Harvard and Yale are offering free online courses on Happiness. The instructors are two of the best-known in the field.

Managing Happiness is led by Arthur Brooks at Harvard. It includes six sessions of two to three hours each. His brief introduction begins with this:

What is Happiness? What makes you happy?’ Can you get happier through study and effort?

Maybe you have pondered these questions over the course of your life, but haven’t been able to come up with any definitive answers. Still, you’d like to think that Happiness is something you can understand and manage, right?

This class answers these questions and shows you how to use the answers to build a happier life. It introduces you to the modern science of human well-being and shows you how to practice it.”

Laurie Santos’s is the most popular in Yale’s history. The Science of Well-Being is 10 weeks (19 hours) and is described as follows:

In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own Happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about Happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life.

Both classes are introductory level. No tests, no grades, just absorb and, if you choose to enter the Laurie Santos virtual classroom, take on her “challenges.” These are a step up from the usual self-help books and blogs.

You might have heard the old saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” These courses suggest there is. They wait for you to partake of them.

==========

The photo shows Dawn Patrol and a Crescent Moon at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, October 2023. It is the work of the superb photographic artist Laura Hedien, with her permission: Laura Hedien Official Website.