that the answer will appear extremely obvious once you hear it.
But were you able to identify it correctly and confidently before you listened to the answer?
Hope you enjoy this TED Talk
An Atlantic Magazine article was written on this as well: What makes us happy, revisited.
5 comments:
I also love the three Gs that make people happy - gratitude, giving and goals
Thank you so much.... what a wonderful blog post and TED talk!
Tomorrow’s third and final blast from me will briefly mention happiness studies and will include an extensive coverage of Tversky and Kahneman’s work.
This is terrific AND I guessed right!
Nice speech by Robert Waldinger Surya.
What a long worthwhile study this has been.
The results are what every family needs to appreciate and apply in their lives.
Post a Comment