06 May What do the really smart people at Harvard University say about happiness?
by Jinyoung Park
What makes us happy? The famous Grant Study, which followed 268 Harvard sophomore men for more than seven decades since 1938, reveals the long sought-after secrets to happiness. This unprecedented study measured and recorded just about everything, including physical and psychological fitness, family background, career development, marriages and divorces, and the famously all-important “hanging length of his scrotum.” Looking back in his recent book “Triumph of Experience”, George Vaillant, who has directed the study for more than three decades, finds it more than just a longitudinal record of individuals, but an incredibly insightful and complex literature in search of the true meaning of success, happiness, and life.
For millennials who are in their 20s and 30s, this study bears even more importance as a guide to life. The subjects —, “physically and mentally healthy” Harvard sophomores —, all started from more or less the same starting-line, but many of them became successful, happy, and led a full rewarding life (not necessarily at the same time), while others experienced failures, misery, and lonely and painful deaths. According tothe Atlantic, four of them ran for the U.S. Senate, one served in a presidential cabinet, and one was no other than John F. Kennedy (his file is on hold until 2040). On the other hand, “almost a third of the men had at one time or another met Vaillant’s criteria for mental illness” by the age of 50.
The following are the six most notable findings from the study that still need to be enunciated, for they are often overlooked. Some of the findings even refute our common sense…
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Smoking cigarettes is really bad
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Drinking is best in moderation
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Manage depression (or get treatment early)
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Money can't buy happiness OR success
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Relationships really matter
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It's important to keep learning
Read the full and original article HERE