Among life’s “big questions” (e.g., “How did life originate?” “Is there a God?”), the one that has captivated me the most is: what does it take to lead a happy and fulfilling life?

It turns out that I am not alone; many others are captivated by this question as well. I know this because my online (and free!) course on happiness has over 55,000 students from 190 countries, with 3,000 new students joining every week!

How come a business-school professor is teaching a course on happiness of all things?!

You may find it surprising that I am a professor in a business school: The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. I teach my course on happiness both at McCombs and at the Indian School of Business.

There’s an interesting story behind how I got to teaching happiness. Way back in 2007, I’d brought a group of MBA students from McCombs School of Business to India for a learning trip. At that point, it’d been almost 15 long years since I graduated from business school (IIM Calcutta) and about 20 years since I had graduated from my engineering school (BITS Pilani). Most of my classmates had remarkable careers and risen to relatively high positions in their companies.

It was then that I noticed something truly intriguing: there’s little correlation between success in career and what you might call “life success.” The executives who had done really well in their careers weren’t necessarily those who were happy.

It occurred to me that the final purpose of education ought to be to give students the necessary skills to lead a content, happy and meaningful life. If that’s not possible, then what’s the purpose of education? That’s when I put together my course on happiness—back in 2009. In the five years that I have taught the course, I am thrilled to share that the course has been in very high demand. I have had a waiting list every single year that I have taught it. It’s also why I was asked to offer the online course.

Can happiness be taught?

If you are surprised that happiness can be taught, you are not alone; many others are too. But the truth is, the ability to consistently make happiness enhancing decisions can be learned. Over the past 15 years, psychologists have made a concerted effort and we now have a pretty good idea of what it takes to lead a happy and fulfilling life.

Why is happiness important?

In surveys that have been conducted across the world, happiness always emerges as one of people’s top goals.

One reason happiness is so important is because it feels good to be happy. But that’s not the only reason. It turns out that happiness is also functional—that is, it provides several benefits. In particular, happier people do better in so many spheres. Consider these facts:

• Happy people are more successful (e.g., happier people earn higher wages!)
• Happy people live longer (the happiest 20% live 10 moreyears than theleast happy 20%)
• Happy people enjoy better relationships (e.g., happier people are more likely to get married)
• Happy people are nicer (e.g., happier people are more likely to donate money to charity)

So, what can I do to figure out the secret to happiness?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, I can’t answer it here because of length restrictions. You can check out a short answer to the question by reading this article that I wrote for Psychology Today.

Or—if you are interested in a proper answer to the question—you could enroll for my online (and free!) course on Coursera by going here. It will literally take you a minute (or less) to register for the course and you can be on your way to learning the secrets to happiness in seconds after that!

One last thing: you don’t need to be unhappy or depressed to take a course on happiness! Even if you are supremely happy, you’ll learn several interesting things by taking the course—as many reviewers of the course have noted here.

All the very best. I sincerely hope that you get to lead a happy and fulfilling life and I hope to see you on Coursera!

Written by Professor Raj Raghunathan, The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin

The post I Offer You A Lifetime Of Happiness – Nothing More, Nothing Less appeared first on STYLECRAZE.

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